[robowombat]

That is a good point. The Chinese have a long history of dealing with idiot directives from the imperial capital. One smiles, bows and says ‘Of course oh wise Mandarin, we tremble and obey.” Then the merchants march out of the Mandarin's palace and figure out how to have two systems: one that appears to put things into compliance to the latest directive and a real system that totally circumvents the first

[dirtymac]

Then along came Mao and everything changed>