“Is the US government shutdown worth celebrating for the Chinese?” asked a post on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, almost two weeks after Washington locked itself into its political impasse. Thanks to a weeklong national holiday commemorating Communist China’s birth, which began, as luck would have it, on the same day D.C. decided to close its doors, the Chinese have had plenty of time to contemplate the question: Is a two-party democracy a system to envy or simply political delinquency?

China, as the chief holder of U.S. Treasury bonds—around $1.28 trillion—and thus one of the larger parties that wouldn’t be paid in the case of a debt default, may have justifiable cause to be concerned. America is hurtling toward the default deadline, on or around the 17th, having seen no sign of a real breakthrough over the weekend.

For the Communist Party, it has proved an opportune moment to propagandize and opine upon the perceived narcissism of China’s rival. “It is America’s arrogance that led to the U.S. decision to bypass the United Nations and launch a war in Iraq. It is the same arrogance that often lets America use its domestic policy to kidnap the global economy,” the People’s Daily, the Party mouthpiece, declared.

“As U.S. politicians of both political parties fail to find a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” pronounced Xinhua, the official state news agency.

For the apparatchiks in Beijing, a de-Americanized world will surely equal a Sinoized one. “Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated,” Xinhua continued. “Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world.”

The Chinese public is not unfamiliar with chaos. Beijing is known for its allergy to anarchy at all sizes and scales, which is why the Chinese, so far, have been the ones most baffled by the so-called shutdown. “Where are the riots, where is the looting and the pillage?” one perplexed Weibo user asked, echoing the sentiment of many sporting the #美国政府关门 (#USgovernmentshutdown) hashtag.

What’s striking, though, is that in the space created by social media, which has become China’s largest and likely most liberal classroom, microbloggers are taking the opportunity to tutor one another on the difference between federal and local authority in America and the protections, and perils, of the democratic process. “There’s real autonomy at work on a provincial level,” a blogger wrote. “The federal government has only limited impact on the everyday lives of the people. And the amazing thing is—the two parties can’t agree in the first place because both are desperate not to offend the voters!” Another added, “This is the meaning of checks and balances. No single dictator makes the decision. And to think, Americans put this much effort into determining their budget and preventing waste. So much so that the entire government will close if a majority cannot agree…”

Some microbloggers have been bold enough to take the state media to task for their sense of schadenfreude. “So many media outlets have been reporting on the theatrics of the American government shutdown. They claim that the war between the two political parties has harmed the people,” one microblogger named Wind on the Ocean wrote. “But those who have a little understanding of American history and politics will know that the American system of three branches of government and its checks are balances are actually in place to ensure fairness for the people!”

Whether the young mothers who have been cut off from their supplemental-nutrition programs or the homeless victims of domestic abuse will agree with this assessment is another matter. As the world’s first modern democracy enters its fifteenth day of political paralysis, 1.3 billion citizens of the world’s largest socialist state are returning to work from their political-holiday break, talking about what’s wrong and right with the Americans.

Photograph by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty.