China’s Confounding Contradictions
Steven Pearlstein wrote this commentary piece on the Washington Post today. (Sub required.)
“To the first-time visitor, China is a country of fascinating and, at times, maddening contrasts and contradictions.
There is, of course, the stark contrast between the mean life of the countryside and industrial cities and the genuinely cosmopolitan prosperity of cities such as Beijing, with its modern glass and marble office towers, its dramatic new airport and efficient subway, and its glitzy hotels and shopping malls. ”
“The Chinese are absolutely right when they chastise Americans for misperceiving their country as a monolithic society with an all-powerful government that threatens our prosperity. The problem is, they misperceive us in just the same way. Until we untie that perceptual knot, the economic relationship will continue to be tense.”
