Comment

    China's changes through Western eyes

    By Colin Speakman ( bbs.chinadaily.com.cn)
    Updated: 2014-03-11 10:00

    This will cover the decade since I first set foot in China in 2003 and went on to live in Nanjing, Shanghai and currently Beijing. A lot of changes but I'll focus on what I directly connected with.

    2003 itself was the year China battled the spread of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It delayed my visit. China conquered that enemy and went on to handle outbreaks of various strains of bird flu since. The big change - in 2003 there was much concern over transparency of information. China learned, and with subsequent health issues, reported fast and won praise from WHO (The World Health Organization).

    By 2003, China had known for two years that it had won the right to hold the 2008 Olympics. The next five years here, I saw a huge swell of expectation and excitement. I loved buying those 5 mascots of the Olympics - my favorite was Fire. I went to the Games, and it is a permanent memory. Some of my Chinese friends got to be volunteers. China hosted a great Olympics and Paralympics and won the most gold medals. So now the big change is all that has come and gone. China has had its coming-out party. The Olympic connection lasted a long time, the official souvenirs have gone, but there are still vendors at Olympic Park. It never felt really over until Beijing passed the torch to my London. In 2012 I went to Beijing's pre-London Games party, complete with Bootleg Beatles, then on a plane for London's Games. They were great too, but it did not feel quite the same.

    China also knew as the decade progressed that it would host the World Expo in Shanghai, which it did from May to October in 2010. I lived in Shanghai then and went seven times with friends and student groups. It replaced the Olympics as the source of mascots – Haibao (Treasure of the Sea) and lots of Expo bags and other souvenirs. In the end it proved to be the highest attended Expo ever – 73 million people. Both these events showed the world that China could handle global events, and now I feel China is looking for the next big thing like that.

    A very big change has been high-speed trains. In 2003, I traveled from Shanghai to Nanjing in a soft seat on a train that took over 4 hours. Fast forward and I regularly took D trains that could make the journey in 2 hours. Then the super-fast G trains arrived, cutting the journey in half again. So nowadays just 1 hour to connect Shanghai with Nanjing and 5 hours to connect Beijing with Shanghai by train (before, around 11 hours) – and China now has the largest network of high-speed trains in the world - amazing!

    Of course, in the last decade, China has risen past Germany and then Japan to be the world's 2nd largest economy and the manufacturing workshop to the world. Wearing my economist's hat, I see the last decade as the one where the world finally got China's economic importance after it entered WTO in late 2001.

    With that success and stellar growth came another important change. The decade saw China lift millions of its citizens out of poverty and open up new opportunities for its citizens. Rather than a bit over 2 million Chinese students going to university each year, it has risen to around 7 million. Many megacities have developed and migrant workers have seized the opportunity to leave a rural life behind. A couple of years ago, for the first time, more Chinese mainlanders live in urban than in rural areas. Did we see that coming all those years ago?

    It has not been all good, but there have been a lot more good things than not so good. However, I share a few problem changes with you. Housing prices have soared in the last decade, and this has caused severe problems for the younger generation in large cities. Pollution in the cities has worsened, partly because of traffic congestion, itself a problem. Inequality has significantly increased for a socialist country and reflected in what economists call the GINI Index. Inequality in China is worse than in many capitalist-based countries. With Westernization in cities, eating patterns have changed, and China is heading to the top of the league of citizens living with Type-2 diabetes. These are the prices Western countries pay for affluence, and we know that Chinese authorities are trying to address them.

    I feel privileged to have been here to see all the many positive changes. The future could be even more exciting, as China surely still has many changes ahead. Go, China!

     

     

    8.03K
    ...
    久久无码av三级| 丰满白嫩人妻中出无码| 精品无码国产一区二区三区51安| 久久午夜夜伦鲁鲁片免费无码影视 | 久久久久久久人妻无码中文字幕爆| 最近中文字幕无免费| 最近中文字幕视频在线资源| 精选观看中文字幕高清无码| 曰韩人妻无码一区二区三区综合部| 色综合久久最新中文字幕| 人妻丰满熟妇A v无码区不卡| 亚洲性无码一区二区三区| 久久午夜无码鲁丝片秋霞| 中文字幕无码不卡在线| 国产精品无码久久久久久| 亚洲AV无码一区二区二三区入口| 日韩视频中文字幕精品偷拍| 中文国产成人精品久久不卡| 午夜无码视频一区二区三区| 69久久精品无码一区二区| 日韩av无码一区二区三区| 亚洲va中文字幕无码久久不卡| 中文无码精品一区二区三区| 中文字幕免费在线观看| 无码色AV一二区在线播放| 日韩精品久久无码人妻中文字幕| 亚洲国产a∨无码中文777| 久久精品亚洲AV久久久无码| 中文字幕在线看日本大片| 人妻精品久久久久中文字幕| 波多野结衣中文字幕免费视频| 色综合久久无码中文字幕| 久久精品亚洲中文字幕无码麻豆| 狠狠躁天天躁中文字幕无码 | 亚洲永久无码3D动漫一区| 炫硕日本一区二区三区综合区在线中文字幕| 天堂√中文最新版在线| 中文字幕亚洲男人的天堂网络| 午夜亚洲av永久无码精品| 最近高清中文字幕无吗免费看| 亚洲va中文字幕无码久久|