China is learning that its communist authoritarian governance model isn’t terribly conducive to entrepreneurship. And this is a significant problem for President Xi Jinping’s regime.

If Xi is to achieve his new “dream” objective of making China the world’s most dominant power, he can’t simply steal all the world’s intellectual property (although he’s certainly been trying as hard as anyone could expect). Xi will also need citizens who can create the next best high-tech product, internet service, or a more affordable means of doing something important. What Xi doesn’t appear willing to recognize, however, is that gutting your most successful businessmen doesn’t exactly encourage others to follow in their footsteps.