China Emerging_ 1978-2008 - Xiao-bo , Wu [41]
companies was basically the same. However,alongwiththepricewar,the companies engaged in a “conceptual war,” in which each loudly trumpeted its “technological transformation.” In the years to come, China’s electronics enterprises announced revolutionary technological breakthroughs with great regularity. For example, some declared that their refrigerators compliedwithgreenstandards,andthereforetriedtochargeRMB200morefor whatwasworthRMB10.
State-owned enterprises in this industrysworethattheyweresetting up new-technology centers. Later, people were amazed to discover that these so-called R&D centers were merely copying other products. New technology was absent, but new ideas abounded, and they were often ludicrous. For example, Haier inventedanewmachine for washing sweet potatoes. Later, as a result of research into consumer demand, the company manufactured machines for washing lobsters. The media reported on this with great relish, and the case study was even included in university course materials. In the end, this “new product generation” led the stateowned enterprises down the road of copying the form but not the substance. Rather than creating new technology, they were emptied of technology. China became the world’s largest manufacturing base for electronics, but even today it is unable to manufacture a product that is one-hundredpercent “Made in China.” The high-tech components for color televisions, refrigerators, and air conditioners, for example, come from elsewhere.
As commerce flourished, China experienced an “emptying out” of spiritual and cultural values. The T-shirt of this young man reads, “Go with your feelings.”
As the craze to diversify rolled across China, entrepreneurs seemed to have lost the ability to patiently and conscientiously create a new product. “I figure Chinese people are in too much of a hurry,” remarked Kenichi Ohmae, the Japanese management guru. “There are too many opportunities in China, to the point that businessmen find it hard to focus on and excel in one area. However, focusing is the only way to make money. Coca-Cola dedicates itself to producing carbonated beverages, and is therefore the leader in the field. Toyota focuses on producing cars, and has become the most profitable company in Japan. The only way is to go into an industry, focus on it, and become professional in it, and then globalize.” He added, “China’s entrepreneurs are thinking that they can accomplish in five years what it has taken Japan to do in fifty. This is a big mistake on thepartofChina.Management is a process of interconnected feedback loops. It’s organic. If you try to base it on intensive straight-line analysis and prematurely take action, it’s like trying to manufacture a child.”
Deng Xiaoping had promised that he would personally visit Hong Kong when it was returned to China. His death preceded the date of Hong Kong’s return by 131 days.
Events were to prove that the collective dream of joining the Fortune 500 was simply youthful enthusiasm. The dream was soon to be thoroughly doused by the Asian financial crisis. Before then, however, few in China paid heed to Kenichi Ohmae’s message.
Deng Xiaoping was cremated on February 24, 1997. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to accompany what in Chinese is called the “spirit-car.”
Unexpected Changes
S
enior statesman Deng Xiaoping passed away on February 19, 1997, at the age of 93. He did not live to witness the return of Hong Kong to China, which took place less than five months later. On July 1, 1997, the British slowly lowered the Union Jack that had waved over the island of
Hong Kong for an entire century.
July 1, 1997, Hong Kong is returned to China and the shame of a century is washed away in the space of one day.
While the Chinese were overjoyed by the return of Hong Kong, a storm was brewing that was soon to break over Asian countries.
It began in Thailand. The economy of