[imcarthur]

That is an interesting read. Thanks for posting. Others here can throw all of the tired anti-Commie arguments but China is amazing & mutating before our eyes. This is no longer the China that quashed Tiananmen. They have gone from communes & bicycles to cars & condos in 10 years.

"I read one genuine answer to this conundrum in a fascinating article in the China Economic Quarterly. It made the point that what communism has been unable to replace - and has, in fact, built upon - is a long tradition that is neither western-style democracy nor inspired by the Soviet Union. That is, it has created a political system that is based on the paternalistic mobilisation of an entrenched bureaucracy."

And re: pollution

China & India are in the midst of their Industrial Revolution & some relatively short term - but big scale - environmental problems will occur. The west had 200 years before we started to get our environmental act together. And it could be argued that we're still a long way from where we will have to be. I think that we will see them move a bit faster.

Ian