Watching the Chinese Experiment
Posted on November 11, 2006 - Filed Under Punch Forum |
Ms. Ric
11 Nov 2006
Let’s not forget that China is only a fifteen-year old capitalist society. Through its 3,300 years of recorded history, through dynasties, anarchies, communism, and an attempt at being a republic, China barely opened its doors to foreign trade. The tragedy at Tiananmen Square in 1989 has a poetic justice ring to it. The Chinese government not only plowed unto its civilians, but it also plowed unto Mao’s Cultural Revolution and dogma of self-reliance. What was borne was an economic growth with no sign of slowing down. Their growth rate of 11.3% recorded earlier this year is certainly one of the highest with an inflation rate of a mere 1.3%. Their government can’t seem to approve enough business licenses to entrepreneurs, which will at some point eradicate their government-controlled workforce. Foreign banks can’t seem to stop extending bank notes and approve loans expecting a high return. And they can’t seem to open enough business schools to train their young men and women with insatiable appetite for anything westernized.However, a change this fast is bound to have its shortcomings. This change is happening in the cities, but not in the provinces where time seemed to have stopped in its track to modernization. The disparity between the haves and the have-nots is growing just as rapid as its economy. And reports of corrupt politicians are as rampant as their thirst for anything imported. Sounds familiar? Analysts from all over the world are watching if this soaring economy, this Chinese Experiment, will land gently or with a painful thud. I hope, for the sake of those millions of children borne in defiance of the one child per couple policy – they who will invariably inherit this gargantuan economy, that they will indeed have a soft landing.
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