Observing the USSR's fall, the Chinese Communist Party drew key lessons to ensure its survival: use overwhelming force against dissent, prioritize the Party's power monopoly even at the cost of economic efficiency, and aggressively assimilate ethnic minorities to prevent separatism.

Unlike the USSR's centrally planned economy, China learned to harness capitalism. It allows markets to create wealth but maintains the state's absolute power to direct industries and eliminate dissent. This hybrid model is a more potent and efficient form of authoritarianism.

The CCP's durability stems from studying and combining disparate models: the Catholic Church's hierarchical doctrine, the Sicilian Mafia's code of silence (omerta), and a rigorous analysis of the Soviet Union's collapse to ensure its own survival.

China's leadership consists primarily of engineers who implement strategic, multi-year plans for infrastructure and technology. This contrasts sharply with the US, where a government of lawyers navigates short-term election cycles, hindering long-term national projects.

A middle-aged Chinese citizen has witnessed the country's transformation from poverty to the world's second-largest economy within their lifetime. This experience fosters a powerful, innate belief that they are part of China's 'greatest generation,' creating a national self-confidence and will that the West currently lacks.

China's constant building of subways, high-speed rail, and parks provides tangible proof of national improvement. This "physical dynamism" creates a powerful sense of public optimism and builds political resilience for the Communist Party, a stark contrast to the stagnation felt in the U.S.

Xi frames himself and the CCP not just as successors to Mao, but as the fulfillment of a long arc of Chinese imperial history. He draws parallels to powerful Qing-era emperors, reimagining imperial China's legacy to legitimize the current regime's strength and global position.

Judging China's historical model as "economically inferior" is a category error. The Chinese empire's primary objective was stability and internal peace, which its clan-based system delivered effectively. The European fixation on progress and growth represented a different set of societal goals, not an inherently superior one.

Unlike pragmatic predecessors, Xi Jinping operates from a quasi-religious belief that China is divinely intended to be the "middle kingdom"—the world's dominant power. This ideological North Star explains his confrontational approach to geopolitics, even when it seems economically irrational.