[consumer451]

I mean, that's the marketing material. Once Xi declared himself emperor for life, that marketing material fell apart a bit, didn't it?

How is modern China even close to theoretical "communism?" It's certainly not Marxist, right?

[mghackerlady]

it follows marxist principles and is building towards communism, which isn't overnight. It's currently in a socialist stage. Also, Xi is closer to the captain of a ship rather than an absolute monarch. He has a lot of power, yes, but that's because the party trusts him, not because he demands it

[consumer451]

In the age of Mao, wasn't it closer to Marxism? There are more billionaires in China now, then there were back then. By that I mean, the wealth disparity in China is at an all-time high now, is it not? Xi removed the 2-term limit from his own position, and has been doing an excellent job at consolidating his power base, through all means necessary.

Disclaimer: I believe that pure "capitalism" and pure "communism" are marketing terms which both lead to authoritarianism, aka the "Horseshoe Theory of politics." To me, the natural end-state, if we survive the extremists is Social Democracy. However, it's boring and everyone appears to find the extremes far more exciting.

[tim333]

China was completely mucked up economically under Mao, especially around the cultural revolution. I went there in 1983 when GDP per capita was like $300 and it was a bit prison camp like. It's changed a lot.

[consumer451]

I was not there, but I believe that history shows that you are correct. I am not trying to sell Mao at all. If anything, he is a yet another ideological-extremist cautionary tale. (yet again, killed millions of his own people through poorly thought out absolutism)

Until Xi, China appeared to be moving in a good direction.

[tim333]

Yeah it's a shame Xi has reverted a bit - less economic freedom and more warlike. Still it's much better than it used to be.

[mghackerlady]

>In the age of Mao, wasn't it closer to Marxism?

Not really, marxism is a way of looking at the world, not an economic system in itself

>There are more billionaires in China now, then there were back then

They hadn't even built capitalism fully, so it makes sense that there was less capital

>By that I mean, the wealth disparity in China is at an all-time high now, is it not?

it is, and they're currently working on how to deal with that

>Xi keeps remove the 2 term limits from just position, and has been doing an excellent job at consolidating his power base, through all means necessary.

Sure, but that's just politics. Ultimately if the majority of the party had a problem with him he wouldn't be in power for long before a coup or a request for him to step down happened

[TulliusCicero]

> It's currently in a socialist stage.

No it's not. It's in a state capitalist stage.