The author compares conditions in China after only a few years of Communist rule to Nationalist rule 1912-1949, and finds China much improved. Like today, there was a need to invest in the provinces to avoid unrest and birth control was high on the agenda after a census revealed the population growth rate. That the trains ran on time impresses Fitzgerald, who had found the service even worse in the late 1940s than in the 1930s when the train might be halted by warlords battling, Nationalist soldiers rebelling, bold bandits, and teemed with soldiers who occupied any seat they chose. "It was unwise to rely on booked seats, unless a servant could be sent to occupy the seat hours in advance."

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