China's Generational Shift

This group has seen the fallings of Marxism-Leninism--in the collapse of the planned economy -- and the shortcomings of China's transition to a market economy -- in the vast and growing gap between rich and poor -- according to Cheng Li.  a political science professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and author of an upcoming book on China's new leaders. "Some have wondered if Adam Smith might have been as wrong as Karl Marx, although the consequences of their errors have been profoundly different," Li said in a recent speech on the Fourth Generation. "As a result, new leaders are far more interested in discussing issues that defending 'isms.' "