Crazy for Mandarin

[zk]

Davelj,

While I agree with a lot of what you say, I disagree with your comment that, “our risk-taking entrepreneurial culture is like nothing else on earth and is the real engine that drives the global economy.”

Chinese culture (specifically their drive to be prosperous combined with their willingness to work extremely long and hard to achieve that goal) easily matches our entepreneurial culture. In my opinion, it surpasses it decidedly. In Malaysia and Indonesia, Chinese make up a relatively small portion of the population, but control hugely disproportionate amounts of wealth. In Australia and New Zealand, they’ve also generated wealth in disproportion to their numbers. In Singapore, which is mostly Chinese, they’ve created an economy quite powerful for a country of that size. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, which have been largely free from the economic hindrance of Chinese rule, the economies are again very strong. Of course their per capita GDPs are smaller than that of the US and some other countries, but the US has had some advantages that may explain some of the difference. Chiefly our abundance of natural resources and the length of time that the US has had a government that is conducive to economic growth and strength.

In addition to the countries mentioned above, Chinese have made their economic mark almost everywhere they go, including the US. The problem in the actual country of China has been, and will continue for some time to be, hindrances created by their government.

I’m down with the China hype. If, that is, their government can further let go of its authoritarian ways and allow entepreneurs to prosper. Because the government is what’s been holding China back. Not any lack of risk-taking entrepreneurial culture on the part of its people.

All that said, I think there’s about an even chance that the government of China will screw the whole thing up completely and end up with a stagnant economy at best. But if they don’t, and we end up competing with over a billion people who will work passionately day and night for decades to achieve their deperately desired goal of prosperity, then it’s curtains for us. Curtains, I tell ya.

[barnaby33]

I totally agree, I speak spanish and aspire to speak several other languages. French is next. Africa as a whole is a mess, but there are parts that are messier than others. SA has a chance, so does Kenya, and even Egypt. Though those are the cheap labor centers I was thinking of. PI is the Phillipine Islands.

Josh

[Anonymous]

Zk,

truly the Chinese entrepreneurial spirit is something to behold, but this applies mostly to the current generation. The people running businesses in China right now have lived through the Cultural Revolution and countless hardships, they have lost everything and worked hard to get it back. However their children, the 1-child policy generation, are being pampered from birth and “protected” from all work and worries. Their parents have toiled all their life so that their kids would not have to: all they want is to send them to the best schools and colleges so that hopefully they can get high-income jobs. The very concept of a teenager working part-time during school is alien to these parents. So: entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and work ethics are mostly inexistent for those kids, and this bodes ill for China’s future development. Increasingly we see parents who have become complacent in the stability of their government, and want their children to get high-ranking bureaucrat positions so they can live off fat bribes. If anything wrong happens to China’s economy – and it will, at some point – these kids will be helpless to deal with it.

Recently I was discussing this with a Chinese friend coming for a visit. She wants to teach the values of creativity and hard work to her children, but she knows she’s in a minority to think that way. 🙁

[zk]

Very interesting, Cycle.

I wasn’t aware of those problems with the next generation of Chinese, and I wonder if that attitude is as widespread as you perceive it to be.

On the one hand, makes perfect sense. Mom and Dad can only have one child. They shower that one with all the love and affection and protection and money they can muster. They do what they can to make sure he doesn’t have to go through the pain that they went through.

On the other hand, they can only have one child…
For centuries, Chinese families without sons have feared poverty and neglect. They want a male child, because in Chinese culture (especially in China), it is up to the first born male to carry on the family name and to take care of the parents when they get old. So now that they can only have one child, if the first is a girl, they frequently abort it, give it away, or worse. And it would seem to me that if their culture values the idea of a male child taking care of the parents in old age so much that it is willing to discard or abort millions of baby girls, then it would value preparing those boys to take care of them in their old age.

This post was more conjecture than knowledge, Cycle, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

[Author]

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