Reply #2: Definitely China has made a lot of strides, but the point of the article [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

is that the latest economic developments have created tremendous inequality. Wide Angle once featured a segment on the rural unemployed who move to the cities illegally, leaving destitute villages of old people and children. The illegal workers, mostly in construction, are so badly off and have so few rights that they survive by camping out in their half completed construction projects. Meanwhile, the rich live as well as anyone in the world.

When China has political protests these days, it's not for political freedom, but against corrupt officials who favor the rich over the poor.