Why is China still referred to as a communist state? In fact, why is "communist state" even in our vernacular? It's an oxymoron. In a communist system, there is no state as everything is owned by everyone. There is no central authority; the authority is left up to the proles. The fact that people need to find employment and actually buy things, and the fact that there is still difference in comfort of living, shows that China is, in fact, not at all communist. The fact they aren't even working towards a classless system, shows that they aren't communist, even taking a loose definition of the term.
Edited for clarity. Instead of just down-modding me, I'd appreciate some (hopefully constructive) criticism as to why I'm being down-modded. My email is in my profile if you'd rather not clog up the comments.