Why The West Will Never Understand China - Arrogance and Ignorance

Economist Martin Jacques, the author of "When China Rules the World," examines why the West is ignorant and unaware of the growing power of the Chinese economy, and offers three building blocks for understanding what China will become - the dominant culture of the world.

Comments

[Blokes]

No Kyle, China is super disciplined, hence they are succeeding plus, owing to a central decision-making administration, they do not waste time asking for public opinions and setting up zillion meetings before a job or plan gets implemented .

Further, the West has always "defined" modern market economies and "value". The Asian market "value" is quite different and this basic valuation will make for a different outcome.

[Bob Compton]

Hoping a competitor - China - will fail is a risky strategy on which to bet our country's future.

Why not assume China will be successful and then find a strategy for America to be competitive.

Bob

[Compellingtalks]

Despite the somewhat absolutist, and misleading title, this TED talk details many ways that the West has historically misunderstood China - and far too often continues to do so. The speaker's somewhat ironic conclusion that the rise of China means "the greatest democratization in 200 years" depends on a rather elastic definition of democratic.
Acknowledging these limits, I found this TED talk quite engaging, informative, and often persuasive.

[Kyle]

IMO, China is like a bank that is prospering during an economic boom. You don't judge the bank during the boom, you judge it during the crash. Let's wait for their stock market to crash or their real-estate bubble to burst, and then after we see the true strength of their economy, we can talk about their future. Personally I think China is going to crash and crash HARD, just like Japan did, only bigger. Their economy consists primarily of manufacturing cheap things and construction, a good deal of which is currently being financed by their government (and considering the quickness with which their stimulus was enacted, they have to be spending the money recklessy). At the rates their real-estate prices keep increasing considering the oversupply of real-estate the country has, something is bound to blow soon. China is undergoing the same arrogance the Japanese experienced, Dubai experienced, and even Wall Street experienced prior to their bubbles bursting.