> Check. China's 'peasants' and 'peasant-workers' (still about 70% of
> the population) are on the whole pretty destitute.
Relative immiseration isn't the same thing as absolute immiseration. China's biz elites and developmental state are investing that surplus like mad -- investment ratios are past 40% of GDP.
> Independent industrial base? Can you give examples?
Haier? TCL? SMIC? Lenovo? One third of the world's electronic parts? State of the art MPU tech (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/25/china_cpu/)?
>> invests
>> heavily in research and education,
>
> Don't see a lot of investment into R&D.
It's not a question of official national laboratories, much of it is backdoor investment, by local or municipal enterprises who spin off start-up high-tech firms in Zhongguancun and elsewhere. The case histories of Lenovo and other high-tech firms make fascinating reading on this point -- the boom wouldn't have happened without the helping hand of state agencies, scientific-technical personnel, etc. bequeathed by the Maoist era.
> The best book on the subject (Riskin and
> Khan) convincingly showed that redistribution in China after the
> 'Reforms' increased inequality.
Absolute inequality has risen, sure, as the urban coast has taken off while the interior has stagnated, but Chinese urban wages aren't falling like a stone.
> China's biggest banks are no longer solely state-owned. You must have
> seen the news about the sales of large chunks to foreign investors.
But not even close to a majority of the voting rights of those firms. The yuan remains under the tight control of the state authorities, who know full well that their forex reserves are a Mitsubishi-Tokyo-Bank-sized pulse weapon aimed straight at the heart of the US oiligarchy.
> Actually if you visit a glitzy city like Shanghai and then visit a
> rural inland area (or suburb!) you very well may come away with the
> impression of 'neo-colony.'
One of my fondest wishes is to visit East Asia some day, but unfortunately I'm dead broke right now. (I will admit that one of the cities on my must-see list is Changsha...).
-- DRR