Once again my Aunt Lee Ann is supplying the material for my blogs. In my last post she commented that she didn't realize that China was a developing nation, and she cited a few movies that make the argument for China as a super modern nation very effectively. Actually last Friday I had to go to this conference for one of my classes where a whole bunch of people who know way too much about China and have all written books proving it were talking about Shanghai's future. One professor was talking about how Shanghai in particular has always been at the forefront of modernization in China and how it's often served as the back drop for science fiction novels and movies because a lot of the city looks like IT IS science fiction.
Do a google image search of "Shanghai, China" sometime and just look at the pictures of the skyline, it's packed with not just skyscrapers but with some strange looking architectural feats. The maglev train that runs from the the airport into the heart of the city "is the first commercial high speed mag-lev train in the world" traveling at the mind boggling rate of over 300 mph (Wikipedia). And Shanghai, or china in general show no signs of slowing down (that's a whole other post).
But China is a developing nation, even though you would probably never guess it if you visited the Bund (that's what all the pictures are of). Some of you might remember a China that was by all means a communist state with a government operated economy (as opposed to a capitalist system). I'm sure you've all heard of Chairman Mao, it wasn't long ago that his campaigns in many ways nearly destroyed an entire generation in attempt to industrialize rapidly. But in 1978 the Reform years began with Deng Xiaoping who basically reinvented China's economy, opening things up and giving birth to the rising power that China is today.
So in just over thirty years China has gone from being almost a non-factor in global terms to a rising power that, by the way, just recently took the title from the Japanese of owning the most US bonds. China's growth is nothing short of incredible but it is still a developing nation.
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Thanks for all the details. I'll definitely have to do a search. But honestly their development doesn't sound too much different from here. Here we have New York, and then its counterpart, rural Mississippi. China sounds to have to progressed a whole lot further in a lot less time.
ReplyDeleteHave fun.... ala
Hey.... thank goodness your weekend is about to start and you'll have a minute to update us on your adventures.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mention it in my last comment, but I did some reading on China which prompted my comment comparing it with parts of Mississippi. The editorial was discussing how the outter areas couldn't use modern technology like washers, dryers, etc., because basically, they didn't have the "wiring". However, those same areas in China would be well served by creating manufacturing jobs producing those type products. Some how, by manufacturing products they can't use/buy, it would eventually enable them to use/buy them. Mississippi's influx of car manufacturing plants (hugh plants) made me think of them as related. I can't find the exact story I was reading, but the website was from www.chinatoday.com.
I know that was very vague, but I'm checking stuff out, thanks to you.
Have fun, and loved the picts on facebook.
ly..ala