AcknowledgmentsIntroductionGames of Numbers: A Note on Methodology and EpistemologyArrangement of the BookChapter 1 Political Governance: People's Dictatorship and the Party `State'The Tragedy and the Grand DetourThe DNA of the Party-State: Mao Zedong ThoughtDeja vu in Beijing: Xi Jinping ThoughtCCP Optimality and China SuboptimalityPeople's Lives and Rights in the People's RepublicExtra-Legal Means for Extra ControlThought Work, Jingoism, Officials-Standard, and Power FetishismThe Partocracy and the Police StateThe Ruling Class and the AristocracyIntrusion, Insecurity, and IntranquilityChapter 2 Economic Record: Socialism with Chinese CharacteristicsThe China ModelIncompetence and Failures: Mao's Great Famine and Stark StagnationThree Decades of Prodigious GrowthDistortions and DysfunctionsExtraction and ProfligacyQuantitative Assessments of the RecordWhat about India? A Note on ComparisonChapter 3 Social Life: Bitterness, Happiness, and ResistanceA Bona Fide Developing CountryBitterness Eaters and Luxury IndulgersInequality and PovertyDisaster ReliefThe Elusive HappinessVoting with FeetWatched, Worried, WrathfulChapter 4 Spirit and Ecology: Culture, Ethics, and the EnvironmentThe Officials-Standard and SocietyThe CCP Pantheon of Demigods and ChiefsMoral Vacuum, Amnesia, and the MindAnecdata of CorruptionAcademia and Education"We All Fake It"Publication, Antiquities, and GastronomyThe Environment and EcologySuperpower of ImitationEpilogue: From the RecordNotesWorks and Sources CitedIndex