China’s Way Ahead Is Still A Leap of Faith
By Philip Shaw M.Sc.

I have been to China twice. However, does Hong Kong really count? I think so. The first time I ever set foot there was 1993. I flew in from San Francisco. A that time it was still a British Colony. Flying into Hong Kong at that time was akin to playing dodge ball with high rises. Airlines had to meticulously avoid high-rise buildings and then land the plane on a dime. Straying into China’s airspace was a no no.

Fast forward to 2003. Your loyal scribe once again landed in Hong Kong, but this time it was really China. The old airport was gone, replaced by a shiny new pad outfitted with the latest amenities and bereft of any flying gymnastics. As in 1993, I was on my way to Bangladesh. My China experience didn’t extend beyond that.

However by extension, I’m there this week. My co-author and partner in crime, Dr. A.K. Enamul Haque is in China. Before he left I told him East West was going to be about China this month. Essentially, he’d be reporting on what he’s seeing and doing. Why he’s there I’m not sure even he knows.

We shall see. China is like the proverbial young elephant in the burgeoning world economy of 2007. In almost every economic analysis China stands out as this great mass of humanity with a growing income, which will change the way the world works. In North America consumers have benefited from millions of consumer goods made in China and sold in various retail establishments. You cannot move anywhere in the retail economy without seeing something from China.

Of course everybody is waiting for that trend to turn around in a big way. That is China’s increasingly richer population starting to demand higher end consumer goods from North America and Europe finding there way into Beijing and Shanghai. Of course it’s already there. Getting into the Chinese market in a big way is every North American marketers dream.

Look at it this way. China represents about 1/5th of the people in this world. They have over 20 cities with a population of over 5 million. In Canada for instance we have none. The Chinese economy is huge reaching a point now where it’s 2nd on”purchasing power parity” among world powers. Economic growth is close to double digits, enabling the economy to double every eight years. Get the picture. It’s a big smoke over there. Anybody who is a player in this world economy cannot ignore them.

It has become in vogue throughout much of the western world to look at China with rose coloured glasses. I’m not so sure what it is like in Asia. I know when I’ve visited Bangladesh there are Chinese almost everywhere I go. In 1993 there were Chinese working in Cox’s Bazaar, the seaside resort on the southern coast of Bangladesh. There were also Chinese in Chittagong, Sylhet and of course Dhaka. They were seemingly everywhere, projecting their influence and working away.

One thing I often caution my western readers is that this Asian panacea they often dream about from an economic perspective doesn’t have a peaceful history. China and India have fought a war. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been at war. Myanmmar is a global pariah. Launch one rogue North Korean nuke into this mix and the whole economic turnip wagon tips over. Nobody in the western world wants to think about that.

However, I’m sure it’s that way in Asia too. Think of it this way. When I’m in Bangladesh I’m very aware that India is the big player in the region effectively getting whatever it wants. Ditto for China. It’s completely obvious when I was in Singapore and Australia the influence, which China exerts.

So it is what it is, a giant just waiting to take its place as the leader of the world’s economy into the later 21st and 22nd century. However, it is also a society where everything is not particularly clear politically, legally and socially. There are lots of problems, with geography, visible minorities and legal and banking infrastructure, which could cloud the way ahead.

Chinese Premier Den Xiaoping used to muse about Chinese economic development as “crossing the river by feeling the pebbles”. We all know that feeling. Inching your way across a watercourse feeling the bottom, you never know what you might step on. Still, even after all of this progress, China’s way forward is still a leap of faith.

China: the Next Giant in the World
A.K. Enamul Haque PhD

When I received the invitation to visit China, I was debating whether to take it or not. The reason for such debate was not at all linked with the current status of China in the world but it was linked with my class schedule, as I have to miss two weeks of classes. It is not an easy decision for me. However, I took it because I wanted to see this giant! How big is China – as you have already heard from Phil, it is the second in the line in terms of purchasing power parity. However, here is more – it is the biggest economy in the world in terms of consumption and investment expenditure. China achieved this status in 2006. It has been the number one car buying country in the world for the last decade or so. India is next!

With a billion in population, I thought China would be like Hong Kong. Quite crowded! I also thought it that it would have a lot of control on its population (as most of the western media poses). I thought poverty is something that I would see in many pockets of China. I thought that I have been visiting a third world economy! Well, most of these had been proven wrong to me? Shall I believe it!

On January 26, 2007 I left Dhaka, Bangladesh for Kunming, a city in the south-central part of China. The airline was China Eastern. Frankly speaking, this was a surprise to me! I had no idea that so many people travel to China through this route! It was a full flight! Among the passengers, I saw both Chinese and Bangladeshi people. After observing their discussion, I realized that the Bangladeshis are mostly the traders. Going to Guangdou province to pickup their products. China, is the biggest (if not second) trading partner of Bangladesh in terms of imports. It sells everything! As Phil has said – China is everywhere in the world. I often wondered where does China produce all this stuff?

As usual, I picked a window seat so that I could see outside as I was flying over India and then to China. My next seat neighbor was a businessman who runs a business in Sylhet, my home city! What a coincidence! The next one was an Engineer – traveling to China to look at power plants, an official tour for him.

When I landed at Kunming, it was cold 5 degree C. The airport was small but bigger than the Calgary airport I visited in 1989. It is very clean, well decorated and neatly organized. It did not take much time for me to go through the immigration and the customs. I realized that my visa was already in their network and so they did not ask any questions about me. Neither did they have a strange look at me. (Which I hate when I pass through most of the Western airports).

After passing the customs, I was almost bombarded by a number of Bangladeshi’s who were calling passengers to stay in their guesthouses or go to their restaurants. Clearly, I understood that food is a problem and they were ready. When I told one of them that I would like to catch a Shanghai flight, one of them told me to go upstairs. My flight to Shanghai was different. It was filled with Chinese domestic passengers. The food served in the plane was not much but I liked it. There is no scope for waste. One thing I also noticed that they did not serve any liquor inside the plane (although Chinese drink regularly).

When I landed in Shanghai, the team who were supposed to receive me was absent. I was totally dumbfounded. It was close to midnight. I also realized that I am in China! English does not work here! Bangla! Noops! A taxi driver came forward to help me. Obviously, he was interested in the trip but when I explained (using sign languages) that someone is supposed to pick me up, he took me to an info center where the attending person is expected to have some skill in English! It did not work. He also could not help. The taxi driver seemed to be nice enough asked me to give him a number so that he can call from his cell phone. I did. There was no answer. In today’s world, when we use email we often do not know where the person lives. I quickly remembered the time in 2003 when I called Phil from Bangkok to find Aaron Cosby, my Canadian host. I also had no idea in which city he lives. I gave three cities – Ottawa, Alberta and Winnipeg based on my exchanges with him. Phil located him in 10 minutes. This time, in Shanghai, I don’t have Phil! What next?

I waited for a few more minutes and then the taxi driver asked me to go to China Eastern’s desk to seek some help. I went but it was useless. I began to forget my English too. In broken English, I asked whether there is another airport where my host could have been waiting for me? Yes, he said. I realized that I should have given the code of the airport to my host but it is too late now. The fellow wanted to know which hotel I was going to stay? I had no idea! I finally located it from my PDA and asked the taxi driver to take me there! He took me to the taxi information center and they fixed the price for me.

On my way, I was surprised. This is not China! This is Canada! I am traveling on Hwy 401. The buildings are tall like that of Hong Kong but not as congested as I thought it would be. On reaching there, I found that my host has already called and they asked me to wait at the lobby.

Phil was right I did not have a clear idea where to go and what to see in China – in fact I did not know what was waiting for me in China. In a few minutes, two young men came to me and introduced themselves. They were very apologetic for the mistake. They carried my luggage into my room and then explained the program in Shanghai. Next morning is going to be a free day for us as most of my team members are arriving. So they have planned that for 4-5 of us who would be arriving in the morning, they will take us to an Old Chinese city – built during the Sung Dynasty. It was about 1.30 hours drive on a freeway out of Shanghai. The drive was wonderful. I realized that within 30 minutes out of the city, it is agriculture all around. The temperature is around 0 degree Celsius but hundreds of green houses were there – each one about 30-40 feet long 3-4 feet wide and 3-4 feet high. I realized that with a population of over a billion, agriculture is important for them.

My trip was to see the Ke Zhi Garden City. I was surprised to see the quality of its maintenance. It was built thousands of years ago and is now maintained as a tourist site.

It is clean – again, organized and well decorated. Our guide wanted us to have our lunch by the riverside, which would be the first formal food for me in China. They eat everything. But what surprised me is the number of dishes served in a dinner. Not less than 25 dishes served. I thanked my old friend Pan Xiaobo, with whom I studied in Guelph and who taught me how to use chopsticks! It worked. My biggest advantage was that I was with an Indian team and so they were prepared with vegetarian food.

The following day, I visited the Shanghai Zoo. Our job is to learn about tiger conservation, ex situ. China had four major types of tigers, Northeastern Tigers (Siberian Tiger), South China Tigers, Bengal Tigers (that Phil and I had seen in 1993 in Sundarban in Bangladesh), and the Indo-China Tigers. The facilities at the Zoo were excellent. I remember my first visit to the Toronto zoo. This is just like that.

The next day we visited the Shanghai Safari Park. I also remember my first safari visit in Ontario. To my utter surprise this is also well maintained. Better maintained than my memories of Canadian tour. What I am trying to give you is a comparison of what modern China looks like. Over the past two decades China seemed to have not only increased its productive capacity but also took measures to protect its wealth and heritage. At night, the Vice Mayor of Shanghai took us to a floating restaurant for dinner and a boat ride on the river Huangpu. The river cruise was fantastic! It seemed to me the whole city is lighted and choreographed. The commercial Shanghai was waiting for me. Boats with big – big screen TV’s were floating – advertisement gimmicks. Buildings as tall as 30 floors were lighted with giant screens – ads for the Olympic 2008. The dinner again was a surprise nearly a 30-dish dinner.

The next day we flew to Guilin city – a city of paradise, the most beautiful city of the South. Wildlife Conservation Officials and a private entrepreneur who runs a tiger-breeding farm in Guilin City received us at the airport. This is a small city like Guelph, but was clean and organized. At night we took a boat ride on the rivers. It was the most scenic ride that I have ever done in my life. Why? Again every thing was set like a photo album. Even the light-music-water show was synchronized with the arrival of tourist boats. Every second was important for them. The ride started at 8pm on the dot. The Mayor once again invited us for a dinner at 6pm. Unfortunately, he could not come at 6pm. At 6.15pm his officials decided to start the dinner in his absence. They did not want us to miss the boat ride! After all a 25-30 dish dinner will take at least one and a half hour to complete!

In the evening we were taken to a thousand year old limestone cave. What a beauty, again well maintained for tourists. The entry fee was 60 RMB or 9US$, not very small for an average Chinese! Most of the visitors were Chinese too!

In Guilin I stayed at the Ronghu Hotel. This is the hotel where many dignitaries including former Canadian Governor General Madam Jeanne Sauve stayed in 1987 when she visited China. President Nixon stayed here too. Today (31-1-07) I have come to Harbin, the capital of Heilongjhang province. The temperature is –14degree C. The flight was delayed due to bad weather. As I stepped out of Harbin airport – the cold caught me. My Chinese friends came with an additional coat to keep me warm! I stepped outside and began to remember my first step into Canada on December 26, 1985, when I literally entered into a refrigerator! I was shocked then but today I am nostalgic. I missed the snow in Canada and after a long; long time I have found it again!