When we read about China’s miracle economy, in large part, it is a myth.  Politics, Communist style, trumps economics and the growth numbers you see heralding its economic output are likely unrealiable, partial or distorted for political purposes.  Private business ownership as we know it does not exist there.  The banks and major industries are subsets of the state apparatus that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party.  People, or shall we say, party members can accumulate much wealth in China, but like Jack Ma, of Alibaba, if you get too big the Party may bring you down, just as it once raised you up.  In China it is said that the state is rich, but the people are poor.  Regardless what we may envision, the standard of living for the average Chinese citizen has not  risen in what are perceived as heady times for China.  In his newest book,”China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower” internationally renowned historian, Frank Dikotter, one of the leading China scholars in the world, debunks many myths we have about how things are going in China.  Our complex relationship with China should not cloud our understanding that the CCP’s goal was never to join the democratic world, but to resist it-and ultimately defeat it.