A Stitch in Haste

It's hard to partake of China's supposed "economic miracle" when you're busy being subjected to forced criminal confessions:

For three days and three nights, the police wrenched Qin Yanhong's arms high above his back, jammed his knees into a sharp metal frame, and kicked his gut whenever he fell asleep. The pain was so intense that he watched sweat pour off his face and form puddles on the floor.

On the fourth day, he broke down. "What color were her pants?" they demanded. "Black," he gasped, and felt a whack on the back of his head. "Red," he cried, and got another punch. "Blue," he ventured. The beating stopped.

Read the whole thing.

In the former Soviet Union, only something like 15% of the population were actually allowed the (literal) privilege of joining the Communist Party. Now matter how dismal economic conditions got as the "superpower" slouched toward eventual collapse, members of the Party never wanted for anything. That didn't mean, however, that the Soviet Union was any kind of "economic miracle."

The supposed "new capitalism" tolerated out of desperation along a tiny sliver of China's coastline differs only in the percentages and the format of the charade presented to the Western world and the naive tourists who fall for the con. The overwhelming majority of China's people live in abject poverty and perpetual oppression. Or are simply slaughtered.

At the end of the day, Communist is as Communist does.