The speech was at Peking University ... which is comparable to Princeton, except they probably don’t have courses on ecofeminism and the like. It attracts the best and brightest of China, which, for a variety of reasons, are better and brighter than their US counterparts on average. But their real advantage is that the Chinese students are taught both classical economics and Marxian economics. They know first-hand which one works. Their American counterparts are taught only Keynes and Marx, and learn nothing related to the real world. Thus, the Peking University students can detect economic BS much more readily than American Ivy League students.
This is not to say that Chinese PU students don’t face pressure to be politically correct; it’s just that Chinese PC isn’t as stupid as US Ivy League PC.
Excellent posts. As all of you have found, the average Chinese is no Commie (at least in Marxist-Leninist terms) and few find being a Party member very attractive. Members of my extended family consisting of uncles, aunts and cousins have pretty much stated that if the Chinese government wants to call the economic system Communism, Socialist Capitalism or whatever, they could not care less. What is most important to these relatives in China is making money.
My concern is their zeal for making money is not tempered by much ethics. It sort of reminds me of Hong Kong in the 70s and 80s when people were selling everything - caveat emptor, indeed! Although the government is clamping down on really outrageous stuff by big firms, a lot of small-time crooks, including businesses, get by. When I explained the Madoff scandal to one of my cousins, he asked, “Again, how does this scheme work?” I didn’t repeat it for fear it would give him ideas.