The Chinese might not have the freedom to get involved in politics. But the ruling communist party has given its subjects one freedom since opening the economy to the world since 1979, and especially since China joined the WTO in 2000 - that’s the freedom to consume.
The stories about the booming Chinese consumer market strike a discordant note on one level. After all, the dominant global political debate about the Chinese economy is about how the country is a chronic under-consumer.
And yet, a day rarely goes by without an announcement by a western consumer company putting the China market at the front and centre of its future plans. Levi Strauss, the iconic US jeans company, launched a new global brand in Shanghai in mid-August, the first time the company said it had done so outside of the US.