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Comment by platevoltage | Hacker News Reader

Right. Calling China "Communist" is the same as calling North Korea "Democratic". It's State Capitalism.

Its State Capitalism (which is a complete misnomer), in about 2% of the country which is in "special economic zones" around major ports. In reality it is "socialism with Chinese characteristics". The number of own goals the CCP has made in the last decade is quite large. But when your opponent is making a mistake, don't interrupt them. Without the CCP, China would probably have the world's largest economy right now. Because of them, they aren't even close and have a median per capital GDP on par with Namibia. Seriously, the amount of propaganda about this topic is amazing.

Now, think about all the own goals the USA and Europe has made in the last couple of decades.

And, btw, China actually does comfortably have the largest economy (PPP, i.e. the real stuff you can use), for over a decade.

And, for what is is worth, this is what ChatGPT tells me:

Here are the approximate recent (2024–2025) GDP per capita figures for the two countries:

China

Nominal GDP per capita: about $12,500 – $13,000

PPP GDP per capita: about $22,000 – $24,000

Namibia

Nominal GDP per capita: about $4,500 – $5,500

PPP GDP per capita: about $9,000 – $11,000

A factor of 2-3x is not 'on par', tone down on the reality bending a bit, please.

According to the International Monetary Fund China does have the largest economy if you go off GDP (PPP)

[1] https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADV... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)

Both countries are communist countries by the way.

The fact that communism naturally evolves in totalitarianism should be noted.

Yeah? Classless, stateless, moneyless societies?

The well known Chinese factories where the workers controls the mean of production!

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