Beijing – home and reflections
Aug 1 2010
We expected Beijing to have been modernised for the Olympics – and it was.
What we did not expect was just how sophisticated and modern the entire city was. I am sure that there will be some very poor and underdeveloped areas that we did not see, but the town planning that has resulted in the development of such a modern city has to be admired. There is no Resource Management acts to tie development up in knots – and the fact that the Chinese Government own all the land obviously make development a lot easier for them. Sure they will make mistakes, but the grown and development has been extraordinary.
And it was not just Beijing that was modern. We were so impressed with Jinan and its modern downtown. The trees and parks make the city so beautiful – even through all the pollution.
In New Zealand so many uninformed people believe that China is a third world country, and believe that the products from China are inferior. This month China passed Japan as the second largest economy in the world, and it won’t be long before it surpasses USA to be number one.
The train we took from Jinan to Beijing was one of the most modern trains I have ever travelled on. In 2012 they will have bullet trains that will travel at close to 400km/hour and take just four ours from Beijing to Shanghai. Wow!
Because we are so good at dairying, we believe that China will always be buying large amounts of dairy products from us (which I am sure they will). However, the underlying belief is that their agricultural infrastructure is very poor, and will remain so. Whilst I can’t comment on the climatic conditions for dairy cows (hot summers and cold winters), I am confident that if the Chinese Government put their mind to it, it will take a very short time before they are technologically superior to anything we have done to date. Their speed of uptake is breathtaking.
For someone who has travelled to Asia (and China) many times, I was still blown away by the development that has taken place over the last 10 years.