"No one has the magic to impose or mind control more than a few dozen, let alone millions and more. In hindsight it s often convenient for society to blame a bad leader however (should he fail)." I think this is a great general point. History, including, recent history, bears witness to this. The criticisms against XJP are valid, but it is not entirely him. It seems more likely that there exists a critical mass of Chinese citizens in favor of XJ and Tibet policies as well as sparring with the West. I lived in HK for a few years (including some time after the protests but before the NSL was implemented). Almost all of the time I spoke with Chinese nationals about HK issues, there was a sense on their end that HK needs to be reined in. And a lot of the people I spoke with were Western-educated.