[Zhang Fei]

China will probably have a hard landing, but the entrepreneurial spirit of the man on the street may get the economy running again, faster than most anyone expects. China has had much faster growth than any other less developed country in roughly four decades, since economic liberalization began in 1978. The fast growth has to do with starting from a low base (i.e. per capita income), as well catch-up growth, as the country upgraded its machine tools, telecom equipment and transportation grid to Western and Japanese standards. And yet all of these elements existed in other less developed countries, including communist countries like Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as Thailand, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia, which were never communist. And yet China has not only caught up with these countries, and overtaken them (in terms of per capita income) - until the economic travails of the past year or so, it was growing faster in % terms than they were.

[Steely Tom]

Everyone was saying “the old model doesn’t work anymore” back during the internet bubble.

Bill said it to Monica right around the time the internet bubble started.

[Olog-hai]

This is just Lenin’s NEP rehashed.

[DiogenesLamp]

Unleashing the power of capitalism can work miracles.

The command economy system was never viable. It is contrary to the nature of man.

[lee martell]

Hillary’s alternate campaign slogan: Old Grey Mare just aint what she used ta be!

[Mr. Jeeves]

Good article. There are any number of “progressive” local government officials in the USA who would benefit from traveling to China and seeing what the natural result is when government is too preoccupied to waste time micromanaging small business. The trip would challenge every premise they hold dear. :)

[Jim W N]

China’s waking up to the amazing realities of the free market economy.

America which became the most prosperous and strongest nation on earth through the free market economy has forgotten the advantages and strengths of the free market.

China and America used to be going in opposite directions, America towards freedom and prosperity, China towards totalitarian slavery and dearth. America and China continue to go in opposite directions except now, America is headed for socialism and lack while China is headed toward free enterprise, economic expansion, and wealth.

Amazing.

[Vigilanteman]

Because people along the route had realized that there was demand and quickly organized supply. That's so Chinese.

Xin sure nailed that one! You can go to the most out of the way little towns in America which won't support a McDonald's or a DQ and you'll still likely find a restaurant run by a Chinese-American family.

It has been that way almost since the 1880s when the railroad was built. Read the history on out-of-the-way former railhead towns like Milford, Utah and Benton, Wyoming and you will find Chinese restaurants and businesses were as much a part of the Wild West landscape as saloons, cowboys, outlaws and U.S. Marshals.

It is almost surprising that Europeans and not the Chinese "discovered" America due to an early 1400s quirk in Chinese history which caused the ruling dynasty to downsize what was then the biggest fleet and trading empire in the world.

[BeauBo]

As you point out, many factors contributed to China’s rapid growth in recent decades. Some can’t be replicated, like the demographic wave that drove expansion for a generation, but will be a drag on the next generation. Likely the Government’s long run of explosive spending on infrastructure will be financially unsustainable in the near to mid future. The low-cost manufacturer advantage is likely gone for good, and previously successful currency and trade manipulation strategies have become well recognized by other countries. Intellectual property theft profits will probably never again reach the growth rates of their heyday.

Chinese people (like Jews) tend to outperform other ethnic groups economically, in many different setting around the world. Cultural factors drive that, like the Confucian value of study, education and self-cultivation; as well as an entrepreneurial tradition, and ties of family support. That is China’s great advantage going forward.

The major determinant will of course be the Government in China, as it has been since the communist dictatorship was imposed. If the Chinese people were free of state control and Party corruption (but had stable rule of law), the boom would quickly overcome the painful adjustment that now seems imminent.

Will the Government unleash the people, fortify their cages, or be overthrown? That is the question.

[GOPJ]

Because people along the route had realized that there was demand and quickly organized supply. That's so Chinese. In a well-organized country like Germany, such a problem may not have arisen in the first place, but in China people immediately recognized an opportunity.

LOL - sounds like old fashioned capitalism at work... supply and demand... And yeah that works in the US AND in China and everywhere people trust free markets.

[central_va]

China went from basket case to manufacturing power house in collusion with and help form the USA allowing companies to off shore knowing that the US would never erect trade tariffs. This was part of a cold war strategy that back fired on the USA. The whole thong is phony like the fake ghost cities they build.

Wait till the ChiComs switch form building benign fake cites (at the west's request ) to building a real blue water fleet to sustain their workforce.

[dfwgator]