SPECIA
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china
report
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s the sun rises from the East, the world’s eyes are now turned to its mighty dragon, China. Whether you speak of the global economy or tourism, or both, China has become the current superstar of our planet. With an ironic twist, the rest of the capitalist world is now looking towards this socialist giant of 1.3 billion people to save them with China’s infusion of US$700 billion to their economy. All countries are abetting that they will be part of the buy list of China’s foreign purchases and get a slice of this money pie to help their own battered economies reeling in this global recession. Where is this money coming from? Unlike the United States that has to go through their Congress to devise ways and means to raise funds that entail new debts, China has US$2 trillion in cash reserves and in fact, holds another US$1 trillion in American securities. Thus, their pump priming of their economy comes from cold cash from their own savings. All of China’s prosperity is the brainchild of one diminutive man, Deng Xiaoping. Short in height (barely 5 foot tall), he was a giant – the genius - responsible for liberalizing China. He allowed foreign investments and the individual Chinese to benefit from their own production unlike in the past, when everything was owned by the state. According to Newsweek magazine, when Deng’s radical economic reforms began in the 1980s, the average Chinese was only earning US$500 a year. After 20 years, it is now six times and the average is US$3,000. China now ranks third in economic standing in the world after Japan and the United States and National Geographic predicts that it is bound to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy in 10 years. While a good number of the world’s leading economies are expected to experience negative growth, China, thanks to its economic stimulus, would still grow by 7% (a reduction from the 12% annual growth from the past 15 years). With more than a 4,000 year old civilization and the dazzling praise it has garnered from the recently held Beijing Summer Olympics, China now ranks fifth in tourism with 54.70 million visitors in 2007. Fortunately, China has taken pause in its previous all-out modernization drive and is consciously making steps to preserve its rich heritage. In this special report, we feature how Beijing’s hutongs are now being spared from bulldozers and are reincarnated into cool cafés and boutiques. In Xiamen, Gulangyu Island, with its gardens and manicured parks, continue to be enhanced and be more alluring. We also show you why a visit to China wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the romantic lakes of Hangzhou - China’s “honeymoon capital.” Finally, we reveal Shanghai beyond its touristy sites with a photo essay “Hidden Shanghai.” – Jun Ventura M a r c h 2 0 0 9 M A B U H A Y 39