Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a journalist covering China from Washington. She was previously an assistant editor and contributing reporter at Foreign Policy.
A security official monitors computer screens displaying a map of Beijing 2008 Olympic games venues security, at a security command center of the University of Science and Technology Gymnasium in Beijing, 16 November 2007. Israeli police will provide training for Chinese police in counterterrorism and crowd control ahead of the upcoming Olympic games in Beijing, a police spokesman said on 11 November. AFP PHOTO/TEH ENG KOON (Photo credit should read TEH ENG KOON/AFP/Getty Images)
A father carries his baby next to the replica of the famous Wall Street bronze bull on the Bund in Shanghai on June 13, 2013. Chinese stocks closed down 2.83 percent on the first day back after a three-day market holiday, weighed down by disappointing economic data, dealers said. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)
TO GO WITH US-vote-China,FOCUS by Sebastien Blanc
Chinese children wave their national flag together with the US flags as they attend the one-day golf challenge between Tiger Woods of the US and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province on October 29, 2012. The world's two biggest economies choose their next leaders in early November, an accident of timing that puts China's opaque communist state and America's riotous democracy in stark contrast. AFP PHOTO/GOH CHAI HIN (Photo credit should read GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images)
People march in Causeway Bay district during the Gay Pride Parade in Hong Kong on November 8 2014. The atmosphere was jovial as nearly two thousand people, some wrapped in rainbow-coloured flags and some dressed in drag took to the streets in Hong Kong's Gay Pride parade AFP PHOTO / XAUME OLLEROS (Photo credit should read XAUME OLLEROS/AFP/Getty Images)
Cars are reflected in a window as people read books at national library in Beijing on May 30, 2013. China's ruling Communist Party has called for greater political instruction for young university teachers, the education ministry has said. AFP PHOTO/WANG ZHAO (Photo credit should read WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images)
SOUTH OF DIMMITT, TX - JUNE 2: A tornado strikes the landscape south of Dimmitt, Texas, 02 June 1995. (Photo credit should read HARALD RICHTER/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture taken on May 6, 2013 shows staff standing on a fishing vessel setting sail for the Spratly Islands, an archipelago disputed between China and other countries including Vietnam and the Philippines, from Danzhou, south China's Hainan province. China has sent one of its largest recorded fishing fleets to disputed islands in the South China Sea, state-run media said on May 7, amid tensions over Beijing's assertion of its claims in the region. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - MAY 13: Investigators and first responders work near the wreckage of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188, from Washington to New York, that derailed yesterday May 13, 2015 in north Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At least six people were killed and more than 200 others were injured in the crash. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A young Chinese worshipper attends the Christmas Eve mass at a Catholic church in Beijing on December 24, 2014 as Christians around the world prepare to celebrate the holy day. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR (Photo credit should read FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)
(L to R) Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, China's President Xi Jinping, Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Barack Obama, Myanmar President Thein Sein and Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi join other heads of states and international organizations to pose for a "family photo" during the G20 Summit in Brisbane on November 15, 2014. Australia is hosting the leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies for the G20 summit in Brisbane on November 15 and 16. AFP PHOTO / Saeed KHAN (Photo credit should read SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Ethnic Uighurs gather on Id Kah Square after Friday prayer in the nearby main mosque on August 8, 2008 in Xinjiang's famed Silk Road city of Kashgar in China's far northwestern, mainly Muslim Xinjiang region. Chinese authorities announced stepped up controls on religious figures and potential "trouble-makers" in the Muslim city of Kashgar to guard against attacks on the Beijing Olympics which open today following the deadly attack that killed 16 police officers and a new threat by separatists from China's far northwest Xinjiang region to attack the Games. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)
