The joke, widely told in China, has the ring of a modern-day parable: Ronald Reagan approaches a crossroads. One signpost points to Capitalism, the other to Communism. He takes the path of Capitalism. Next comes Nikita Khrushchev. He goes the way of Communism. Last comes Deng Xiaoping, China's reformist leader. He stops just long enough to swap signposts. Then he heads down the new road of Communism-market economics by another name.rnChina is a country in which outward signs deceive. Booming cities glistening with neon and skyscrapers overshadow tin-roofed sweatshops. Shops overflow with fashion and technology, yet consumer credit doesn't exist, save for mortgages, and Chinese currency cannot be traded outside the mainland.
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