The China hard landing drum is beating louder now than it was at the beginning of the year. Their call from an investment standpoint has been a lucrative one. But fundamentally and over the long haul, China's place as the world's No. 2 economic power is secure. In fact, China is likely to become the economic superpower within a generation. By most estimates from groups like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the Chinese economy will be bigger than that of the U.S. within a decade or two at the latest. Their national per capita income will double, putting once poor, dollar a day China on par with Western nations when it comes to aggregate middle class purchasing power.
In my new book, What China Wants, I write that much of Western analysis on China has been overly alarmist.
China will not implode. Its road to superpower status will be bumpy, even rocky in parts, but the fundamentals of sustained macroeconomic expansion are in place and, for the large part, enduring.
Here are 10 popular misconceptions about China:
Myth No. 1: Popular anger means the party's power is weakening
The communist party, despite its heavy hand, has street cred. Unless growth collapses, citizens will grudgingly support national leaders. The Chinese people crave order. Stability is the platform on which progress will continually be built. In the future, a more Singaporian model may take hold but one thing is certain, the future of China's political system will not be made in America...or Europe.
Myth No. 2: American-style individualism is taking root
China's pop culture is booming and within it sits an array of counter-culture stars and trends, from tattoo parlors to non-conformist lyrics of singers like Jay Chou. But that doesn't mean Chinese society is embracing American individualism. Self expression is not equal to independence of thought. Unlike American society, Chinese society never celebrated the liberation of individual potential. The basic productive unit of society remains the clan, not the individual. The pursuit of happiness is an adolescent fantasy, best forsaken by the time the pressure of marriage, mortgage, mother-in-law, and auto ownership come into play.
Myth No. 3: Contemporary Chinese have no beliefs
Chinese society is not in the throes of an existential crisis. Instead, it is on the threshold of reclaiming values that have always set it apart. The Cultural Revolution did not purge traditional values of the sanctity of family and nation; societal harmony is still a noble goal; anti-individualism is still pervasive; fulfillment of mandate still defines success rather than self-actualization. A new generation will redefine China and is slowly achieving harmony between timeless and "new" China.
Myth No. 4: The internet will revolutionize China
The internet is changing China and mostly for the good, but revolution is too strong a word. China's digital era remains uniquely Chinese. Beijing allows for a blank canvas of self expression and material gratification, but retains the veto power to control public discourse as it did when it threatened to shut down the Sina Weibo microblogging service over theories about the political dramas surrounding politician Bo Xilai and later with Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng. Internet users may grumble, but they're not ready to rumble.
Myth No. 5: The Chinese market is too much like Europe
China is as unified a country as is the U.S., despite its wide geographical and political differences. The challenges of unifying distribution networks, sales channels, retail presence and sourcing standards remain monumental. But it is operational hurdles that make China a Balkanized economy, not cultural or political differences.
Myth No. 6: The Chinese consumer is inscrutable
Women want to reconcile achievement and traditional feminine grace and therefore prefer to buy diamonds that sparkle, but don't have too much bling. Men want to show they've clawed their way to the top without showing off so prefer an Audi or BMW to a Maserati. Once foreigners appreciate China's unique characteristics, their tastes become easier to understand.
Myth No. 7: The Chinese growth model is in danger
In the short-term, China's economy is not crash landing. In the long term, the current model still has legs. Both the government and the people know real reforms are needed. Yet, reforms have barely just begun, impeded by left wing dogmatic fears of upsetting a middle class whose tax bills would have to rise to fund restructuring and wealth distribution to rural areas. But the world should not underestimate the technocratic savvy of Beijing. When reform does come for all to see, it would have come microscopically incremental, and therefore barely noticeable to outsiders.
Myth No. 8: China Inc. will kill U.S. jobs
It will be decades before Chinese corporations -- even in strategic industries like renewable energy and information technologies -- beat American companies on their own home turf. It might not even happen at all. China is a closed society and so are its corporations. The country lacks the dynamism needed to stimulate new ideas and the collaboration required to monetize them.
Myth No. 9: China will be the lone world superpower
China does not inspire hearts and minds like America does. American dignity for the common good touches hearts. China is chauvinistic by comparison. In ways large and small, its instinct to narrowly defend its self interest is off putting and isolating. China will be an economic power, but not a culture or political power. There will be more than one tiger on this mountain, and the other will be the good ole U.S. of A.
Myth No. 10: China is militarily aggressive
China is ramping up its military, but will never use it to challenge the U.S. or invade its neighbors. For a credible analysis of China's modern fighting force, scour Pentagon briefs. But to get a sense of Beijing's pacifist instincts, come for a visit. The Chinese shield themselves from danger, both real and imagined. This is not a culture itching for war.
Excerpted from my upcoming book, "What Chinese Want: Culture, Communism and China's Modern Consumer," published by Palgrave Macmillan, New York and summarized by Forbes magazine.
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2. In a recent study, Chinese students (from Shanghai) dominated exams in science, math and reading. American students are ranked in the 20s.
3. Each year, China has more engineering graduates than the rest of the world combined, minus India.
China has admitted to rendering 8-10% of their arable land useless to agriculture.
China has a population of 20-25 million young men between the age of 18-30 who have no hope of ever finding a chinese marriage partner.
"The future is wide open"
As China approaches prosperity, the racists will become more and more blatant -- even here in this liberal forum.
If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, it's made in China. It's also best-selling.
HTC? Made in a "renegade province" of China.
Most of the things you think are good ol' fashioned white-American-manufactured quality products are, in fact, made in China.
The fact is that China doesn't make "cheap" (in the negative sense) goods anymore. In many cases, it makes long-lasting products that are every bit as good as North American or European equivalents. In Latin America, Chinese-made automobiles are all the rage because they are inexpensive and yet reliable.
Time to put that old racist trope to rest, my friend.
Take of the Rose colored glass---- do not forget what they said when the Iron curtain went down---"This is the end of History". The man that said it, now regrets having said it!
China has a lot of problems to deal:
- China is rapidly aging . They will not have enough young people in the market workforce to support them.
- Their form of government--Will have to change with the times. Many countries do not trust them, I think currency wars are thing of the future.
- Pollution in their rivers and air is killing many of their countries citizens. Food from this country is nasty and harmful to your health.
- As they grow their natural resource will be depleted.
- Their lack of creativity---I've heard they are now trying to bring European teaching methods into practice hoping that it will help their creativity. I guess they can continue to hack into are corporations computer systems to steal our technologies. "they are copy cat nation"
I would have to say that Tom’s article is spoken like a true Marketing man----or snake oil salesman. Oh, that is his business pushing products and countries for their bottom line profit of his clients.
As for copying, that's surely a form of flattery -- the sincerest kind, in fact.
Canada has had its share of copyists, too. "Canadian Idol"? It was known as "Pop Idol" in Britain. Car manufacturing in Canada? Started in America.
It goes to show that whites, too, can copy ideas when they are good ones. So much for the racist idea that the Chinese are "copycats."
Since when is racism against Chinese people fashionable on HuffPo?
The majority of Japan's military was apparently tied up by British and Indian forces operating in, I think, what is now the region encompassing Bangladesh. Northeast of India, basically. They were also dealing with a certain degree of Chinese resistance, as well. The whole of the Japanese army wasn't fighting the US directly, just the navy, air-force, and some of the army.
As for Taiwan, China could possibly retake the island. . .if they got enough troops, supplies, and equipment past the US navy and air-force response (which would be significant), and Taiwan's own military - they have 350 fighter jets, several frigates and destroyers, 290k active military personnel with a couple million 'able-bodied' folks in reserve. Not an easy island to take, especially with US support. It would be a costly victory for China, if they took it.
In reality, it's true that China is far too polluted for the long-term health of its own people. But the same was true of the West until environmental controls were imposed beginning in the 1970's. The West polluted so much of the environment that ash blackened the lungs and landscape of some of its major cities, such as Pittsburg, on a daily basis. Literally blackened them. That was, of course, many decades ago.
The West didn't give a damn about pollution until it had already developed and become rich. China's still at the stage where it's trying to get rich. With the experience of the West in mind, China has been reining in excesses in pollution, but still there are compromises that are made and that must be made -- precisely because of realities such as the need to conserve resources.
Read the anti-China comments on this forum and in others. Read between the lines. The racist fear of a "Yellow Peril" rises again.
So long as China also makes powerful white males rich, however, racism is no longer the official policy. A "White Australia" policy, for example, would alienate too many Chinese and would never fly today (although not for lack of trying).