health care system is weak, with shortages of doctors and nurses and six times fewer intensive care unit beds per capita than in the United States. An official like Li Zaiyong might be more interested in building a gleaming hospital filled with sophisticated equipment. Their attention drifts, however, when it comes to installing the trained technic

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I got quite mixed messages about the state of public opinion in China. This is to be expected in a society where you can't establish common knowledge. One person told me that the new generation is quite nationalist, unlike the older reform generation which personally experienced the catastrophes of Mao and the tangible benefits of liberalization. H... See more

China is like the thinking ocean in Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris: a vast entity that produces observations personalized for every observer. These visions may be a self-defense mechanism, allowing leftists to see socialism and investors to see capitalism; or, as Lem’s ocean might be doing, China is vastly indifferent to foreign observers and generates vi... See more