If your family lived in China, they might own their own house. But as soon as you stepped into the front yard, you would be standing on government property. In China, no one can own land. Only the government can.

China became a communist country in 1949. Communist countries like China have certain rules. Those rules differ from the rules in countries like the United States. Communism says that people shouldn’t own farms, businesses, or factories. The government should. People still work in those places, but the government gets the money. Then the government passes out the money to the people. Communism sounds like a nice idea. It sounds like a good way to share. But it usually doesn’t work very well. Usually people end up poor. Often they do not want to think of new ideas to make the country prosper.

But what about the new Summer Palace? That was a new idea for China. And the government didn’t think of it. A film studio did! The film studio spent money to build the palace. Then they collected money from visitors. That tells us something important. China is changing.

Now many individuals in China own their own businesses. They can make and keep their own money. Some schools are private too. The state doesn’t run them anymore.

What a big change! Still, China is not a democracy. Individuals do not run banks. The government does. That means the government decides who gets loans. No one lines up in voting booths to decide which political party should rule. In China, there is only one political party: communist.

Is the new Summer Palace right for China? That’s a good question. But here’s an even better question. Is China going to keep on changing?