The showmanship was worthy of Cecil B. de Mille cinema extravaganza. The political choreography of the Communist Party of China (CCP) set to a stunning backdrop of red and gold, with a cast of dutifully dour comrades clapping on cue was a lesson in classic conformity. The script, the staging and the message mirrored many such predictable spectacles of times past. President Hu Jintao, the Party boss, exalted “The theme of the Congress is to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, follow the guidelines of Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the important thought of Three Represents.” Sugar-coated political offers were made to democratic Taiwan to rejoin the communist Chinese “motherland.”

China’s energetic economy is surging despite tight political controls. Hu Jintao admits, “Our economic growth is realized at an excessively high cost of resources and the environment. There remains an imbalance in development between urban and rural areas.” Pollution, rampant corruption, inflation and entrenched rural poverty where 40 percent of China villages even lack running water!

A week later after closed door deliberations, the Central Committee concluded, with an upbeat message, “The Politburo asked party members to profoundly understand and continue to promote the scientific outlook on development on the basis of social harmony, environmental protection and energy conservation in addition to economic expansion…the outlook has been incorporated into the Party’s Constitution which also enshrined Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaopoing Theory and the important thought of Three Represents (Hu’s thought).” So despite often giddy Western enthusiasm about the “changed China” the controlling CCP still plays the political oldies to the tune of years past.

New faces in the political lineup include Xi Jinping representing the glitzy Shanghai city and Party powerhouse and Li Keqiang (Hu’s confident from wayward Liaoning province) who joined the proletarian pantheon of the nine man CCP Standing Committee who rule China.

The stale state socialist ideology however is presented on slick and savvy Xinhua state news agency websites which in themselves mirror the contradictions of this changing China. The economic prosperity of wider parts of Mainland China has moved forward despite the dead letter of communist theory and precisely because of the inherently entrepreneurial talents and hard work of the Chinese people. This was something sidetracked along the reckless road to socialism during the first thirty wasted years of the People’s Republic between 1949-1979. Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms (originally initiated to save socialism from collapse) have worked well. The CCP knows that continued prosperity, at least in key regions, can presumably thwart the calls for genuine socio/political reform.

Thus in 2007 we see the 74 million members of the Communist Party of China ruling over the 1.3 billion people of the People’s Republic; fewer than five percent rules 100 percent. In recent years the CCP itself has jumped into lucrative business ventures, not what many people to presume to be free markets but ensuring crony capitalism and promoting the PRC’s Corporate State.

The Space mission has to do with overwhelming national pride and global standing, not a direct competition with the long running United States space program. Though China already has put people into space, the PRC does not aim at a catching up with the USA or Russia but rather competing with both Japan and India. Naturally such a program raises genuine concerns over the militarization of space and the potential to attack American communications especially given Beijing’s anti-satellite test earlier this year.

Returning to earth, a United Nations Environment Program report announced that air pollution levels in Beijing are not expected to significantly improve before the Olympics and remain at dangerously high levels despite official optimism. Some things never change.