Han Han made his name with novels about school life, which struck a chord with the anger, confusion, and rebellion of many young people. 

That might have been the end of Han's story. But he was taken up by liberal intellectuals who saw the siren call of "rebellion" in his writings. They hoped he could make use of his influence over the young and encourage them to take up some risky challenges. That's how he became a cultural phenomenon.

His new autonomy and anti-revolutionary writings have turned many liberal intellectuals against him, while some anti-liberal thinkers and government officials can't hide their ecstatic feelings about his change. But this attitude is unwise, as he may easily shift position again.

But one idea of Han's I have to challenge is his notion that revolution can't come because the "quality" of the Chinese public is too low.

This is a typical example of inverted racism. In the 1980s, some intellectuals advocated the idea that if Chinese were too proud of their own culture and had too much self-respect, they would never accept change or adopt Western democracy. So they believed China's national self-image had to be broken down, and that the Chinese had to admit they were the lowest people in the world.

At the time, I warned that this opinion could also be exploited from the opposite angle: since Chinese are "inferior" to Westerners, they aren't suited to Western democracy. In later years, my prediction came true.

In fact, Chinese democracy depends on many factors, which are not tightly linked to the quality of the Chinese people. Louis XVI, the French monarch at the time of the French revolution, and George III, the British king who lost the American colonies to the US revolution, might also have wanted to make use of such claims about their own people.

But if China is ready for it, the Chinese will not necessarily do a worse job than Westerners if they adopt Western democracy.

There are many angles to talk about the question of whether China can have revolution and democracy. The supposedly bad quality of the public is the most ridiculous one. But people can take a position without any reasonable theory to back it up, and this is what Han Han has done.

The author is a researcher of the China Youth & Children Research Center. opinion@globaltiimes.com.cn