Revising the constitution is one small step of many aimed at helping the party catch up with the times.
"Everybody knows this is a capitalist system. It's raw capitalism. But nobody wants to confront the issue," says Laurence Brahm, a Beijing-based political economist and owner of a restaurant called The Red Capital Club.
Registering a "Communist Burger" fast-food outlet in Dallas, Texas, might not go over so well either, he notes.
The leadership is wary of loosening controls, Ding says.
"It will take a long time," he says, "for China to bring official ideology and culture in line with economic and social reality."
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