As the world hurtles towards environmental oblivion, China is leading the charge. 'Cancer villages' have sprung from poisoned farmlands, unregulated chemical dumps have been exploding and water and food have been contaminated. With a poor record on industrial safety, China's plans to widely adopt nuclear power are terrifying the world. Richard Smith looks into why this ecological apocalypse is so much worse than under 'normal' capitalism. Absurdly, Xi Jinping's police-state is incapable of suppressing pollution in its own industries. Since the Communist Party's rulers depend upon the state-owned economy for their wealth and power, they subvert their own market reforms, meaning China suffers the worst of both worlds - irrational Stalinist bureaucratic tendencies mixed with the blind growth of capitalist market demand. Corruption is rife, there is no rule of law, and since cutting pollution means cutting jobs, more often than not Beijing allows industries to pollute to meet its growth targets. The only way to stop China's drive to collapse is to slam the brakes on its ceaseless overproduction and to revolutionise its economy on the basis of social need and sustainability instead of profit.