SQUALOR AND SPLENDOUR

The awful poverty and downright squalor of the Chinese working class is amongst the worst in the world but the affluence of their owning class is equally obvious. "The Chinese economy is booming at a blistering pace. It is driven largely by the Fudai: the superrich who call the superpower home. Many are just in their forties. From building 30-storey towers in just 14 days, to amassing a luxury fleet of sports cars or a private jet - China's million millionaires and 600 billionaires are helping to change the country's landscape. And China's mad rush to urbanisation is only helping these elites get richer and richer." (Aljazeera, 10 April) That this country of billionaires and poverty can still claim to be communist is surely one of the world's greatest travesties.RD