In China, twenty years after Deng Xiaoping's reforms began, private enterprises are often still treated like unwanted children. Reality and necessity are changing this. In the first weeks of the year, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and other leaders emphasized the importance of private business to the nation's economic health.
Private enterprise is the likeliest savior.
Mao's portrait hangs on the wall along with quotations in oversized characters. Whenever I'm in trouble, I stand in front of this wall and recite Mao's quotations. That much is for himself. For foreign visitors he has installed a Chinese flag that emerges mechanically with the touch of a button at his desk. The flag rolls out to cover an entire wall.