of both life and infrastructure, which delayed the country's modernisation. China may have turned out better had reforms started as far back as the Qianlong period, rather than going through a centuries-long "shock treatment". Internal divisions might be expected in any large country, but they certainly contributed to the civil wars and warlordism that plagued the nation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (and which still exists as long as TW and ML are controlled by different governments) - it's surprising that no foreign power was able to take advantage of a divided China to take over the country piece by piece the way the British did with India. The Japanese tried but failed miserably.

PRC disaster response was coordinated by the government. Had American libertarians run the show and de-emphasised emergency management, private citizens and organisations would not have handled the post-quake situation well. BTW I've spoked with Puerto Ricans whose families are still without electricity right now - I suspect the hurricane might increase separatist sentiment there.

Neither the US nor China has experienced a major war in decades, so there's no telling how citizens would deal with it - pray to Allah it never happens!

Elitism and lack of social mobility have been a fact of life in most places throughout history, you might as well call it a feature instead of a bug. Our ancestors were almost alone in attempting to establish a meritocracy, but how well did that fare when British gunboats came calling?

Americans are eating each other right now, I can't help but see parallels with previous episodes in Chinese history. I expect some degree of civil unrest but it's impossible to tell how bad. Political leaders could have supressed the extremism for the greater good of the nation, but instead chose to encourage division for the sake of their own short-term political goals.

I would say that Chinese political leadership (ML not TW, the Taiwanese are unable to handle governing even such a small island) has succeeded in spite of a less socially developed populace, whereas their American colleagues are flailing about in spite of having a docile and malleable citizenry handed to them on a silver platter.