My first impressions of China (Nov 2005)
This was originally written by me on Nov 11, 2005 at an airport on my trip back to the US after a week long visit to China.
The battle is over. It is laughable, even ridiculuous, that it has survived this long. India is going nowhere very fast. In contrast, the Chinese dragon is firing, and with venom --- the ferocity of which we will only see in the remaining 95 years of this century. Planet Earth, make way for another developed country on you, the biggest one you will see to date, not to be surpassed by someone bigger for a long long time to come. Given the uniqueness of this latest knocking entrant into the elite club, I am willing to be considered prone to exaggeration but will proclaim that a superpower may be in the making.
I had an opportunity to re-absorb the Indian experience very recently for about three weeks, so I know what I am talking about when I contrast the cities of India and China. On my first day at work after returning to US, our Cypress marketing director decided he needs the company of my technical self to 'build credibility' for some customers in China. I was reluctant, for generally only about 20% of these meetings really need me. The rest are just sales pitches that our marketing director is adept at making, helped by our local Chinese sales director in translation and the contacts at the local customer companies.
So, I was back on the plane on Saturday early morning to fly across the Pacific to Hong Kong. We reached Sunday night (China is 16 hours ahead of US Pacific Time). Then we drove across the border of Mainland China into the border city of Shenzhen. In Shenzhen, as in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, from where I departed this morning, the life in Chinese cities has come in view.
Yes, there was a difference in our surroundings as we crossed the border of mainland China. After all, Hong Kong has been a financial powerhouse and the envy of every city in Asia for so many years. Surely, any city in mainland China would be drastically different. I was mentally prepared for even a Delhi-esque surroundings. Needless to say that I was quite shocked. And very unpleasantly.
We reached our Shenzhen hotel, a newly constructed 4-star Sheraton Hotel at about 11pm in the night. It was hardly 5 minutes from the border so we did not get a chance to see anything. The view from my room#1306 though was a sign of things to come. I could sense it that night itself.
I ended the next day with an inferiority complex, along with more than a slight tinge of sadness. A city hardly known to the common man in China had excellent "expressways" with three or more lanes (they are really freeways as there are no traffic lights on an expressway). The roads were clean and smooth without any potholes. The driver could drive at a sustained 120kph (75 miles/hr) for a long time. Where I expected an overcrowded city, perhaps like a Bangalore or Agra, I found the traffic and the roads infrastructure nothing short of excellent. Traffic kept to its lanes,the roads were green on either side, with a big sidewalk for walking and a very wide sideroad for bicyclists (who seem to be smaller in number than I expected). The expressways had very good ramps, the traffic seemed moderate and well regulated, bicyclists kept to their lane, there were no scooters or motorcyclists to weave around the traffic, the buses all looked big and well endowed, and all the traffic lights were copious and working in good condition. Make no mistake: this was no Beijing or Shanghai; some city called Shenzhen in which Huawei -- the biggest growing competitor to Cisco -- has its headquarters. And what a sprawling and modern campus Huawei has! It looked like a big university to me.
After two nights in the luxurious hotel at Shenzhen, I spent two nights in Beijing, one in Hangzhou and one in Shanghai, flying to Beijing and to Hangzhou but using the train for the shorter distance to Shanghai from Hangzhou. The complex of the first day had very quickly evaporated. My mind was calmed once I internalized that China had by now leapt way forward in its march towards economic prosperity and quality living (at least in the cities). In my early days in the US, and when I used to visit India on a vacation, I used to grow a bit sad thinking why could this or that not be better in India. That vanished when I internalized that there is no use comparing a third world country and the world's richest country. Similar feeling had descended to me by the second day in China. It is now foolhardy to compare India and China. I have put the gap between the two populous countries at a minimum of 50 years. The stats on GDP, literacy, trade, income etc. comparing India and China (such as the Economist earlier this year, and business week of October) of course show a huge gap. What they do not show is the enormous difference that a traveler would feel on landing in China and landing in India.
It is not just the roads and traffic infrastructure. The high-rise apartment buildings on either sides of the expressways are rich. People are courteous and generally patient to each other. Traffic is similar to those in developed countries. The taxis are well equipped with clearly identified drivers and meters, the roads are clearly marked, and there is a large number of young women in the working class (restaurants, hotels, airports, even security guards) and people seem to respect the cops and the traffic police. And to talk about Beijing and Shanghai... Beijing has five "expressway rings" (freeways) that circle around the city and allow smooth traffic in the populuous city. Shanghai's skyline seems almost better than San Francisco's. Certainly many more buildings and many more taller buildings.... I had the privilege of being in the 5-star Grand Hyatt in Shanghai on the 65th floor. Wherever eye could see, a rich city was all there was to see. A vast set of electronic displays strategically placed on major roadways in Shanghai show color coded real-time traffic conditions on the important roads in the center of the town. And if there are any shanty towns or slums anywhere there, they are well hidden from all the roads or I failed to see them (I was looking for them).
Sure, there were views resembling those in India, perhaps remnants of a poorer past. The train station was really crowded, though smoother. The train itself had lots of people standing, and the train platform looked exactly like any Indian train platform. We even agreed to an insistent "coolie" who hauled our luggage up and back down on one particularly high set of stairs. At the Shanghai airport, the crowd of taxis were honking each other to glory. It could be extrapolated from the way that some of the taxi drivers drove (frequent lane-changing without indicators and somewhat dangerous driving, almost India-like) that the driving on multi-lane highways are not yet in their genes. They could be pardoned because the highways have been built "only" in the last 5 to 20 years. I was sure to ask this from several drivers...
In Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou, or Shanghai, I never stepped out of the hotel except when driving to and from the meetings and the airports. But I have absolutely zero hesitation in taking the liberty to extrapolate liberally from there. China has arrived. The cities have excellent infrastructure. The Chinese newspapers are brimming with self-confidence and optimism. More and more people on the streets seem rich and spending. The fascination with the US is, as everywhere, present too. But there is an unmistakable sense of competition rather than only envious worship. There is also a sense of patriotic satisfaction that finally the country is competing (and doing well) against the leagues of Japan and the US. It is well deserved. There is no doubt in my mind that China will surpass the US in the number of gold medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and thus, after toys, steel and apparel, become the undisputed leader in international sports as well.
Meanwhile what of India? After all Delhi has added a staggering number of flyovers on its busy intersections, and is working enthusiastically on infrastructure with many good highways in various parts of the country. Well yes, but it feels to me that India is moving so slowly that the end product invariably solves yesterday's problems. Fair or unfair, democracy or not, the small wins of IT industry or not, its hopes to stand up to China is like water under the bridge. India needs to stop dreaming of competing with China. And it needs to act quick. Otherwise, more and more countries will leave this sleepy elephant far behind. And oh yes, a total of one medal in the 2008 Olympics will beat almost everyone's expectations.
----
PS: I was very pleasantly surprised by the enormous variety in Chinese food. Even for a vegetarian like me, there was something or the other different in shape, color, form, and taste wherever we ate. Thank you China for a wonderful experience. For sure, I want to be back for more.
The battle is over. It is laughable, even ridiculuous, that it has survived this long. India is going nowhere very fast. In contrast, the Chinese dragon is firing, and with venom --- the ferocity of which we will only see in the remaining 95 years of this century. Planet Earth, make way for another developed country on you, the biggest one you will see to date, not to be surpassed by someone bigger for a long long time to come. Given the uniqueness of this latest knocking entrant into the elite club, I am willing to be considered prone to exaggeration but will proclaim that a superpower may be in the making.
I had an opportunity to re-absorb the Indian experience very recently for about three weeks, so I know what I am talking about when I contrast the cities of India and China. On my first day at work after returning to US, our Cypress marketing director decided he needs the company of my technical self to 'build credibility' for some customers in China. I was reluctant, for generally only about 20% of these meetings really need me. The rest are just sales pitches that our marketing director is adept at making, helped by our local Chinese sales director in translation and the contacts at the local customer companies.
So, I was back on the plane on Saturday early morning to fly across the Pacific to Hong Kong. We reached Sunday night (China is 16 hours ahead of US Pacific Time). Then we drove across the border of Mainland China into the border city of Shenzhen. In Shenzhen, as in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, from where I departed this morning, the life in Chinese cities has come in view.
Yes, there was a difference in our surroundings as we crossed the border of mainland China. After all, Hong Kong has been a financial powerhouse and the envy of every city in Asia for so many years. Surely, any city in mainland China would be drastically different. I was mentally prepared for even a Delhi-esque surroundings. Needless to say that I was quite shocked. And very unpleasantly.
We reached our Shenzhen hotel, a newly constructed 4-star Sheraton Hotel at about 11pm in the night. It was hardly 5 minutes from the border so we did not get a chance to see anything. The view from my room#1306 though was a sign of things to come. I could sense it that night itself.
I ended the next day with an inferiority complex, along with more than a slight tinge of sadness. A city hardly known to the common man in China had excellent "expressways" with three or more lanes (they are really freeways as there are no traffic lights on an expressway). The roads were clean and smooth without any potholes. The driver could drive at a sustained 120kph (75 miles/hr) for a long time. Where I expected an overcrowded city, perhaps like a Bangalore or Agra, I found the traffic and the roads infrastructure nothing short of excellent. Traffic kept to its lanes,the roads were green on either side, with a big sidewalk for walking and a very wide sideroad for bicyclists (who seem to be smaller in number than I expected). The expressways had very good ramps, the traffic seemed moderate and well regulated, bicyclists kept to their lane, there were no scooters or motorcyclists to weave around the traffic, the buses all looked big and well endowed, and all the traffic lights were copious and working in good condition. Make no mistake: this was no Beijing or Shanghai; some city called Shenzhen in which Huawei -- the biggest growing competitor to Cisco -- has its headquarters. And what a sprawling and modern campus Huawei has! It looked like a big university to me.
After two nights in the luxurious hotel at Shenzhen, I spent two nights in Beijing, one in Hangzhou and one in Shanghai, flying to Beijing and to Hangzhou but using the train for the shorter distance to Shanghai from Hangzhou. The complex of the first day had very quickly evaporated. My mind was calmed once I internalized that China had by now leapt way forward in its march towards economic prosperity and quality living (at least in the cities). In my early days in the US, and when I used to visit India on a vacation, I used to grow a bit sad thinking why could this or that not be better in India. That vanished when I internalized that there is no use comparing a third world country and the world's richest country. Similar feeling had descended to me by the second day in China. It is now foolhardy to compare India and China. I have put the gap between the two populous countries at a minimum of 50 years. The stats on GDP, literacy, trade, income etc. comparing India and China (such as the Economist earlier this year, and business week of October) of course show a huge gap. What they do not show is the enormous difference that a traveler would feel on landing in China and landing in India.
It is not just the roads and traffic infrastructure. The high-rise apartment buildings on either sides of the expressways are rich. People are courteous and generally patient to each other. Traffic is similar to those in developed countries. The taxis are well equipped with clearly identified drivers and meters, the roads are clearly marked, and there is a large number of young women in the working class (restaurants, hotels, airports, even security guards) and people seem to respect the cops and the traffic police. And to talk about Beijing and Shanghai... Beijing has five "expressway rings" (freeways) that circle around the city and allow smooth traffic in the populuous city. Shanghai's skyline seems almost better than San Francisco's. Certainly many more buildings and many more taller buildings.... I had the privilege of being in the 5-star Grand Hyatt in Shanghai on the 65th floor. Wherever eye could see, a rich city was all there was to see. A vast set of electronic displays strategically placed on major roadways in Shanghai show color coded real-time traffic conditions on the important roads in the center of the town. And if there are any shanty towns or slums anywhere there, they are well hidden from all the roads or I failed to see them (I was looking for them).
Sure, there were views resembling those in India, perhaps remnants of a poorer past. The train station was really crowded, though smoother. The train itself had lots of people standing, and the train platform looked exactly like any Indian train platform. We even agreed to an insistent "coolie" who hauled our luggage up and back down on one particularly high set of stairs. At the Shanghai airport, the crowd of taxis were honking each other to glory. It could be extrapolated from the way that some of the taxi drivers drove (frequent lane-changing without indicators and somewhat dangerous driving, almost India-like) that the driving on multi-lane highways are not yet in their genes. They could be pardoned because the highways have been built "only" in the last 5 to 20 years. I was sure to ask this from several drivers...
In Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou, or Shanghai, I never stepped out of the hotel except when driving to and from the meetings and the airports. But I have absolutely zero hesitation in taking the liberty to extrapolate liberally from there. China has arrived. The cities have excellent infrastructure. The Chinese newspapers are brimming with self-confidence and optimism. More and more people on the streets seem rich and spending. The fascination with the US is, as everywhere, present too. But there is an unmistakable sense of competition rather than only envious worship. There is also a sense of patriotic satisfaction that finally the country is competing (and doing well) against the leagues of Japan and the US. It is well deserved. There is no doubt in my mind that China will surpass the US in the number of gold medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and thus, after toys, steel and apparel, become the undisputed leader in international sports as well.
Meanwhile what of India? After all Delhi has added a staggering number of flyovers on its busy intersections, and is working enthusiastically on infrastructure with many good highways in various parts of the country. Well yes, but it feels to me that India is moving so slowly that the end product invariably solves yesterday's problems. Fair or unfair, democracy or not, the small wins of IT industry or not, its hopes to stand up to China is like water under the bridge. India needs to stop dreaming of competing with China. And it needs to act quick. Otherwise, more and more countries will leave this sleepy elephant far behind. And oh yes, a total of one medal in the 2008 Olympics will beat almost everyone's expectations.
----
PS: I was very pleasantly surprised by the enormous variety in Chinese food. Even for a vegetarian like me, there was something or the other different in shape, color, form, and taste wherever we ate. Thank you China for a wonderful experience. For sure, I want to be back for more.
posted by pankaj at 5:51 PM
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