China’s bright future

Re “China’s dark triumph,” Opinion, Jan. 13

I believe this is an inaccurate headline. By lifting 400 million of its citizens out of poverty in 30 years, the Chinese government has in fact achieved a human rights feat unmatched by any country in the history of the world. This ought to be described by The Times as “China’s bright triumph.”

Harry Sauberman

Irvine

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Am I a hopelessly naive optimist if I look at China and say that the glass is half full? Thirty years ago, China was North Korea on steroids. The rapid transformation of the country from communism to capitalism is nothing short of astounding.

China still has a long way to go to approach our standards of human rights and democracy, and maybe it will never get there. But let’s give the experiment some more time to play out. Free markets require and create a culture of people thinking for themselves instead of mindlessly following a “Dear Leader.”

Frederick Singer

Huntington Beach