Gordon Chang, an an article in Forbes, notes some of the changes that are happening to China's manufacturing economy. According to him six cities, including Shenyang a city I once visited, are now allowing defunct and abandoned industrial sites to turn into farmland. Now this doesn't necessarily indicate a larger trend, though I do find it interesting that a city I had visited less than two years ago, and was growing at an exorbitant pace, is allowing land to return to nature.
What is even more interesting is that the rising costs of manufacturing on the east coast of China have forced manufacturers to either move inland or overseas. This is nothing new, and has been documented for some time now, China is getting more expensive and losing it's competitive advantage. This is interesting because China has always had issues with regionalism. The wealthier coasts will probably do everything they can to try and keep industry where it is while the interior will do everything it can to take industry away.
China's very interesting in that they aren't quite what they were historically anymore and you have to wonder if the traditional Chinese solution of learning and growing will officially be replaced by the more modern Chinese practice of we make the rules.
ReplyDeleteThey hold back in some ways to take advantage of their economic position but at the same time it's hurting them in the long run. It'll be very interesting to see how it all works out in the end.