Asian Geographic2017

bottom right A Mao

statue behind a special

forces truck in Chengdu

right People in Hong Kong

at a vigil in remembrance

of those who died in the

Tiananmen massacre

Pedro Nueno, president of CEIBS and professor

at Spain’s IESE Business School, agrees: “Chinese

people live much better now than they did 20 years ago.

The fact that labour is much more expensive may deter

some businesses from setting up camp in China, but it’s

a huge victory for a country where domestic demand

is driving the economy, rather than exports and foreign

investment. Some say China is in trouble because it has

grown at its slowest pace in the last quarter of a century,

but I say a well distributed growth of five percent is

much better than a concentrated eight percent.”

Nueno believes that Chinese leaders are among

the smartest in the world. He defends the claim by

explaining how they use another characteristic of

communist states: government intervention. “The

Communist Party has reigned over different problems

of the market economy – the real estate bubble, for

example. It has set rules to make it more difficult for

speculators to manipulate the market. The same goes

for stocks, where the real value and market value of

companies were a world apart. The situation required an

adjustment, and Beijing didn’t hesitate. Their wisdom is

preventing a crash like the one in the US a decade ago.”

But not everybody likes this. Asked about the

protectionism that the American and European

Chambers of Commerce criticise in their annual

reports, Xu says: “It’s not something exclusive to China.

The US – especially with Donald Trump in charge –

and the European Union subsidise their companies,

contravening World Trade Organisation regulations.

They’re right to demand more economic reforms,

but they should also acknowledge the market economy,

and the profound reforms of China.”

Macroeconomics aside, Chinese millennials –

born long after the Cultural Revolution – are the most

confused about the meaning of communism. “They

teach us a theory that has nothing to do with reality.

The Mao we love the most is the one printed on 100

yuan bills,” jokes Chen Qing, a 25-year-old salon stylist.

“We have an entrepreneurial heart, but sharing is not

one of our strong features.”

Zhu Liya, a 26-year-old owner of a pearl trading

company, adds: “Communism as imagined by Marx

or Mao doesn’t fit Chinese people.”

Ding Chen, a purchase manager at a foreign-

owned engineering company, doesn’t see China as a

communist country either. “It’s just an authoritarian

government with a capitalist economy where laws

protect leaders’ businesses,” the 30-year-old says.

“That explains why the gap between the rich and the

Their mission is guided by a set of

questions: Why – and how – did

the mammoth disappear some the

mammoth disappear some the

1934–35

Mao Zedong launches the

Long March and establishes

CPC’s headquarters in Yunnan

1912

Puyi becomes the last

emperor of China and a

republic is established

1921

The Communist Party of China

(CPC) is founded

key events

1911

The Wuchang Uprising leads

to the Xinhai Revolution,

which ends imperial rule