alternatehistory.com

It endured years of warlordism, a communist takeover, and a Cultural Revolution that produced carnage, chaos, and national catastrophe. Yet mere decades after Deng Xiaoping's reforms, China has emerged as one of the most formidable nations of our time.

As a nominally communist power with a shockingly capitalistic economy, the People's Republic is no doubt one of America's greatest challengers in this day and age. Whether it can surpass or replace them is up for debate, but no matter what, it's indisputable that China has turned itself around.

But what if the Asian giant never travelled this particular path? What if instead of going Red before making a U-turn IOTL, it became--and stayed--a free market (not state-dominated) capitalist nation that lasted to the present day?
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