Cactus

Any reason you find it funny or incredulous? IIRC a Technology Review article around 2004/2005 carried an article on engineers and (physical) scientists in different societies. Amongst it findings was that nearly all the senior politburo members in PRC came from engineering, physical sciences or military backgrounds. It was not a trend isolated to China, but also many Asian countries. In fact, in overall studies it is the Western and Western-influenced nations that are the statistical anomalies in how active their engineers and scientists are in policymaking. Now I would be more surprised if the commissars' background was in Corporate Law, Economics or Business Administration, as is the case with many Western political leaders.