CHINA TRIP Day 28: "...as long as it catches mice."

Monday, June 14

Today in class we discussed the definition of wealth and how it applies in China. There is no question that China has grown economically over the past several decades and in the 80s and 90s growth rates of rural household incomes exceeded those of urban household incomes and GDP. With the decision to urbanize and develop shifted the mentality toward pragmatism: “No matter if it’s a white cat or a black cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat.” Usually with this type of economic transition, several other transformations come into play, namely property rights, a trustworthy corporate culture, and wealth distribution. In many ways it seems as though China is skipping several steps in their eagerness to modernize and forgetting to establish solid business foundations. These skipped steps are evident in the lack of intellectual property law, Internet and media censorship, and sweat shops, just to name a few. As a result, unfortunately, the burden falls on foreign businesses to maintain their social responsibilities and provide economic leverage to encourage China to work on those key issues.

In the afternoon, we discussed some of the energy implications and consequences for China’s rapid growth, some of which could be associated with the clear lack of a practical social foundation. China has never really had an energy model or plan associated with its modernization, and it has only recently begun to take action (albeit still reluctantly) on environmental issues due to international pressures. With event such as the Olympics and the Expo, China has had to work on being more sustainable, though much of their efforts may be minimal at best to appease their international audience. The United States’ large carbon footprint can be attributed to the natural consumption-based nature of our economy, whereas China’s can be attributed to its energy-intensive industries. As a way to be more independent, especially economically, China has reduced its imports and instead domestically produces industry-heavy products such as steel and aluminum. These products consume huge amounts of energy to produce and short-term incentives to increase output and GDP only cause more companies to skimp on making sure they are producing sustainably. Clearly, having an energy policy alone isn’t enough to change the business environment.

In the evening, Jasmine, Shane, Forbes, and I headed to Tian Zi Fang since we had been unable to meet up with everyone and visit it yesterday. It was a cute and quaint little place with similar architecture to Xin Tian Di, the older stone style designs. Tian Zi Fang felt a little less commercialized than Xin Tian Di, though, which I actually liked. Xin Tian Di felt too touristy, despite the fact that they were trying to upkeep and maintain the older, traditional buildings. It felt a little fake, as though they were trying to make the presence of the older buildings a marketing tool for their luxury apartments. Tian Zi Fang felt much smaller, and maybe because it was later, there weren’t too many shops open but plenty of restaurants and coffee shops were open. The lack of people could have been attributed to it being a Monday night.

Jasmine and I ate dinner at a Thai restaurant; there were five or in the same area that we had to choose from, so we looked through their menus for Pad Thai. I don’t know if they’ve never heard of Pad Thai or call it something different but we finally chose a place that seemed to have something close to it. It was quaint; they led us upstairs and we sat outside on a terrace-like area even though we didn’t have a view. Before the restaurant-level though, there was a small room on the level below that looked like they sold stuffed animals or something. I wondered if those merchants were independent of the restaurant and how they rented the space. After dinner, we walked around the shops and did some exploring on our own.

After an hour or so things seemed to be closing down so we decided to head back to the hotel. Jasmine went to bed and I hung out with a few of the guys for a while. We listened to Tim read off some of the ridiculous emails he gets that he has to answer for work and watched some of the Japan v. Cameroon World Cup game. Not thrilled that Japan won, but whatever.