For China to advance, the gag must be lifted.

For the last century, the title of "most important place in the world" has belonged to the U.S., but that role seems likely to shift in this century to China. So what are China's new leaders, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, really like? When they rose to the helm of the Communist Party two years ago, many hoped they would bring a new openness to a nation that is dynamic economically but stagnant intellectually. Instead, China has become more repressive. [There has been a crackdown on journalists and many have been sent to prison for "revealing state secrets" and exposing corruption.] "There was a period of openness ... when the new leaders first came to power," says Jiao Guobiao, a journalism professor at Beijing University. "But now they've consolidated power, and everything has closed up again." I love China, and I share its officials' distaste for those who harm it. However, hard-liners are undermining China's long-term prospects by gagging its people. China now dazzles visitors with luxury skyscrapers, five-star hotels, and freeways. But for China to be an advanced nation, it needs not only spaceships, but also freedom. Otherwise, all that dazzle is just a mirage.