The Chinese Communist Party's power has long rested on four pillars: economic growth, nationalism, repression and communist ideology. The last of these withered away almost entirely as China liberalized its economy, with slogans such as "Long live the invincible Marxism-Leninism theory" replaced by "To get rich is glorious." Now the first pillar is unstable too.
All eyes are on the gyrating Chinese stock market. Its precipitous decline and the surprise devaluation of the renminbi have been roiling world markets and stoking fears of currency wars and beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies.