Mao Era vs. Reform and Opening Up

The China Rises blog had an interesting post today noting that China has now spent more time in the Reform and Opening Up era than it did under Maoism. I'll refrain from commenting on the Mao era, except to mention the quote from Deng Xiaoping, architect of the Reform era, in which he said Mao was "seven parts good, three parts bad".

Aside from that, during last week's National Day holiday, the advertising/big brother flat screens in my building's elevators had a message commemorating 30 years of 改革开放 (Reform and Opening Up). Basically, there was a globe on a red background, and the message came in two parts: first (a rough translation), "For thirty years, we've watched (learned from) the world." Then, "Now, the world is watching us." I should have got pictures...