Millions of People "Raised from Poverty" - Who Put Them There?

Hey Laowinners!

I'm getting concerned that the New York Times is getting paid by the CCP. Let me tell you why.

Article here- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/18/world/asia/china-social-mobility.html

There is this popular phrase going around on the western internet about how 800 million Chinese people have been raised out of poverty. That means that 2.5x the USA population, in China, now doesn't worry about the low income and living standards that the majority of its population once dealt with.

I am not here to refute that. That is an incredible figure, a feat accomplished in an incredible amount of time. 

I'll be the first one to say that the city I moved to in 2008 cannot even be recognized as the same city in 2018. It's truly astonishing. Talk to pretty much anyone, and despite some comments about simpler times, the very business (small and large) oriented Chinese are pretty happy with how life has improved. 

There are articles every now and then (that China HATES), which focus on towns and villages without running water, dirt roads, single room schools, and high rates of disease due to poverty and lack of health care. While I think those articles are important to bring awareness to these poor areas, by and large, China has improved its standard of living for a ton of people. Yes, this has predominately benefitted the Han Chinese, with even the poorest of Han areas getting a lot of extra love compared with the minorities, but that is a tale for another time.

No, the issue I have is who is being championed for this "great achievement".
China, as a modern nation under the very same CCP that rules it today was plunged into utter devastation and hell. The jolly cherished Mao, who's fat donut haired face plagues every banknote of the PRC, and his party were responsible for famine, poverty, environmental devastation, cannibalism, destruction of Chinese culture to it's roots, the death of millions, the restriction of basic human rights, and crippling the moral fibre of society for China's future generations. 

As a friend of mine once said - "If I cut my finger, and place a bandage on the wound, should I be congratulated for healing?"

So congratulations China, you destroyed yourself, learned that trade with the west would make you rich, and now force your citizens to congratulate you for "bringing them out of poverty". 

The danger in these articles is NOT to appreciate the people who don't suffer now because they aren't as poor as they once were. The danger is patting one party rule on the back, and congratulating it as if it's something to be envied in the free speaking world.