The closest parallel I can find with China's breakneck economic development is the late seventies in Iran. What happened there was the growing disparity between the developing cities, especially Tehran, and the unajusted, unprepared workers sucked in from the countryside. South Tehran, where these labourers had to be housed in large numbers, became the recruiting ground for the religious revolutionaries. Corrupt government, the presence of "spiritually polluting foreigners" and a resurgent spiritual movement led by a charismatic Ayatollah, combined with the abuses of a secret police that finally alienated the middle class from the Shah's regime, allowed the last real revolution of the 20th century to succeed. My point for discussion is: does China need to learn from those "interesting times" in Iran and what lessons is it likely to draw? That centralist top-down government should be maintained at all cost to assure "stability"? That "spiritual movements" and their charismatic leaders are the greatest danger to watch out for? That development in China needs to diversify away from the cities and the coast? That great care should be taken not to alienate the newly prosperous middle classes by heavy handed political policing? I welcome your thoughts.