Thoughts from my trip to China
- Thread starter tphuang
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It's one of those things where I wish people from both China and America can understand each other better. You know, people in America travel to Europe and the Americas all the time for vacation. We also deal with European companies a lot for work, so we get a sense of what the societies are like. If China wants to have a better image of itself in the Western countries, they need to have more culture exchange and welcome more tourists. Then I think Americans will see that Chinese people aren't that much different than themselves. And I think Chinese people will gain a lot from traveling to Western countries too.
Thanks, I'm not saying I've seen all of China, but just sharing what I saw on my trip. Granted, the people I saw were generally well educated, intelligent and well-off in Beijing, so I probably missed a good chunk of the country. But I think the positive and negative points I brought up would be agreed on by most Chinese people.
Well, I know this Tphuang, as a grandfather who loves his grandchildren.
If I were on a walk on a trail with my grandsons and granddaughters, and another middile-aged man came along...from China...and he were on a walk with his grandsons and granddaughters, and we met on that trail...we would find very quickly that our worries, our concerns, and our joys and the things we care most deeply about were remarkably the same. I know, as we talked, that we would have a good time finding that out as we spoke to one another and our respective grandchildren...and I bet we would part frineds.
Always something to think about. Most of us want the same things. Love in our families. A good life for our children and grandchildren. The opportunity to pursue our dreams and help others, particularly our families. Enough to eat, a roof over our heads and a dry place to come home to...and hopefully one we can own for ourselves. A decent job, hopefully making enough to save a little for that future we want our kids and grandkids to have. And the chance to make our own decisions and have our own will and desires run our life with as little interference as possible.
ANyhow...again, thanks for the blog.
China already receives a lot of tourists and sends abroad a lot of tourists. In fact, its one of the largest sources of tourists.
The problem is not tourism. The problem is that china is viewed as a huge competitor, with a lot of poor people to give jobs. China´s economy is dependent on exports, with many people complaining that china takes jobs away from developed nations using low wages and shoddy produts.
There is also a geopolitical aspect to this. Specially in the USA, during the 80´s, japan was seen as a challenger to US economic dominance before its decline in the 90´s. Now the same thing is happening regarding china. Add to that the fact that china is a single-party system with nuclear weapons. The US dont like rivals. But i dont blame them. Who likes rivals...?
I think that those reasons explain why people in the west (and US particulary) view china with suspicion.
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They do gain a lot, Gucci, Prada, Hermes etc. Based on my observation of my relatives and my friends relatives, funny how they can spent a few years worth of savings on these oversea shopping trips.
There is a little know fact in the Chinese finance community, China's money supply (M1+M2+M3) is actually twice the US money supply (M1+M2+M3) at the current current exchange rate, with China's GDP only at about that's the US. So just counting beans, and exchange all of China's money for all of US's money. The exchange rate would somewhere at 12 RMB for 1 USD. (The current exchange rate is 6.2 RMB for 1 USD) However, most of China's money is tight up in real estate* and US is heavily in debt (mostly not by the gov't, but by individuals), the current exchange rate is where it is.
*In the classic mv = pq equation, China's velocity of money is lower than the US. Thus there has not be massive inflation in China. However, it is reflected in rapid rise and eventually fall of asset prices. Asset could be stock (prior to the spectacular crash in 2007), Pu'er tea （2009）， and real estate 2005-present. In each of these bubbles, money get recycled back and destroyed.
There is actually two very good source on economic and social news from China. Much better than other English sources, though the Chinese version of these two website contain far more insight.
Also remember China just 17% VAT and 15%-50% luxury item tax. In fact, VAT accounts to almost 70% of China's government income, with income tax accounting for a little over 20%.
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You also have to take another factor into account that the USD as the world's reserve currency means that its spread wide throughout the world and there is more USD circulating outside of the US than inside. US M1 + M2 + M3 money supply is not the entire story of the USD. And the US government is not deeply indebted ? The last time i checked the US has more than 16,5 trillion dollars worth of debt and another 120 trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. That is money the US government promised its people but don't have. And both are rising fast.