“China is a sleeping Giant” Napoleon said already ages ago.
It is waking up now and not really suffering from morning disease. It goes at tremendous speed and with enormous energy.
This country with 1,3 billion inhabtants is growing economicaly at a speed not seen in the West for decades. This year only, the GDP growth is expected to be over 10%. As it was last year, and the year before, and the year before that…
Not concrete enough?
Every half hour a new factory is opened in China. 5.000km of highway is constructed each year. Half a million engineers wil graduate from university this year, as part of the 4.5 million in total. Half of all building cranes is stationed in China. Volkswagens sells more cars in China than in Germany, Audi builds 140.000 pieces of its A6 in China solemny for the Asian market each year against 60.000 in Germany for Europe. Each month the number of mobile phone users rises with 5 million. If they look at a TV programma called ‘Super Girl’ - a copy (!) of ‘American Idol’- they do that with 400 million people at the same time. Half of all airco’s and digital camera’s in the world is manufactured here, one third of all shoes and microwave ovens and 80% of all lighters. Etc etc.*
Shocked?
This is done by only half of the population, the other half is - still - farmer. And the gap beween rich and poor - read worker and farmer - is big, thus the attraction to manufacture even more is big too.
Is it a danger?
I think not so. They are there already, big chance your microwave oven comes from China already and the reason it was such a nice bargain is just that. We all want products at reasonable prices and that is just what China is making possible. Besides that it is time the Western world starts realizing that the price paid for the mirowave oven to the Chinese manufacturer is about 10% of the price you paid in the store. Of the other 90% at least 70% will go to Western companies (thus their personell) earning it by logistics, insurance, banking, distribution, shopkeeping and taxes.
The average income of a Chinese worker is still around US$ 60,- a month, the total GDP of Giant China still smaller than that of Great Brittain.
Sleep well!
* Inspired after Dr. Gert-Jan Hospers, lecturer economics at the Universty of Twente.
Column: Economic growth in China
“China is a sleeping Giant” Napoleon said already ages ago. It is...
>> Read more
