China's "socialist" countryside

The top news story today is about the government taking steps to improve incomes for the rural population, to reduce the income gap with the cities, and integrate remote areas more closely into the economic miracle that is 21st-century China. The characterization of this process as the “New Socialist Countryside” raises a smile. There is nothing socialist about China’s cities these days, and the countryside, even less so. The genius of China manifests itself in so many little ways, one being its ability to hold two conflicting positions simultaneously without blinking. The West totally lacks that sophistication.