Study trip 3: China, lights and shadows

It has been an amazing experience to travel to China and study in Jiao Tong University. Now, back home, everything seems like a movie, where the lessons I learned, the people I met and the moments I lived, mix together in a very interesting way. I still can´t believe how lucky I was to live this experience, not only beacuse I can see now why China represents the future, but also because I feel ready to face it.

All the things I have learned can be separated in three chapters, that represent the pilars of sustainability. Sustainable growth can be defined as the equilibrium between the economic, the social and the environmental side of things, and here are some of  my toughts about these three aspects after my trip…

The business and economic side

There is no doubt about how important this sector is for China in the present moment. The economic growth has been the symbol of this country in the past ten years, and the numbers say it all. China has been growing in a constant average of 10%, and for the government, even a growth of 6% is a reason to be worried. We have learned how China has put all its efforts in increasing this growth, and all the multinational companies want to be part of this party. We have met entreprenours and visited companies from different countries and every person we met has said the same: If you want to succeed in the global economy, you have to keep an eye in China. It was surprizing to learn that, for some companies, even if the chinese adventure was not reporting great benefits after a few years of investment, having presence in the chinese economy was a need to atract investors in the shares market.

But the chinese economy is changing. All the analysis we have heard lead to the same conclusion: China is going from an economy based in production, to an economy that will be based in consumption. Somehow it reminds me to Walt Rostow’s theory of Modernization,that defnes 5 stages for a country´s development. This theory expains economic growth trough 5 stages, where the last stage is based in High Mass Consumption. I see China located between stage 4 and 5, and it wouldn´t be a bad sign if the social and environmental variables were included.

The last news provided by the chinese government about their concern for a sustainable future are quite optimistic, and it seems like economic growth, no matter at what prize, is not an option anymore. Let´s hope that is real!

The human side

There are some signs for genuine worries about the human side of the chinese growth. The labour costs are not as ridiculous as they were, and the government is putting some efforts in improving the workers conditions. However, even if the salaries in China are still a very important competitive advantage, this is somehow discouraging investors into the chinese economy. The government has created a policy that will try to double salaries every 5 years. A measure that, in my opinion, is quite rigid, and does not guarantee real social development.

Most of the chinese inhabitants still struggle for a decent health system, and the foreign investors don´t seem to care for their employees conditions as much as they would do in their own countries. We visited a few companies where the workers conditions would be forbidden in countries like Spain, showing that regulation in working environment or coporate responsibility, in my opinion one of the most powerfull tools for social development, is still out of the picture. And I am not a radical about this, I am just talking about very simple (and cheap) practices, that would ensure better conditions and better productivity.

But the fact that suprised me the most in the human aspect of today´s China is the sorpresive result of the one child policy: the lack of morality. We have learned that the one child policy has created some generations of “little dictators”. In our classes, they were refered  by our teachers as “little emperors”, kids that have grown surounded by 6 adults that were constantly satisfying every need and wish, resulting in a generation were people are not used to sharing, not used to beeing cooperative. It has become a major issue, and the government is really worried about it. To fix this picture, new “schools for morality” have been created, and some 30 years old are now forced to attend this courses, where they are tought how to work in teams. Individuality is against sustainable development, and cooperation is the answer to a good future. Let´s hope this generation of “dictators” is ready to change some behaviours, because the future of globalization will need China working as a team player.

As a conclusion, the human side of China today has lots of room for improvement, but there are some signs of a good change. If the government really wants to make this country a consumtion based economy, there are many things that will need to be solved in the social aspects. In the actual days, as we were told, the chinese society can´t consume as much because there is a need to save money to solve the problems that the future may bring (like children education or illnesses), so if the government really wants to make chineses big consumers, some social needs have to be covered first. And higher salaries is not the only answer…

The environmental side

I have had in my mind all the time the Kuznet’s curve. This graphic shows how countries only start to worry about environment after a certain grade of economic development has been reached.

This has happened in every developed country, and some countries or regions like the European Union, today one of the biggest deffender of policies against pollutions, have been the biggest polluters before reaching to this point. China is not exception.

Today we can see that pollution and environmental degradation is not one of the top priorities of China, but there have been already some signs of a change. Not only beacuse China has a very strong international preassures about this, but beacuse some of these problems are already stating to affect people. The fact that in Beiging the air is so polluted that people have to stay at home some days of the year is a strong point for a change. There is a need for new clean technologies, and if China puts its efforts in creating this technology, I have no doubt they will get great results.

Environment might not be now one of the biggest worries today, but only a few steps more of economic development will put this sector in the agenda, and the moment is comming fast, with “chinese speed”

Conclusion

I have learned that China is a very powerful country, a country that could set the bases of the global economy. A country with a populations that is used to obey, with discipline. I am sure that, whenever the country realizes the need to care more about the variables that make economic growth sustainable (the social and environmental sectors) they will do it really fast. So, now it is just a matter of time. I like to be always optimistic, and I think that, soon, China will be giving lessons to the rest of the world about sustainability. Just like they are doing now about economic growth.

So many things need to change in this country to ensure people´s well being, but there is room for dreamers. Soon, experts in sustainable development like me, that today feel out of the party in China, will have something to say. There is room for hope, there always is…

Comments Off on Study trip 3: China, lights and shadows / 11 Mar 2013 por Paloma Andres Urrutia
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