But this speaks of China strictly as a commercial enterprise, a factory and a store, a producer and a consumer, all rolled into one. In certain significant ways I would argue that Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are not fully developed, other than as marketplaces. As I read either while there, or soon after I left, the one freedom the Chinese have is the freedom to buy. This strikes me as a very attenuated view of development, much less advancement. If Great Britain were defined by the Industrial Revolution, I hardly think its place in history would be as prominent as it is. (Of course, people will argue about any such prominence.) Yet, as you say correctly, different people think differently. If a car, an apartment, and a steady income captures the aspirations of the Chinese people under the CCP, so be it. I like to believe that the students I worked with there in Beijing and Shenzhen think otherwise, but it's hard to know.