The Atlantic: Capitalist heart, Communist brain
One of the people at the meetings we had today asked us what had surprised us most about China so far. I gave a lame answer that I cannot now recall, but I later realized that the thing which had actually surprised me most is the extent to which everything here is subsidized and directed by the government--and the fact that no one seems to wonder if that's a problem. Aside from the foreign ministry people and a few economists, everyone we've spoken to here has been either in the business of doling out subsidies, or in the business of collecting them. Read the story here.