The Forbidden City which once was so awesomely large seems quite small in the context of modern Beijing. Of course, it has been painstakingly restored even though its old-style architecture stands out starkly surrounded as it is by 21st century multi-level buildings.
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| Why China Economy Is Growing |
It now takes five times longer to get anywhere. Traffic jams are everywhere unless you take the train or the underground. Cars crawl along smaller roads while highway traffic move bumper to bumper almost all of the time. (The number of cars on the road in China recently hit 100 million, second only to the US's 285 million).
AND of course... CHINAs ONE CHILD POLICY has changed many values and priorities. The awakening of the Dragon means that everyone is living a better life. Peasants and laborers now have better housing and more stable incomes. But having a single son or daughter means everyone wants the best for their "adored" child. Here's where ordinary Chinese are feeling the pinch.
Education costs are soaring. From Kindergartens to Primary to Secondary through to University, money is the key to a better life. Ask any taxi driver, any sales person, any hotel worker you meet and it is the same story. Everyone is busy making money for their child, but there is no time to spend with family. Spare moments are for resting to get ready for the next day.
Many work 15 hour days and taxi drivers even work 18 hours without a break. The resilience behind the striving to rise above their economic level is very Chinese of course; this is after all probably the most hardworking race of people in the world. But it also means a very unbalanced existence. China has become a wealth generating machine, but it is also a nation of exhausted workers. But this is the older generation.
What about the younger generation - the kids for whom the parents work so hard? Here, China's one child per family policy has generated some interesting trends.
Single children live lonely lives.
Many having no siblings to play with and with such busy parents live a three-screen existence (the TV, the computer and the cell phone).
Single children are doted on.
Designer brands, first class travel, big houses, cars and fancy education are normal fare and the wealthier the parents, the more doted their kids are. The richer families give their kids at least two years' of overseas education - usually in the United States. For the young "super-rich", money is not a problem. Many fly to Hong Kong for a day's shopping.
Single children are not "hungry" like their parents were.
It's hard to see them becoming China's next generation of entrepreneurs. Unlike their parents and grandparents, many have never cooked or made their own beds. They may have had superior schooling, but China's system stresses on learning by rote. Creative thinking is not encouraged and there seems no need for innovation.
China thus can imitate but can it innovate?
There is amazing talent to copy. China for instance has plenty of fake Apple stores and even more imitation Apple phones. China has a long way to go before it will be anything like the United States in its ability to motivate creative brilliance or foster visionary entrepreneurship.
THEN THERE IS THE ECONOMY
Everyone thinks of China as being super rich - gee whiz, isn't China holding the biggest chunk of American debt? But ordinary Chinese may well resent this. (Note China currently holds over 1 trillion USD dollars worth of US bonds... equivalent to about 6000 ringgit being lent to the US by each Chinese citizen!)
But the problem is of course a lot more complex. With so much cost cutting and budgeting, so much shrinking taking place in so many of China's largest markets, the effect must surely filter down to the factory floor. And it has. China's manufacturing base, perhaps 30 to 35% are being forced to close down due to markets drying up. This is sure to have a multiplier effect and once rocketing house prices once fueled by money from manufacturing could cause the "property bubble" and maybe the stock market bubble to burst.
China is changing, It has prospered; taken its place in the world. No other nation in history has improved 1.3 billion peoples' lives in such a short span of time - and without going to war too! But China's free market economy is only 30 years old. In spite of its strength, wealth, power and being a force to be reckoned with, needs the WEST more than ever. China cannot afford to let the America and Europe go too far down on a downward spiral.
GOOD NEWS IN THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE
Happily, the feng shui chart of 2013, the coming year of the Water Snake, shows the super number 8 flies to the West... HELLO!!! 2012 has indeed been aggravating for the West, but the 2013 chart suggests that by January, and maybe earlier, there might manifest signs to suggest that pessimism about the US economy and its financial strength might be overblown, and that China's financial position might not be as stable as people think. There are underlying aggravations exerting pressures on the Economy. To continue to prosper, the Dragon needs the Phoenix.
The Water Snake it seems must frolic with the Western Phoenix in 2013. China must fly with the soaring BIRD of the WEST - the PHOENIX risen from the ashes in the guise of an EAGLE? Many surprises await many people in the year 2013. To find out more, you can check out Why China Economy Is Growing.