China has a problem. It’s not so much the middle-income trap typical of nations struggling to transition from a medium-income to high-income economy, although that may soon come. Rather, it is the middle-freedom trap.

Put simply, more Chinese people are accessing free market choices that were once reserved for the wealthiest — and for those most loyal to the Communist Party. And they are making choices that undermine Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s desperate need for obedience in service of his not-so-dreamy authoritarian system.