Illustration by Eric Palma Almost 60 years have passed since Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China in October 1949, promising an economic system that would muzzle capitalism's running ...

A portrait of China’s former leader, Mao Zedong, in Beijing. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) China turned to stern rhetoric from a historic conflict with the U.S.—the Korean War—as it steeled itself ...