So where was Reagan in all this, playing hop scotch?

[nikimcbee]

The Chinese have been moving farther and farther from Mao and their Communist princicples for 30 years. what are you talking about? They may still be a one-party state, but it is Communist in name only.

Good observation There was a great Frontline show a couple of years ago about China, and that was something that I totally noticed. The modernized half of China (the eastern half with modernized industry) is laissez faire with gov't intervention. As long as business doesn't make the gov't look bad, they leave them alone.
Then there's the Western half of China, they are still following communism pretty closely, and they are back ass backwards. They have horrible healthcare (the gov't controlled healthcare btw) a horrible standard of living, etc. This, btw, is a major challenge for the Chinese gov't to keep the peasants on the their half of the country producing food for the rest of the country. The show was pretty interesting.