Travel Blog

I have conversed with friends who reside outside of Taiwan who have but only crumbs of knowledge of the China phenomenon.  Being Chinese, and your friend, I think it is a matter of personal friendship that I give you sufficient information for you to be dangerous in discussions.  Here, I will arm you with readily quotable facts and statistics that will impress.

Let’s review some of the cultural and historical aspects:

Historical Fact #1: Why so many Overseas Chinese?  We quietly infiltrate every culture and slowly infuse Chinese food into the culture.  Our aim is to bring it all down from within.  I jest.  Actually, the year is 221 B.C. during the Qin Dynasty.  Emperor Qin, a big fan of Confucius, systematically forced the coaster traders out of the country.  Under the Confucian system, farmers were revered while traders were shunned.  Traders created nothing and lived off the passing of goods between people.  Out with the leeches!  Chinese have been rooted throughout SEAsia since.  Immigration of Chinese to America, Australia, and Europe is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Historical Fact #2: Emperor Qin Shi Huang did the following during his 21 year term:

(1) Unifed China by sheer military might;

(2) Establish Mandarin as the official language;

(3) Built the Great Wall O’China;

(4) Rumoured to have indirectly given birth to Japan;

(5) Created 7000+ terracotta soldiers to guard his tomb.

Historical Myth #1: As with all megalomaniacs, Emperor Qin was fixated with immortality.  Appointed doctors that could not deliver the elixir of youth were subsequently beheaded.  One clever physician was sid to have delayed his decapitation by fabricating a mystical eternal herb in a far away land.  The price: 50 young men and women were sent on a ship to retrieve this herb.  Myth is that they landed in Japan.  Let your imagination run henceforth.

The doctor was eventually decapitated.  Qin built 7000 soldiers, horses and carriages to guard his tomb in case he came back.  I imagine when the tomb was finally sealed; all workers withknowledge of the tomb were executed.  The last guy probably had to commit suicide. 

Historical Myth #2: Labor laws were lax.  Emperor Qin was keen on quality control.  Each section of the Great Wall of China was appointed a foreman overseeing hundreds of laborers.  The mortar had to be tightly packed and the stones meticulously placed.  Each day a Qin officer would ride along the wall and systematically thrust his sword into the mortar.  If the tip of his sword were to pierce the mortar by more than 3cm, the foreman along with his entire crew of hundreds would be beheaded.  That section of the wall would be torn down and rebuilt.  This explains why the wall is still standing after more than 2000 years.

Historical Fact #3: What’s the story with China and Taiwan?  Here is the Cliff Notes version:

(1) Modern China was born after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.

(2) Chang Kai-Shek led the nationalists.  Mao led the rebel communists.

(3) They fought with each other until the Japanese invaded in the 1930s.

(4) They got together to kick out the Japanese during WWII.

(5) After WWII, they went back to fighting each other.

(6) In 1949, the communists won and the nationalists pushed off on boats to Taiwan.

(7) China and Taiwan have been at a stalemate since.

Today, you will not find a more unique blend of paradox.  When Mao launched the cultural revolutions in the 60s and 70s, he effectively destroyed 5000 years of cultural history.  Why?  My personal conjecture is that a billion people would have no extracurricular distractions but to listen to everything he says.  No religion, no philosophy, no roots.  Freshly injected with western capitalism, teh current generation of Chinese is born with a characteristic that only Gordon Gecko would wish: an ethical bypass at birth.  Capitalism is the new God.  Thanks to Mao, modern day mainland-Chinese do not ahve the ethical or moral roots to anchor their pursuit of happiness.  Like Terminator, they will not stop until the money in your bank account is in their bank account.  they feel no pity, no remorse, no fear.  The paradox: communist by name, socialist by policy, and pure capitalism by mentality.

Now let’s review some of the economic aspects:

Scary Fact #1: China has 1.3 billion people, or 20% of the world population not accounting for the 34 million Overseas Chinese.

Scary Fact #2: China is the 6th largest GDP economy in the world in 2004 and is anticipated to be the 4th largest in 2005, after America, Japan, and Germany.

Scary Fact #3: Opened for business in 1978.  It’s just getting started.

Economically, China is everywhere akin to a swarm of bees hovering over a busted hive.  The majority of items you buy these days is from China.  It always starts with textiles and toys, then plastic and rubber household goods.  Then progress to low tech kitchenware, then electronics goods.  Take a look at the back of your Ipod.  Surprise.  It is the manufacturer to the world for one reason: labor cost.  Here is a sampling:

Average hourly wage in 2004

Germany US$31.00

USA US$22.00

Taiwan US$5.64

China US$0.92

There is no typo.  With 92 cents an hour, any Chinese manufacturer can approach any German manufacturer and claim: "For every one of your workers, you can hire 40 of mine."  Downside risk: quality of product and intellectual property infringement.  But WOW.  US$30 savings per hour! - Yummy by any business standards.

Not bad for 20 odd years of progress.  So if you have an iron will and a fortified consitution, "Go East, My Friend!".  East is the new West.  Red is the new Black.  And a traditional Chinese dress looks fabulous on any woman.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.