WHY CHINA?
China has undergone immense economic and
social development over the last 25 years. During that time
it has managed to lift 300 million people out of poverty; with
adjustments for population size, the equivalent process took over
200 years in Europe. It is now the world’s largest and
fastest-growing economy and is undergoing what some have termed a
second industrial revolution … after all, building construction in
Shanghai is so quick that new maps of the city have to be printed
every two weeks! Did you know that since being awarded the
Olympics, China has built enough new roads to go round the world
four times?
During the 1980s, China dismantled collective
farming and again allowed and even encouraged private
enterprise. It is now attracting record amounts of foreign
investment and is itself investing billions of dollars
overseas. As one of the world’s largest exporters, China
produces 50% of the world’s computers, 80% of the world’s
photocopiers, 60% of our mobile phones and 40% of the world’s
microwave ovens. In addition to that, 50% of the world’s
clothes and footwear are made in China.
Social development in China has been no less
marked. Economic development has encouraged mass migration to
the cities, whose skylines are dominated by skyscrapers and whose
shops are filled with Western brands. There are now an
estimated 90 million Internet users in China, which makes Chinese
speakers the largest group of electronically active people on the
planet.
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see the fellows' own impressions of 'why China...?'