LM leaving list "for a while"/China's socialist path --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Gulick -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JG sez: I wince at the suggestion that I'm in the same league as Marty when it comes to the political economy of anything East Asian. I'm in no position to offer trustworthy insight as to what's really going on inside China.... very few are. Perhaps too intemperately, I was simply warning against drawing conclusions from CCP press releases. Even when policies coming from the central government sound excellent and deserve our "critical support" (FWIW, which ain't much!), they are routinely given lip service but not obeyed, subverted, ignored, etc. Despite conventional understanding China is very decentralized and chaotic and often Beijing can't do much more issue than pleasant-sounding directives. One has to be a seasoned political sociologist or veteran bureaucratic infighter to understand this and report credibly (and I am neither)... which is precisely why, Ravi, I considered Eric's postings to be so much insubstantial dross. ^^^^ CB: Would a fair summary of what you say be you are in no position to offer trustworthy insight as to what's really going on inside China.. BUT your are pretty sure that Eric's postings were so much insubstantial dross ? You don't know what's going on in China , but you _do_ know it's not what Eric and the CCP say ?
