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Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony
(literature.cafe)
Alt Text: an image of Agent Smith from The Matrix with the following text superimposed, "1999 was described as being the peak of human civilization in 'The Matrix' and I laughed because that obviously wouldn't age well and then the next 25 years happened and I realized that yeah maybe the machines had a point."
Life is only better in China economically (even this is debatable), but people care about many other aspects of life as well. The limited liberties that the Chinese people had in 1999 are disappearing quickly.
They're also living longer - smog has been greatly reduced and they have access to better healthcare than ever before.