China – one of the world’s fastest growing economies (and populations) is a place teeming with culture, chaos and communism, which at first glance appears to be a rather schizophrenic mix that can’t possibly work but it does!
When you take time to understand that China has approximately 7% of its land mass classed as arable – or available for food production and has 22% of the world’s population (1.8b people and growing) of which 81% live outside the main cities, the communistic policies and that of the ‘one child rule’ start to make some sense. No-one in China goes hungry, despite the poverty; and there are, for now, low levels of unemployment and a high demand for education. I spoke with a wide range of Chinese people – young and old, educated and not, and most appeared to understand, accept and support the level of control their government has over their lives as being for the greater good of China. What was disturbing to me was the level of control that China has over the ‘freedom of information’ and its control over the internet – my theory is that an uninformed population is easier to control, but even the Chinese Government must appreciate that this will eventually hinder progress and that their young people will not stay informationally suppressed for long..
China does face some significant challenges around food and water availability which currently are resolved by net importations of staples such as pork, cotton and soy beans. It is my belief that China will not stay at the ‘mercy’ of the markets which potentially makes them reliant on other nations and does not fit with their overwhelming desire to be self-sufficient and challenges the China-centric world view they aspire to attain.
It is my understanding that China has made significant investments in African agriculture with the intention that they can minimize their reliance on third party producers of food. It also gives them access to an inexpensive labour source which in my opinion will become a major issue for China in the next five to seven years as wage expectations of Chinese workers increase.
In summary – China is a great land of opportunity for the Chinese. I believe that their time as a global giant in manufacturing is nearing the end as international and national environmental and social pressures force them to implement safer, cleaner and more socially conscious practices in their manufacturing sectors. This will result in higher wage costs and dramatic changes to infrastructure in an effort to counter pollution to air and water. Some manufacturers are already considering a move in the next decade to countries such as Egypt and Africa to take advantage of the lower labour costs etc.
China’s ability to maximize and have faith in its people power is beyond belief. I attended a lobster festival in Zhue Ye where the stadium was finished only hours before the festival performance was due to start! If we hadn’t been told of this, we would never have guessed.
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