How China’s communists fell in love with privatization

Ait’s recent Visiting his hometown of Laixi in eastern China, Guo Ping received a shock: the local government sold off a number of state-owned assets, including two reservoirs. The small city’s finances, as well as those of the neighboring port of Qingdao, were under pressure, forcing officials to come up with new sources of revenue. This meant selling even large portions of regional infrastructure. The sales appeared to be part of what Mr. Guo, who asked to use a pseudonym, sees as a gradual economic deterioration.