History holds many surprises for true believers, especially for revolutionaries who find out that the causes they fought for years ago were baseless. That, at least, is the lesson to be drawn from the collapse of the Soviet Union by people who fought and even died for the communist ideology that supported and reinforced it for so many decades.

Back in 1989, many Chinese people fought for American-style freedom and democracy. American symbols and icons, the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. flag became their own symbols and icons, which they waved back and forth in front of the tanks and soldiers. Some even gave their lives for these ideals, while others have escaped to the United States to live the American dream. Even the Beijing government that trashed their revolution took steps to emulate the U.S. institutions of freedom of exchange and private property. Domestic markets opened to competition, state-owned enterprises were privatized and foreign investment and technology began to revolutionize Chinese factories and offices.

Ten years later, as Chinese people prepare to commemorate the Tiananmen uprising, they are discovering that their earlier revolution may have been founded on illusions, after all, for three reasons. First, the Asian economic crisis demonstrated and reinforced the fact that U.S.-style capitalism, with its open and unprotected markets, does not just deliver economic growth. It also delivers uncertainty that threatens the cohesion of entire national economies.