Feeling the Promethian energy unleashed in Bejing, it is easy to believe in China’s aspirations to restore itself to a position of global wealth and power. Indeed, over the past half-century, when the Chinese have put their minds to it, they have always demonstrated extraordinary fortitude and resolution, whether in embracing Mao’s revolution or in the equally unfettered way in which they are realizing the economic counter-revolution unleashed by Deng Xiaoping.