Communist China (12 cents)

That is how they refer to it. "They" being the Chinese, as well as the outside world. But, why is it considered a Communist country today?

The article in today's New York Times that stated that 78% of rural Chinese now lack health care (because they cannot afford to pay the required premiums) led me to thinking about this.

Are we sure that China is now not a Fascist country, rather than a Communist one?

Now, I will admit that I have never been too sure what a Fascist country is. I know that Hitler's Germany was Fascist, as well as Mussolini's Italy and (to a large extent) Franco's Spain. I have read many defintions of Fascism, but they never seem to be quite definitive enough. But, if you think of a Fascist country as being one with a one-party, dictatorial government, one where the government controls the majority of the means of production by a combination of state owned enterprises, and close ties with large private industries, where the press and other forms of communications are controlled as well, where leaders are venerated, where family relationships are highly regulated, and where the military keeps order in society, you have both China and the elements that prevail in Fascist countries. On the other hand, a Communist country would control all the means of production and not ally itself with capitalist forces, but provide all basic services to its citizens (certainly including health care).

I know that the Chinese Communist Party is still called Communist, but, truthfully, is it?