"I would also question how efficient China's government is given the high level of corruption"

That's an important point. I think India's greater press freedom and thus greater transparency is to its long-term advantage. Free and fair elections that can turn out the ruling party keep politicians somewhat more honest.

Here's a question for readers of HN who live in China or have recently traveled there: when you are out at night looking at new high-rise buildings, how occupied do they look? Do most windows show lights, or are most units in the buildings presumably unoccupied? I ask this to check a statement I read from a recent visitor to one city in China.

In Shanghai I thought the Pudong area was surprisingly empty, considering the tall buildings coming up everywhere. It is almost deserted compared to Manhattan, or even the other side of the river in Shanghai.

Did not notice this phenomenon in Beijing, however. I used to live there until recently, and know first hand that affordable office space is a huge headache.

In Ningbo they look pretty full. But Ningbo is small, only 5 or 6 million people.