I didn't go into details because it's a bloody complex topic.
The quick and dirty of it is that the CPC is a 90 million organization drawn from the the entire population of China. Membership is open to the public, you just need to have a good academic record and the motivation to sit through political lectures.
Once part of the CPC, you can climb the ranks to leadership. It's not easy, but the system will allow anyone of any background to succeed if they have the skills and put in the hard work.
In other words, the CPC leadership is composed of the best and brightest from all segments of the population, their it does not represent any particular interest group.
The Chinese leadership also rules through active consultation. New policies are implemented on a regional level and local feedback is taken into consideration before the policy can be implemented nation wide.
The Chinese government runs countless number of surveys to understand the needs of the people in order to formulate their policies.
That is how the Chinese people exert control over their economy.
That all sounds good to me and I like the system very much, but you just offered a description of the system rather than an explanation for how the people in China exert more control over their economy than what is typical in a Western capitalist society. Those societies get their representatives through democratic voting and conduct surveys to understand public opinion as well.
Because we're not arguing about the socialist nature of China in 1949! From 1949 to 1978 China was socialist, bordering on communist. However, that system, even though it made people equal, had other flaws. Therefore Deng decided to transition China into capitalism.
I am. It's the long term trend of a country that was extremely socialist/communist turning into a country that is much more free market and less socialistic/communistic than before and that's what bought the success. This is the long term trend.
In the 1990s and 2000s, China was very capitalist. From 2010 onwards China began transitioning back into Socialism.
Compared to the long term trend, this is a bump in the road. Also, it cannot be established that China is becoming more socialist in this time period simply because there are more regulations on its economy, which can be seen all over the world. You have argued that pointing out something as a commonality between China and capitalist nations does not mean that it is not socialist but once again, it certainly cannot be used as evidence that it
is socialist. China's improvements that you have pointed out are most accurately described as common improvements made to all advancing societies. Aside from those things including the most impressive poverty alleviation, Chinese society and its unquenchable lust for wealth leading to the unprecedented rate of the rising private wealthy class are a clear movement towards free market and capitalism that is kept under control by the state to ensure that they can rise and make massive contributions but don't take over national interest. That is the beauty of the unique Chinese system that is neither too much socialist nor too much capitalist.
No, only that they use socialist policies to achieve that greater social equality.
Again, Socialism and Capitalism is a spectrum. You can improve your social equality with some socialist policies while remaining on the capitalist side of the spectrum.
Whether or not an action is socialist is clearly defined. If the action is due to state regulation with the intent of protecting the interests of the working class, then it is socialist.
So you say that China is socialist, then you say that it's a spectrum as no one is fully socialist or capitalist. In this case, you cannot just say that China is socialist, especially because you've pointed out that there are countries that call themselves capitalist out there that are more socialist than China. To rephrase that, you are saying that China is more capitalist than some capitalist countries. Given that statement, one can certainly not say that China is just socialist.
I agree with your spectrum very much and my main divergence from you is that I believe that China has moved so far away from pure socialism on that spectrum that socialism is no longer an accurate tag; of course, neither is capitalism. It should be called China-ism or something much more clever. I agree with China's system; I think it is the best in the world, but I don't care for the inaccurate title because it gives credit to something that has not earned it. China deserves the credit, not Marx or other early founders of the socialist model.
