China has changed alot since I was here some 6 years ago. The security forces are still everywhere, but things are definitely different. Mercs, BMWs and SUVs cruise the streets , and have forced off the road, the millions of bicycles which so struck me on my earlier visit.
The economy is booming, and the gap between rich and poor is growing. The massive peasent labour force, working for nothing, is the engine driving the economy.
The Chinese have taken to free enterprise with astonishing enthusiasm.When contrasted with the emerging economies in Eastern Europe, its clear they learn fast and have moved so much further in a shorter period of time. Becoming the world's factory, based on an incomprehensibly massive labour resource, is perhaps the only way China could have moved this quickly. The smell of terrible exploitation is very much in the air however. Didn't Mao fight his revolution to address this sort of thing? 
The people in Beijing do seem better off. There is however, an undercurrent of desperation on the part of the migrants who have flocked to the city in search of a better life. Amongst all the wealth and plenty there are the have nots that the system relies on to feed the fires of the factory furnaces.
Its clear that things have come too far for a reversion back to the bad old times. The challenge will be to address the growing inequalities, and the demands of the increasingly sophisticated emerging middle class.
There is plenty going on which is not making it into the media. Riots, protests , oppression. The West is plenty happy to cash in on the cheap labour, but its unclear how this will all play out. The expats I have met here are dismissive of the conditions and undercurrents very much evident if you allow yourself to see them. They are here to get rich and live that fantasy Grand Hyatt/expat package life. This also goes for the returning Chinese, who if anything, seem to be even less sensitive to the price being paid for all the money flying around.
I'm not preaching. I'm as guilty as anyone of being buzzed by the potential for growth here. I'm just feeling a little uneasy at what costs are being paid by people who don't have much of a chance to begin with. 
Hope all is well with you wherever you may be.
T
Terry
1 comment:
Your insight, as always, is amazing. It's a very sad price these people will have to pay. WOW! I'm speechless.
Post a Comment