Who else is surprised to see the world's most authoritarian government as a poster child for "communism"?

China is basically a fascistic society, with a sharp divide between low level worker drones and high level party officials. It also happens to be the world's largest prison, with mass internment camps and widespread surveillance. What is "communist" about this? Some of their nationalized industry? As if that outweighs the government's blatant disregard for the welfare of its citizens or the fact that it's basically a single party authoritarian regime. The one similarity between China and communism is that they both focus on improving the economy on a national level, but even that is an imperfect synthesis, since China is overall fairly capitalist at heart.<br><br>Why do people keep calling China communist, and what is communist about it, exactly? Or is the world just too cool with authoritarianism as long as it's not "right" wing?<br><br>Meanwhile India, which is basically a democratic nation that also focuses on improving the economy and welfare of its citizens, is denied the label of "social democracy" even though it fits. <br><br>Why do people keep calling China communist, and what is communist about it, exactly? Or is the world just too cool with authoritarianism as long as it's not "right" wing?<br><br>Meanwhile India, which is basically a democratic nation that also focuses on improving the economy and welfare of its citizens, is denied the label of "social democracy" even though it fits.