American Syndrome

It’s been apparent for a long time, of course, that China is more enamored than repelled by all things capitalistic. In fact, the long-term, master plan has been anything but inscrutable: to be a major global economic force and then beat the U.S. at its own game. Remember Red China? So “Manchurian Candidate”-dated.

Today’s China is a mega, hybrid communist state with seemingly incongruous touches of the system once officially reviled in the People’s Republic. It’s been a Long March to millionaire neo-Mandarins.

China is now America’s most formidable economic competitor, second-largest trading partner and biggest debt holder. And now this: The Olympic sports arena in Beijing has sold its naming rights. The 18,000-seat basketball facility will now be called the MasterCard Center. The parallels with Western capitalism are ironically eerie and they continue apace. In fact, we’ll know the Great Leap Forward has finally jumped beyond ideological redemption when we read of suburban Beijing’s 1-800-ASK-MAO Amphitheatre.

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