possibly noteworthy wrote:

Gradually, a compelling idea emerges: Now that the Communist Party has embraced crony capitalism, Gifford explains, it has become just the latest dynastic iteration in the great cycle of Chinese history, every bit as autocratic, venal and corrupt as the Qing, Tang and Qin emperors and empresses. And when do Chinese dynasties fall? Not when the urban intelligentsia is restless, as was the case in the 1980s before the massacre at Tiananmen Square, but when the rural peasant class finally rises up, he concludes.

the communist regime has long been argued to be just another dynasty: foreign and short lived like the Mongols probably and certainly Mao was in the mold of Hongwu the first Ming Emperor.
I forget the history of China I read which argued the case - it was written a few decades ago but it was a lovely book with some lovely prints of the process of growing rice
certainly lots of dynasties - certainly the Ming were interested in reorganing society and particularly the peasantry
the communists were different especially under the Cultural Revolution by wanting to destroy history and the past and by destroying Confusionism
the communists were the first dynasty to introduce a new driving philosophy behind the Imperial civil service
communism is the first set of memes to make a major impact on China since Buddhism which had a major political impact during the Tang dynasty(618AD-907AD)

RE: 'China Road' by Rob Gifford