Amid disaster, China races onward

As strange as it sounds, the streets of Chengdu are normal today. This city barely 40 miles from devastated schools and apartments and hospitals is operating virtually as it was before the earthquake struck ...

[Ed Green]

Very 'communicative'. Varied in terms of viewpoint.

[BobL]

The writer seems surprised that life continued on outside the earthquake zone. Should China be any different than any other country? Did Chicago shut down when Katrina hit New Orleans? Did New York shut down when the earthquake hit San Francisco? If you aren't personally affected or you're not part of the rescue efforts, your life must go on, in order to work, eat, etc.

[gilmore]

Its a true tragedy and the Chinese will no doubt recover well as they have the advantage of capatalistic monetary policies that are dictated by a totalitarian political system. As such, funds can be shifted to rebuilding the areas hit by the earthquake by the politburo without concern for other needs that they may face (i.e., they're not paying billions of dollars rebuilding another society and fighting ragtag militant extremists).

[Professer]

The truth is that China is not the socialist market economy the party describes, nor moving towards capitalism as the western consensus believes. Rather it is frozen in a structure that I describe as Leninist corporatism - and which is unstable, monumentally inefficient, dependent upon the expropriation of peasant savings on a grand scale, colossally unequal and ultimately unsustainable. It is Leninist in that the party still follows Lenin's dictum of being the vanguard, monopoly political driver and controller of the economy and society. And it is corporatist because the framework for all economic activity in China is one of central management and coordination from which no economic actor, however humble, can opt out.

[sidney_Z]

BobL wrote:

The writer seems surprised that life continued on outside the earthquake zone. Should China be any different than any other country? Did Chicago shut down when Katrina hit New Orleans? Did New York shut down when the earthquake hit San Francisco? If you aren't personally affected or you're not part of the rescue efforts, your life must go on, in order to work, eat, etc.

so good feeling to see such reasonable and friendly posts.

I am frustrated to see there is always such people want to mislead the media, hurt the human friendship between different peoples, different nations.

[LOL]

Professer wrote:

The truth is that China is not the socialist market economy the party describes, nor moving towards capitalism as the western consensus believes. Rather it is frozen in a structure that I describe as Leninist corporatism - and which is unstable, monumentally inefficient, dependent upon the expropriation of peasant savings on a grand scale, colossally unequal and ultimately unsustainable. It is Leninist in that the party still follows Lenin's dictum of being the vanguard, monopoly political driver and controller of the economy and society. And it is corporatist because the framework for all economic activity in China is one of central management and coordination from which no economic actor, however humble, can opt out.

I don't know that much about economic theory or what you are claiming is true or not, all I can see and hear are the story from everyday life in China. When i left China, there weren't a single western style supermarket in my home tow, now virtually all of the major markets are. Now, majority of the peasants have access to basic necessity (water, electricity, road access, education, hospitals), have you ever lived in a place without those? So exploitation of peasants or not, the living standard have improved in reality and that is more important than any theory might suggest.