After reading essays #FOUR-SIX in Fallows' book plus this article - "The $1.4 TRILLION DOLLAR QUESTION," capture THREE specific observations and ONE specific question you have for EACH OF THESE FOUR essays.
Focus on how each essay sheds light on an emerging 21st century China - what do you learn?
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Here's Melanie's post:
ReplyDeleteHi Rob,
Here is my post for Postcards
Essay 4: China Makes, the World Takes
1. Shenzhen was a “special economic zone” because it was essentially the guinea pig for businesses around the world to come and set up shop. The location was so far away from Beijing that if it was not successful then Beijing would not be directly affected. This was a special area because no rules applied to exports or machinery coming in. These items were not taxed.
2. The standard workweek in China is 40 hours just like in the United States. Only difference is that the workers typically work 12 hour shifts and get two breaks for meals which are usually subsidized. Since they usually live very far away they only get to go home once a year. They all go at the same time, which is for the Chinese New Year. All of the factories shut down at this time.
3. In Beijing, the people want more companies that will offer them higher paying jobs not just factory and assembly line jobs. Intel has told the far northern part of China that they plan to build a major chip-fabrication plant where there will be design and engineering jobs. In Beijing, Microsoft and Google have opened research facilities. All of these give the Chinese higher paying jobs so they can increase their income.
Question: Why is it so hard for Chinese people to start their own companies? It seems as though they wait for another company from another country to build in their city to get jobs.
Essay 5: Macau’s Big Gamble
1. Bribes are very big in China and especially in Macau. Stanley Ho paid Portugal half a million US dollars so he could take over the monopoly right to run all the casinos in Macau. The casinos in Macau are doing so well they surpassed the revenues held in Las Vegas by half a billion dollars. Stanley went on to dominate the helicopter and ferry business as well. Just because this man has a lot of money he can pay off the government to get what he wants.
2. The big question is if Macau will ever get casino-ed out. The head of the American Gaming Association thinks the people of Macau may get sick of it but the money lies in the 3 billion people just a five hour flight away who spend around 12 billion. Even if the people of Macau get sick of gambling they will still be able to make money on it because of the number of people around them.
3. The acts of the VIP system have lead to great success for the Macau economy. This is helped them tremendously but it is not a good or legal way to do business. America needs to show them how to run a gambling business without the corruption.
Question: How come the government is not regulating this? Is it just too new for them to understand what is happening or are they just turning their cheeks?
Essay 6: The View from There
1. Living in other areas of the world can make you realize the things you love about America. For James fallows he discovered he was American in England, in Japan he discovered how essential America’s ideas are to its strength, and in China he discovered that if we do not abuse our ideas they will help us out tremendously. This is important because American ideas are very important to people in China.
2. The way he saw the American idea from Japan was strength through opened opportunity. The more room for immigrant talents, there was more support for Americans seeking a second and third chance. This balanced the budget to reduce the overhang of the debt. More people get richer from their skills and others with less specialized skills find it harder to keep up with the ever-changing market.
3. Fallows brings up a good point that Americans are very afraid that China will out do them in revenues. But why should they? China is still very poor and very undeveloped. They are lacking many of the things that America has like the skills to be able to start and continue to run their own company.
Question: America puts a lot of emphasis on the Chinese economy. Do we not find Japan anymore threatening than China?
Essay Four: China Makes, the World Takes
ReplyDelete1. P.67 Foxconn employees not only work in the factory, they eat and sleep there too. This is because the manufacturing power of China’s factories is the main reason China has established itself as a world leader.
2. P.79 At workstations factory employees have: a photo, an employee number, instructions, and a personal performance level indicator.
3. P.83 There are Western companies who, unlike Nike, have a more decent reason for keeping their Chinese suppliers secret. For the most part it has to do with keeping information about factory-to-company pairing logistics out of competitor’s hands.
Question: Why don’t we hear more about how the average Chinese worker is actually better off than the minimum wage American worker? Is it because Americans are so obsessed with connecting China to Communism that we don’t want to acknowledge anything they’re doing right? It feels like the only things I ever hear about China have a negative spin.
Essay Five: Macau's Big Gambe
1. P.107-115 Despite Macau’s $7 billion revenue compared to Las Vegas’ $6.5 billion revenue, Macau’s casino earnings are mostly based on tourist-related spending while Las Vegas’ casino earnings only make up 40 percent of the city’s revenue.
2. P.117 On a world-scale gambling will always be sustained based on popular demand. There is a risk in areas like Macau that gambling may become “over-casinoed”, however the Asian gambling market is currently limitless.
3. P.118 Chinese casinos serve little alcohol, because the Chinese believe that people placing bets need to be able to fully concentrate and don’t want their senses diluted.
Question: Is betting a more spiritual activity in China?
Essay Six: The View from There
1. P.132-133 Each social class in China has its own struggle for …
a. The rural class it is retaining the basic necessities to survive.
b. The urban class it is making enough money to pay for a basic city lifestyle.
c. Company officials it is competing with other companies that produce and sell similar products and increasingly lower prices.
d. Regional officials it is increasing economic production while decreasing environmental destruction.
e. The national government it is managing all the above along with running it’s own political organization.
2. P.139 “China Makes, the World Takes.”
3. P.139-141 Three things America should do to foster the “American idea”:
a. Create openness – by limiting outside influences America risks loosing much of the talent that has contributed to its success,
b. Keep to America’s idealistic views – democracy is a virtue every country can have, but not ever country should have the American version of democracy.
c. Display confidence – continue acknowledging the positive aspects of American society and begin to respond to the negative aspects in order to make them into positive aspects.
*These three American “to dos” can also be applied to China: create openness, keep to the Chinese idea, and display confidence while acknowledging weaknesses.
Question: What is the Chinese idea?
The $1.4 Trillion Question
1. America’s dependency on China’s economy can’t go on forever.
2. America’s total consumption is higher than it’s total production; China’s total production is higher than it’s total consumption.
3. China’s benefit: regulated development to help decrease the risk of inflation. America’s benefit: less expensive living costs.
Question: How can the Chinese government dictate the RMB’s value?
China Makes the Word Takes:
ReplyDeletePg 67- The famous Faxconn works site is close to the same size as a major airport, and hold about 240000 people. They all work on assembly lines, sleep in dormitories, and eat in company complex. It was said that they kill 3000 pigs, plus a uncounted amount of chickens to feed all the workers. That’s impressive.
Pg 71- People in the United States does not need to worry about the rise of industrial China. Instead they should focus on its inevitable affects and how we will interact with them. Before thinking about what we should change we should look at what’s worked in the past.
Pg 79- Chinese law states that the standard workweek is 40 hrs. However, the average workers have 12-hour shift six to seven days a week, they do get two hours breaks for meals. So this means lots of overtime, and little money to show for it.
?Question?- How many years do the workers usually stay at these compounds for?
Macau’s Big Gamble:
Pg 107- The most booming part of China happens to be a tiny island names Macao which happens to be 1/6 the size of D.C and over a half a million people. What’s more impressive is it’s economic growth has been growing by 20%!
Pg 109- The Portuguese government made gambling legal and allowed what analysts called a “sordid” economic structure. This allowed gambling, drugs, prostituting and crime to increase but it brought tons of money into Macao.
118- I thought it was interesting how there was no alcohol being served at the casinos. They believe that betting requires ones full attention and they don’t want to hinder themselves.
?Question?- Why do Chinese people like to gamble? (Especially if they save their money more then any other nation. )
The View From Here
Pg 132- There seem to be struggles for every society class in China, weather it’s the increasing price of living for the working class, getting your kids into a good school, or managing the increasing pollution problem.
Pg 134- Japan is known for its unity, harmony giving them a reputation for being a smoothly functioning team. This fluidness seems to be caused by a series incentives and constraints rather then teamwork.
Pg 140- The United States has eight of the 10 top schools in the world, China has zero schools in the top 100.
?Question?- Why is the school system in China so poor?
The $1.4 Trillion Question:
Pg 146- The US has been living better then it should, we consume more goods then we export. China on the other had is loving worse then they should, the nation consumes half of what it produces.
Pg 151- I like the term “fragile superpower” to describe China because even though its econimic growth has been around 10% it still falls short on some basic needs. For instance the average cash income for factory workers is about $160 a month. What’s most fascinating is that most people in China think their moving up in social status. (The bar is set pretty low)
Pg 166- China’s immense growth has allowed exports to increase drastically, but it’s leaving other (more important) necessities behind. These would include, schooling, environment protection, that will overall lead to an unstable society.
?Question?- What will happen to the US when the China’s economic bubble burst?
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ReplyDeleteChina Makes... Mr. China is Irish. He says, "you can live here for so long and only know so little" (76). It seems like everybody works in a factory and blindly follows regulations. I wouldn't want to work in a factory. It's funny how China makes the GPS's and similar devices, yet it is so difficult traveling around China.
ReplyDeleteMacau's... China is looking more like American manifestation with the arising boom towns. I would have never guessed that a country like Portugal would have swooped in and started controlling parts of China like the British did. It's crazy the amount of influence has America has on Chinese modernity. The Chinese love most of what is wrong with America.
The View... Living in other countries for an extended period of time can certainly get somebody to realize just what their home country is really about. In England there are subtle differences to the US but in Japan they aren't so subtle. Japan finally grew the nerve to tell the US "no" while China is expanding with US help.
1.4 Trillion... America does live better than it should. Do you really need all of the items you posses? The US owes China big time. I wonder if China knows that our currency i basically backed by nothing and it's all a big scam? Oh yeah, the US is messing everything up.