The Gardens of Fuyang
"These gardens and walkways tell us something. Here is a provincial city with ambition."
Fuyang (富阳区) is southwest of the famous Hangzhou. This area has low mountains, valleys, and the broad Fuchun River. A temperate climate favours tea plantations in the hills while industry flourishes on the river's banks.
Trees, floral displays, and manicured lawns accompanied by jogging and cycling tracks stretch along the boulevards. These gardens and walkways tell us something. Here is a provincial city with ambition. This small place in a big country has a plan and the confidence to drive forward. Moreover, that plan is audacious, stretching to the horizon with a high-speed rail link and modern highways. It's a plan well on the way to realisation. On all sides are construction, new homes, factories and signs of wealth.
Here, we have a striking demonstration that even a somewhat minor city is riding the wave of China's emergence with a bold statement.
Technology is ubiquitous here. You call a cab using an app that appears in minutes, and its approach is tracked on a map. Payment is cashless in restaurants, shops, and almost everywhere else. The convenience is exceptional. The local people are healthy, positive, and engaging, although the concept of queuing has yet to reach everybody.
Thus, it's disheartening to read the Western media coverage that portrays China as a land of harsh repression. That's the danger of adopting a single perspective and then generalising. Despite assertions of balance, we know that all media organisations have a slant that distorts their commentary.
Snobbery and self-regard are also at play. There is an illusion of superiority around institutions and culture, asserting that the West is best—a self-proclaimed eminence from living like a frog in a well. This arrogant and narrow view is shaken as democracy falters and the tide of influence ebbs east.
A generalised negative stereotyping of China predisposes people to accept, without question, the false narrative of a few. The Falun Gong cult is not alone in harnessing this attitude to spread propaganda. Many in the West lapped it up.
Only when Falun Gung leader Li Hongzhi denounced homosexuals, rock music and 'mixed marriage' did people wake up. Besides, Li's exotic ideas around shape-shifting and aliens using humans as pets pulled back the curtain on the madness at the organisation's core. The gullibility of supposedly educated Westerners never ceases to surprise me.
While trumpeting free media, the West ignores its inherent bias. For example, the BBC blanks out thousands of ex-soldiers gathered in central London. Their demonstration in support of retired colleagues charged over historical events gets scant coverage. Not so the simultaneous middle-class climate protest, with celebrities jetting in to get their picture taken. The BBC gives that hypocritical show wall-to-wall coverage.
Looking at the world through a distorted prism fosters misinterpretation. The USA entered the Vietnam War believing in the domino theory of communist influence, which posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. They then found themselves in an unwinnable civil war, with the population as the enemy.
Without a doubt, some fear China as an emerging power. People question why the U.K. or the USA can't have Huawei or a similar corporation. They have short memories. Apple, IBM, General Electric, and others have dominated the world of innovation for decades. Now, it is China's turn. Considering the country's number of STEM graduates, this change should be no surprise. The data for 2016 is here.
According to estimates, the number of Chinese graduates aged between 25 and 34 will rise 300 percent by 2030, while the U.S. and Europe can expect just 30 percent. But it's not just the numbers that are impressive. It's the focus on STEM graduates, the ones who are crucial to emerging industries. They write software, design engineering solutions, and innovate. Their role in China's advancement cannot be overstated.
Granted, some STEM graduates may elect to work overseas. Nonetheless, the sheer number at China's disposal fills her sails and provides the momentum that will keep them ahead. Plus, China has long-term plans that it implements. I'd like to show you the point with the example of the U.K.'s dithering over a high-speed rail system.
In the last 15 years, China has built 18,000 miles of high-speed rail track with trains running at 217 mph (350 kph). By 2025, the system will cover 24,000 miles. This is not just a feat of engineering but a testament to China's determination and speed of progress. Meanwhile, the U.K. can't agree on building a single high-speed link between London and Birmingham that covers 125 miles. The proposed project remains only an idea despite decades of discussion.
All in all, China is forging ahead. They adopt technology faster while infrastructure projects continue to expand. Importantly, there is a recognition that the environment suffered due to breakneck development; as a result, initiatives abound. A good number of cities operate all-electric buses. Soon, you will see electric cars as the norm. Undoubtedly, human rights are lagging, but the child labour that drove the U.K.'s industrial revolution is not there.
The West took hundreds of years to move from an agrarian society to today's modern world. China is doing the same, with many more people, in decades. Thus, there are bound to be miscalculations along the way. I have to say that blind criticism doesn't help.
If the Gardens of Fuyang tell us anything, they are a tangible representation of China's strategy, a direction, and the willingness to implement it. Millions of people are brought out of poverty, fed, and given an education.
In truth, we must ask several questions: Could a Western-style government achieve this? Is Western society's mantra that democracy equals freedom and prosperity sustainable? Or is democracy deployed as a cover to shield strategic interests and drive market access?
May 2019
Trees, floral displays, and manicured lawns accompanied by jogging and cycling tracks stretch along the boulevards. These gardens and walkways tell us something. Here is a provincial city with ambition. This small place in a big country has a plan and the confidence to drive forward. Moreover, that plan is audacious, stretching to the horizon with a high-speed rail link and modern highways. It's a plan well on the way to realisation. On all sides are construction, new homes, factories and signs of wealth.
Here, we have a striking demonstration that even a somewhat minor city is riding the wave of China's emergence with a bold statement.
Technology is ubiquitous here. You call a cab using an app that appears in minutes, and its approach is tracked on a map. Payment is cashless in restaurants, shops, and almost everywhere else. The convenience is exceptional. The local people are healthy, positive, and engaging, although the concept of queuing has yet to reach everybody.
Thus, it's disheartening to read the Western media coverage that portrays China as a land of harsh repression. That's the danger of adopting a single perspective and then generalising. Despite assertions of balance, we know that all media organisations have a slant that distorts their commentary.
Snobbery and self-regard are also at play. There is an illusion of superiority around institutions and culture, asserting that the West is best—a self-proclaimed eminence from living like a frog in a well. This arrogant and narrow view is shaken as democracy falters and the tide of influence ebbs east.
A generalised negative stereotyping of China predisposes people to accept, without question, the false narrative of a few. The Falun Gong cult is not alone in harnessing this attitude to spread propaganda. Many in the West lapped it up.
Only when Falun Gung leader Li Hongzhi denounced homosexuals, rock music and 'mixed marriage' did people wake up. Besides, Li's exotic ideas around shape-shifting and aliens using humans as pets pulled back the curtain on the madness at the organisation's core. The gullibility of supposedly educated Westerners never ceases to surprise me.
While trumpeting free media, the West ignores its inherent bias. For example, the BBC blanks out thousands of ex-soldiers gathered in central London. Their demonstration in support of retired colleagues charged over historical events gets scant coverage. Not so the simultaneous middle-class climate protest, with celebrities jetting in to get their picture taken. The BBC gives that hypocritical show wall-to-wall coverage.
Looking at the world through a distorted prism fosters misinterpretation. The USA entered the Vietnam War believing in the domino theory of communist influence, which posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. They then found themselves in an unwinnable civil war, with the population as the enemy.
Without a doubt, some fear China as an emerging power. People question why the U.K. or the USA can't have Huawei or a similar corporation. They have short memories. Apple, IBM, General Electric, and others have dominated the world of innovation for decades. Now, it is China's turn. Considering the country's number of STEM graduates, this change should be no surprise. The data for 2016 is here.
According to estimates, the number of Chinese graduates aged between 25 and 34 will rise 300 percent by 2030, while the U.S. and Europe can expect just 30 percent. But it's not just the numbers that are impressive. It's the focus on STEM graduates, the ones who are crucial to emerging industries. They write software, design engineering solutions, and innovate. Their role in China's advancement cannot be overstated.
Granted, some STEM graduates may elect to work overseas. Nonetheless, the sheer number at China's disposal fills her sails and provides the momentum that will keep them ahead. Plus, China has long-term plans that it implements. I'd like to show you the point with the example of the U.K.'s dithering over a high-speed rail system.
In the last 15 years, China has built 18,000 miles of high-speed rail track with trains running at 217 mph (350 kph). By 2025, the system will cover 24,000 miles. This is not just a feat of engineering but a testament to China's determination and speed of progress. Meanwhile, the U.K. can't agree on building a single high-speed link between London and Birmingham that covers 125 miles. The proposed project remains only an idea despite decades of discussion.
All in all, China is forging ahead. They adopt technology faster while infrastructure projects continue to expand. Importantly, there is a recognition that the environment suffered due to breakneck development; as a result, initiatives abound. A good number of cities operate all-electric buses. Soon, you will see electric cars as the norm. Undoubtedly, human rights are lagging, but the child labour that drove the U.K.'s industrial revolution is not there.
The West took hundreds of years to move from an agrarian society to today's modern world. China is doing the same, with many more people, in decades. Thus, there are bound to be miscalculations along the way. I have to say that blind criticism doesn't help.
If the Gardens of Fuyang tell us anything, they are a tangible representation of China's strategy, a direction, and the willingness to implement it. Millions of people are brought out of poverty, fed, and given an education.
In truth, we must ask several questions: Could a Western-style government achieve this? Is Western society's mantra that democracy equals freedom and prosperity sustainable? Or is democracy deployed as a cover to shield strategic interests and drive market access?
May 2019
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