The Invisible

Despite the hype, or fear-mongering, the average person in Chinese is very poor by Western standards. It's the 3rd largest economy simply by having a really gigantic population. America's vision of China is too often shaped by what could be termed 'the success stories', the top ranked students we see coming over to attend our universities. Our overseas immigration admissions are very competitive, so people making it through have either a needed skill, good education, or high motivation - often, all three. The point being, the average Chinese peasant or factory worker is pretty much invisible to the West. We really don't know much about their thoughts or opinions, or how they will react to a prolonged economic slump.