The Olympics push China into the twenty-first century

Contemporary Review, March, 2004 by Habeeb Salloum

AFTER reading for years about the havoc wrought by the Cultural Revolution and the bloody events of Tiananmen Square, I could not believe that it was China. What I saw during my first days in that country was that the progress and the development of the Peoples Republic of China was more than spectacular. It came as a pleasant, but unexpected surprise--seemingly more the work of a magician than reality.

We were whisked quickly through the spic and span Beijing Airport with hardly a question asked. Smiling customs and immigration officers were pleasant and greeted us with welcoming gestures. As well, there was no examination of our luggage. It was apparent that the bureaucracy of Communism had been swept to the wayside. Unlike in the past, China has opened up to world tourism, setting the stage for welcoming the throngs who will travel to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Turning to our guide as we sped on a super highway, with highrises filling the skyline in the distance, to China's capital of some 17 million, I asked, 'It's beautiful your airport! And this expressway is excellent! Is it like this throughout China?' He smiled, 'We are building an even larger airport that will open before the Summer Olympics. Yes, our country has been transformed for the better. We are well on our way to becoming an industrialized nation'. He continued, 'twenty-five years ago, when friends would meet, they would ask, "Are you having a meal today"? Now they ask, "Will you be buying a new car this year"?'

In the ensuing days as we travelled through China's cities, I found that the guide's words were indeed true. China is being transformed at a dizzying pace. Businesses, highways, new factories, skyscrapers and much more are mushrooming throughout the land and the most modern of products fill the shops. As well, educational facilities and space research has reached the stage of advanced nations. If one looks closely, the making of a superpower is in the offing.

According to Donald H. Straszheim, a former Merrill Lynch chief economist, as reported in the 10 November 2003 issue of the Shanghai Daily, 'China has become an engine of global growth'. With an economy growing at an annual average rate of 9.3 per cent since 1989, three times as much as the top industrialized nations, the country has become a beacon of light to the other countries of Asia.

This evolvement of the country has not come about by chance or as 'a work of magic' as one of our guides described the transformation of the country. In the past quarter century, China has been putting its house in order. It has made excellent progress in modernizing and making its agricultural production more efficient. Changes have taken place in the area of land management and land ownership and these have led to higher yields in crops and a better living standard for its farmers.

When I asked, by way of our guide, a farmer selling some vegetables in a village, if life was better now than when he was a youth, he did not hesitate, 'No comparison! As a boy, our family could barely afford to eat and life was bleak. Now, if I work hard, I can live well'.

Old railways and roads have been upgraded and many new ones have been built. Airlines now connect all the major cities and services are today almost equal to those in Western countries. When compared to those some twenty years back, the movement of people and goods has tremendously improved.

Industry, to a great extent, has been privatized and modernized and this is showing results. China's industry at home is booming and its exports are now to be found world-wide. A quarter century ago, there was hardly a car to be seen in the streets; today, the traffic jams in Chinese cities can rival those of North America or Western Europe. Most of the cars one sees are made in China by factories set up by foreign companies who are stumbling over each other to invest in the manufacturing sector.

Output from China's rapidly expanding non-state sector, which includes agriculture, has passed the one-half mark of the gross domestic product (GDP). Also, for the future, the easing of trade barriers and more liberal rules for foreign investment will, no doubt, continue to improve the in-flow of money and external competitiveness.

China has scored a sustainable, rapid development in its national economy. In 2002, China's gross domestic product was six times greater than in 1989, some 10 trillion Yuan (US$1.20 trillion), making the country the sixth greatest economic power in the world. Large increases have also been recorded in incomes of both China's urban and rural residents, resulting in substantially increased consumption and an improved quality of life.

By 2010, China is expected to be the European Union's largest trade partner. As well, the countries of Asia who, in the past, relied on Japan and the US for markets, are gradually adjusting their productive power and monetary policies to be more compatible with the Chinese economy.

China's productive power is becoming more and more market-based and this is increasing incomes and thus boosting the demand for consumer goods. To satisfy the domestic demand, raw materials, capital goods and other high-value products will, without doubt, be imported on a large scale. As the country's appetite for global imports increases, the economies of other countries will expand to meet these needs, hence, pushing up the growth of the exporting nations' economies.