China Emerging_ 1978-2008 - Xiao-bo , Wu [54]
Peddlers who rely on the railroad traffic for their living, selling food to passengers (April 2002).
Workers’ dormitory in Panyu, Guangdong Province, September 2002.
structure. Other areas were also opened up to what in the West would be called private enterprises. One Chinese entrepreneur who had returned from overseas astutely found a living space between the two huge giants in China’s telecommunications industry. Technology that had been discarded abroad became his weapon. The company he founded, UT Starcom boasted, for a time, a market capitalization of around US$26 billion at NASDAQ. The grassroots Zhejiang entrepreneur Li Shu-fu, after struggling for nearly ten years, was able to get the first government license for a privatelyoperated auto-manufacturing business. Irrespective of whether or not he was successful, this private enterprise called Geely now had a chance to compete in the international arena. This license given to Li Shu-fu was soon interpreted as opening up a major industry in China after the country’s entry into the WTO.
China’s WTO entry was an exciting and promising development for almost everyone. The organization seemed like a beautiful rainbow, an inviting gateway, and when China finally stepped through that gateway, the entire country heaved a tremendous sigh of relief. Others, however, were noting developments in China with some alarm. Predicting China’s future had become a favorite topic among international circles. Japan issued a white paper, which noted that China had already become a “factory to the world”; that “Made in China” was ubiquitous; and that the country had the number one market share in color TVs, washing machines, refrigerators, air-conditioning units, microwave ovens, motorcycles, and many other products. The “China Threat” had emerged.
Still others were less optimistic than China about the benefits of entering the WTO. An overseas Chinese-American lawyer named Gordon G. Chang predicted “The Coming Collapse of China” in a book of that title. The book declared that China’s prosperity was a chimera and that the country would experience a setback after entering the WTO due to increased competition. Chang believed that China’s existing political and economic system could persevere for another five years at most and would then face massive problems. Similarly, Salomon Smith Barney (now under Citigroup)
Li Jing-wei, founder of the health beverages company Jianlibao, sits in one corner at a meeting with a long face. His enterprise was hastily sold although he had offered the same price. A reform to “clarify and define the ownership of assets” began in 1998. This made billionaires out of some people but also led to the downfall of some former “star” enterprises.
Miners work long hours throughout the year under the world’s most dangerous and difficult conditions, some one thousand meters underground. A tremendous number of small mines are worked by these men, leading to increasing numbers of mining accidents that have aroused wide social concern.
The coal mining industry in China is facing depletion after decades of exploitation. Like their fathers before them, young coal miners are leaving home to seek a living elsewhere.
predicted that, after the first five years of China’s entry into the WTO, China would see forty million people unemployed and that the severe employment pressure would sooner or later lead to the fall of the government.
However, China’s economic growth appeared to follow its own internal logic, erratic as this might seem to outsiders. The above forecasts turned out untrue to date, and both overly pessimistic and optimistic views appear unfounded. As the late eminent economist John Kenneth Galbraith remarked during a talk on Sino-American relations, “Many of our predictions about China are merely guesses.”
Yao Ming, China’s most famous basketball star.
The China Threat
T
he term “Made in China” began to receive heightened attention in the global media around 2002, as the world began to feel the presence and power of China.
In 2002,