Posted 3 years, 5 months ago around lunchtime by oso
China, however, is not an equatorial country and according to some many, it will be in the 21st century what the United States was in the 20th and the United Kingdom was in the 19th. There is also a good chance it will rename itself to United Something or other. If you are interested in such things as global domination, then this podcast interview with Oded Shenkar, author of The Chinese Century : The Rising Chinese Economy and Its Impact on the Global Economy, the Balance of Power, and Your Job, is a keeper.
So I suppose if there were ever a time to become acquainted with Chinese culture, it would be now. Which may explain why I picked up the novel Waiting by Ha Jin. But probably not.
Manna talked with Lin ab
out Commissar Wei three days later. They both believed this was an opportunity she shouldn’t miss. The man was a top officer in the province - if her relationship with him developed successfully, he could arrange for her to be transferred to Harbin. That would open a bright future for her. Possibly the commissar could place her in a crash program for training doctors or in a college to earn a diploma.
In his heart Lin was quite upset about the possibility of losing Manna. He was also angry with the commissar, who could choose any woman simply because he had power and rank. As a man, he was as smarts as that old bastard, probably more handsome. Why couldn’t he keep Manna? The commissar must have plenty of women already, but he had only one woman. How true the saying was: A well-fed man can never feel a beggar’s hunger pangs. Lin was unhappy with Manna too, who, in his eyes, seemed eager to jump at such an opportunity. He said to himself, See how she loves power. She can’t wait to drop me.
Half a Life by V.S. Naipaul was upfront about its comparisons of Eastern and Western traditions of caste and class. Waiting, on the other hand is a Chinese love story, through and through, written to an English audience.
I think I woulda gotten a lot more out of it had I traveled in China or if I was more familiar with Chinese culture and language. Still, one theme of the book that kept catching my eye is how concerned the characters were with “improving rank.”
If the bank statement has become the collective raison d’etre of Western civilization, the same could be said of officer rank in 1970’s China (when the story takes place). It just goes to show that there is something strongly human about wanting to create and improve status, whether that status be judged by money, rank, college degree(s), or even blog ranking. Wealth is the usual favorite determinant of status, but if you take class away, status will manifest itself in some other - and equally detrimental - form.
Later in the novel, after the Chinese government had begun to encourage entrepreneurship in the mid-1980’s, money began to play its part, though once again as a mere manifestation of status.
In his mind a voice replied, Because money’s more precious and more effective than love. If you had spend the money, everything would have worked out all right and you could have enjoyed a happy marriage.
The updated 2005 booklist:
Interesting podcast, thanks for the link. Good info on knowledge transfer and IP issues. I do wonder how China will deal with banking/food/pollution issues during this push for change. The world will be an interesting place.
BTW, China’s name in Chinese is sufficiently centric to remain unchanged to fit your paradigm: 中国 (lit. Middle Kingdom).
I began learning Chinese (Mandarin) last year, in part, for economic reasons.
The only thing I’ve read for class so far has been Amy Chua’s World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability which got into the extent of Chinese economic denominance throughout Southeast Asia. It made me finally understand what Vietnamese friends meant when they said another Vietnamese friend was “ethnic Chinese.”
I’ve read The Bridegroom by Ha Jin which I enjoyed a lot–it even made me sob. Alexi says that it is cuturally/lingusitically very Chinese. (Alexi lived and worked in Shanghai and speaks Mandarin). Let me know what you end up thinking of Ha Jin’s Waiting—I am going to have to pick it up.
It will be interesting to see if China will become the next superpower. It’s presence in South America already is amazing with the Chinese making deals with the Argentines (paying off their debt?), Brasilians (natural resources deals), and Venezuelans (new oil deals). Here, in the U.S. we may have no chance - can we find anything that is not made in China?
Chris,
I also wonder. It seems like everyone has their own opinion about China. Some say there currency is overvalued, others undervalued. Some say they’ll collapse, others that they’ll keep booming. I do know that much of what I own was made in China. And I also know that I would one day very much like to visit … especially the south. The new agreement between India and China is also very interesting. I’m curious what Chinese economic domination would mean for the labor movement.
Derek,
I had no idea you’re studying Mandarin. Ethnologue just taught me that China has a hell of a lot of languages. Will you share with us your business ideas and make us all partners? Your gravatar makes much more sense now.
Cindylu,
Yeah, I think what comes as a surprise to many is just how pronounced the diaspora of Chinese is around the world. Not just in South East Asia and North America, but also throughout all of Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and recently, parts of Europe (like Great Britian). That’s one of Shenkar’s main arguments of why it will be the “Chinese century.” When Abogado and I traveled through Singapore, Sumatra, Java, and Bali, it really was amazing just how many business owners were ethnically Chinese. As Seyd touches on, it is often said that the Chinese are the “1920’s European Jews” of Southeast Asia. And of course, like 1920’s Europe, it’s not without conflict. Jeff Ooi, a Chinese Malaysian blogger does an OK job exploring ethnic conflict between Malay and Chinese Malaysians.
Elenamary,
This post was supposed to be what I did think about Waiting. It’s a book I didn’t relate to much because I know so little about Chinese culture, but it’s still very well written and very powerful. A word of warning, there is a pretty graphic rape scene. Usually, I have to skip over those, but this one I read through … I think because I was so curious as to how he’d describe it from a Chinese point of view.
Yvette,
I agree. And now we must include India. It seems like they’re playing their cards well. It’s as if capitalism is the Lucha Libre and the best luchador has been excluded for the past 50 years. Very few believe me when I tell them that you can find a Chinese-owned Chinese restaurant selling some variation of Chow Mein in any pueblito from Tecate to Patagonia. I’m also starting to hear a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment here for coming in and “taking all the jobs away.” I can only sigh and tell them that’s the same thing Gringos say about them.
China, however, is not an equatorial country and according to some many, it will be in the 21st century what the United States was in the 20th and the United Kingdom was in the 19th.
Oso, as of late, I could tell that you and I have more instinctive differences than I had previously thought. First you buy into the new fad of “happiness research“, than you come with this.
For the record, I do not buy the whole “China will become the next super power” jargon recently coming out. I have not listened to the podcast you linked to, but I will go out on a limb and tell you why those prophecies don’t move me.
For one, we’ve heard it time and time again. Remember, Russia that they would take over the USA? Didn’t happen. Remember Mexico? Didn’t happen. Remember Japan? Didn’t happen. Remember India? Isn’t happening.
Now, I am not saying that this means it can’t happen, I am just trying to give some perspective. So we can address the real issues of economic growth.
I believe that the real growth mechanism, the real inherent ability for a country to grow to high bounds is three things, 1. The infrastructure (economic freedom) 2. Human capital and 3. Resources that other people want (whether they be invented goods, or farming, or whatever), in that order. The more economically free a country is, the greater its inherent potential to growth. Things like, low taxes, less regulations, low government spending, and fiscally responsible government (all, except for the last, are identical to modern day conservatives) are essential for economic growth. This is, imho, the primary reason none of the previous predictions of countries taking over the USA turned out to be true. Their economic fundamentals, economic freedom, was very low.
Sure, China has done alot to move in that direction. They have (finally) dumped alot of the BS communist policies and are moving towards economic freedom. They have some property rights now, less regulations, especially in the labor market, support free trade, lower taxation than they used too etc. But, and this is the big part, they are still far from being as economically free as the United States is. And, as long as that is the case, I don’t stay up at night worrying too much about China.
As for its current rapid growth, it has much more to do with its size and previously (and still, even with its current growth, currently) very low standard of living. It reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a Mormon. He was telling me that his religion is “the fastest growing religion in the world”. I shot back, well yeah, when your religion is not that big to begin with, it’s pretty easy to be “the fastest growing religion in the world”. For example, a religion of ten would grow 10 percent by just adding another person. But that is a very different picture than whether or not that religion is going to be a world power. The Catholic Church, for example, has more Catholic followers and converts in China (11 million) than there are Mormons in the world.
I see China in a very similar situation. With the only difference being that China has A LOT of people, and was a VERY poor country. So almost any good economic policy, even the most fundamental ones (like property rights, for example) will spur economic growth in China. And since China is so big, and has so many people living in poverty, any economic growth will have huge ripples throughout the rest of the world. But that doesn’t mean she will be anywhere near the USA in world power.
With that said, I do believe that China will continue to grow much more than she currently has. She has many more good economic fundamentals than the previous countries that were predicted to be a threat to the USA (a lot of very well educated people, a lot of untapped resources, free trade etc). And she certainly will pose a serious threat to those of us more vulnerable to free trade, people in my field for example, and those in other engineering fields (with IT and software engineers being one of the hardest hit). But remember, right now the USA is just starting to get adjusted to the repercussions of free trade with China. Jobs are lost at a much faster rate when free trade gets implemented than jobs are created. But because we are getting things cheaper from China, jobs will be created in other areas. And when they do, our economic growth will feel that as well, and Chinas remaining bad policies in other areas will start to place that upper limit whereas that will not be the case (or as bad) in the USA.
If you want something to stay up at night worrying about, worry about Chinas political stability, not her economic growth. It is a widely acknowledged fact that economic freedom leads to political freedom (as a pure coincidence, I am bloging on this very thing tomorrow). So as China grows more economically, it will push her more in a democratic direction. Meaning them communist leaning liberals controlling her will not be too happy. How they will respond to such pressures only the God knows. And with a country that big, that powerful, and with that many people, it’s something we should all worry about. I tell you this much, it will be nothing like Iraq, that’s for sure.
Please Note: This is not “conservativism” talking; this is HP talking out of his ass…albeit firmly held beliefs.
Damn, I missed the Oso rounds by five minutes!!! That’s what I get for proof reading my response (I usually don’t do that).
The podcast is definitely worth a listen. He talks about the differences in culture, finances, and technology that make China unlike the situations above.
HP,
Surely this is a joke?
No, not a joke, but it was a slip. What I really meant to say was “them liberal leaning communist controlling her”….;)
To El Oso, El Moreno, and El Abogado,
I have tagged you because I am interested in what you would write about…
What’s a China?
Moreno,
It’s that furry thing between your momma’s legs.
HP,
I’m not sure in exactly which catalog one finds the latest political “fads,” but I’m pretty sure we don’t get it here in Monterrey. And besides, discussing China’s potential global domination is nothing new. Chris is right … if you’re actually interested in learning about the differences between China and Japan, you should listen to the podcast.
I don’t remember anyone saying that Mexico would become a more powerful global economic presence than the United States. Though if it was said, I’d have assumed it was you my friend.
One thing that does seem obvious is that both you and I still have a lot to learn about China.
Yes, we all have alot to learn about China, but there is one thing I bet we can both agree on, it’s still too early to tell anything within a reasonable level of certainty.
Btw, wheres that email you promised me? Now that Cindylu dumped me, I am kinda lonely lately. I am starting to miss you, my little biiaaatttch.
HP, don’t be mad at me.