Zhang

Now what, China — the China?

Everything is going unconventionally. In Old Age people were burned by saying the earth is round. However, today Thomas Friedman is popular by publishing the World Is Flat. In the old days China is known as a Forbidden City, but now the China has become an world economic center.

If you haven’t heard of the latest news, you might continue reading this article. Now PetroChina, just go through Initial Public Offering in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becomes the largest oil and gas company in the world with twice as much the capital as Exxon Mobile (the number two by then). Now let us run some Number One’s.

PetroChina is the largest Oil and Gas company by capital in the world.

China Life Insurance is the largest Insurance Company by capital in the world.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is the largest Bank by capital in the world.

China Mobile has the largest subscriber in the world.

Well, what’s it all about? Why the newly listed public-traded Chinese companies are so attractive? Is it babble behind all those Number One’s? There are many theories behind it, mostly from the economic perspectives, such as emerging market, state-planning policy, and infantry of the stock market. However, there is a new cultural facet as well. Being the number one or break the record is the dream and the pride of all Chinese people. Three-Gorge Dam …Damn to be the largest. The National
Beijing Theater gonna be the largest. The stock market gonna be the largest. . . . Well it is good when we run the figures while listening to the buzz — the largest. It is good because it show the attraction to the foreign investment; it is good because it will drive local and global economic growth; it is good because it will bring welfare to local and global citizens. People will keep pouring more money into the Stock Market nowadays with pride and enjoyment.

At the moment, it is a great scene and hopefully it will be happy ever after. The Chinese economy is still young, the intact market is still large, and the growth is still prominent. Now what? What will be the next thing after those glamorous achievement, which can be marked on the tomb stone of current leaders, as Thomas Jefferson put only three of his greatest achievements as his epitaph.

What really need to do is to cement the babble and transform the babble into the solid material; in other words, it might not be babble only if the China does something about it. Perhaps it is a dream, perhaps it is crazy, and yet it makes sense if you know the PetroChina, ICBC, and etc., from unknown to the largest industrial leader in the world. All of it happened over night of the Initial Public Offering. Nothing else can’t it have done? There might be one, which has been neglected by almost all the people in the whole country, politics.

In order to consolidate the growth of this unthinkable achievement, which is a huge babble from everyone’s eyes, the China needs to bring more political legitimacy (no matter what flavor, western democracy or Chinese Rules with special characteristics, or blend) to its citizens; to enforce the election law to elect, not appoint, real representatives to their constituencies; and to give more power to the people, but rather the public servants. Only if the China provides more protections and benefits for the people, especially ordinary people, to secure the colossal progress of its economic power, which is also determined by economic principles (either Marx to Smith or Ricardo. . .) China is on the edge of the cliff. It is dangerous but curable. If the China can build a 3-Gorge Dam across the Yangzi River, it can also build a freeway to transform the cliff. It is called being safe after being in danger.

That is so what? And that is so, the China.

To be continued.