China's ongoing experiment in institutional schizophrenia is at least better than the alternative; the bad old days. A Chinese court has decided to uphold Starbucks' copyrighted trademark. The ruling that could portend tougher outcomes for rampant video and music piracy in China, which has been a justifiable sore point with American entertainment comglomerates. One more sign that globalism and capitalist running dogs are on the loose: Wal-Mart expansion continues in China.

But cognitive dissonance lurks in the Chinese public sphere. If you're a Chinese citizen, just try getting a ruling - ANY ruling - from Chinese courts about whether your lawsuit against the government can proceed. Can you spell b-l-a-c-k h-o-l-e? And mind you there are a LOT of reasons to sue the government in China these days.

Moreover, unease is building in abroad and in China about continuing censorship there of the press and the Internet.

So, naturally, the clued-in central authorities have decided to beef up the staff of the Marxist-Leninist academy in Beijing.

As well, The Hall Of Supreme Harmony (below) - in Beijing's Forbidden City - is being rehabbed in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Real harmony will be harder to achieve, as tensions grow between the nation's economic liberalization and the yen of old-line communists for centralized authority and social engineering.

Here are a few things Beijing should do to make life easier for the lower-income rural and provincial citizens who bear the brunt of social inequities in China today: don't steal their land; don't have them beaten by hired thugs for protesting land seizures; and don't force the women to have abortions.

Um, for starters.

TECHNORATI TAGS: CHINA, STARBUCKS, COPYRIGHT, WAL-MART, CITIZEN LAWSUITS, HUMAN RIGHTS, LAND SEIZURES, FORCED ABORTIONS, HALL OF SUPREME HARMONY, BEIJING, 2008 OLYMPICS

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 3, 2006 12:06 PM