The People's Republic of China's first Great Leap Forward thrust it forward at the cost of some 40 million lives. And while its Second Great Leap Forward appears to come at a smaller cost in lives, it may prove to be equally fragile.
The saving grace of the PRC economy has been the willingness of Western companies to use it as a cheap labor market. Capitalism accomplished what Communism could not, giving its industrialization focus. But beneath that China is still a Party oligarchy which is stuck thinking in terms of giant projects and major goals. The New China is on its Second Great Leap Forward and still trapped in Mao's legacy.