Martin, there's not much in a sense of "sophistication" in modern China but plenty of cut throat plagiarism. The civilization of great qualities sadly dates way back before the communists. Both, the old and modern China have something considerable to offer to humankind; however, the greed and desire to lead the world corrupt just about everything the human race may stand for. If the US did not set the bar so high, some other nation would have; if China did not climb up the ladder so fast, dictating its own values, the US would have been unchallenged.

Anyhow, had communists not privatized, their modern China would most likely not have entered the WTO to which they have broken so many promises. Then, the communists would not have been as modern and their leaders would not have gotten as wealthy at all. Perhaps, they would not be able to hold on to their powers and some other corrupt dragons would be abusing the peoples system. What is depressive is that another emerging power in the world is as dishonest as the current one and its corruption hunting leadership is as unscrupulous as the ones it seeks to convict.