It's this difference of tone and attitude, more than any specific contrast in investment patterns or growth percentages, that to me represents "what is going right in China." Like anyone who has been in China recently, I can give you a hundred-item list of serious problems for the country and its institutions. But so far, I've always been able to list of a hundred-plus-one strengths, assets, and ambitions expressed by individuals and organizations there. I was in Beijing again last week, and, in addition to being reminded of all the crises, I was exposed again to a sense of national movement and ambition. That may seem a vague reed on which to rest an assessment of a nation, but I think it's unignorable, it's important, and it's part of why it's foolish to bet against the Chinese system's ability to cope with its challenges.

Orville Schell:

Reading Jim Fallows' offering on "What's right with China?" left me reflecting with a surprising sense of nostalgia on a dinner that he and I -- along with Evan Osnos from The New Yorker and Ed Wong from The New York Times and our wives -- all had just had a few days ago in Beijing at the restaurant Capital M. It was a lovely balmy, smogless, spring evening and we all sat out on the terrace with other Chinese patrons (now part of China's burgeoning middle class) as the sun set behind the Front Gate and lights came on in Tiananmen Square. From this admittedly privileged vantage point, the city seemed well-ordered and together and China's progress quite stunning and miraculous. This was especially true for my wife, who grew up in Beijing, and for me -- I'd first arrived in the capital in 1975, when Mao still reigned and the Cultural Revolution still raged. All of us at the table were ink-stained wretches who have indulged in our share of fault-finding and cynicism in China. But, looking out over Beijing on this magical evening, we found ourselves suddenly, counter-intuitively, feeling nostalgic about the city. This was especially true of Evan Osnos, who is about to leave China after many years in residence for a new posting in Washington, D.C., which Jim Fallows calls home.

As we ate, we found ourselves discussing what a fickle mistress China can be, how she seduces even as she repels, creating oscillating fields of attraction and repulsion that have left all of us both exhilarated and dizzy, grasping for something solid to hold onto in what often feels like an endlessly spinning room. To say that China's progress has been a study in cognitive dissonance would be an understatement.

So, even while China offers myriad things deserving of criticism, and even though journalists often understand a situation by finding out was does not work, Jim Fallows is absolutely right about the way the better side of the Chinese government's activism deserves note. Its commitment to dealing resolutely with certain kinds of problems, such as clean energy, the building of infrastructure, supporting education, investing in scientific research, etc. have created a spirit -- "a difference of tone and attitude," says Fallows -- that, instead of conveying an air of being hemmed-in by an era of limits, conveys the feel of a society hell-bent on building a more prosperous and stronger country. It also reminds us Americans, who increasingly are being propagandized to believe that governments are the problem not the solution, that there actually can be a constructive role for government.