Beijing's rulers are perfecting the surveillance of their people and establishing a system of rewards and punishment. Minorities like the Uighurs are brutally persecuted and "re-educated" in camps. In Hong Kong, the opposition is to be silenced, while China's military presence in the South China Sea is being steadily expanded. With the large project of establishing the "New Silk Road", China is creating new dependencies in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. But there are also problems. There is reason to believe that China will not be able to sustain it’s expansion course in the long run, neither economically nor politically. There are also massive environmental problems. And the Corona crisis has releaved to many Western countries that their dependency on China has reached a critical level. Matthias Nass, an excellent expert on China, draws a captivating account.