China was an easy scapegoat for the COVID-19 pandemic – Jim Rogers

 

Jim Rogers

China has become an easy scapegoat for the COVID-19 pandemic, while now it is in better shape than most other countries in the world, says super-investor Jim Rogers from Singapore. “Blaming foreigners is a normal habit during crises,” he adds.

Jim Rogers is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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The vaccine scandal: China's moral decline - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

China's latest scandal on the fake vaccine for hundreds of thousands of children is the latest example of a deep moral decline in the country, argues Zhang Lijia, author of Lotus: A Novel, a research novel on prostitution in China, in the South China Morning Post. "I believe that the lack of a value system and a spiritual vacuum lay at the roots of China’s moral crisis."

Zhang Lijia:

Several high-profile incidents, such as the tainted milk scandal and the notorious “Little Yueyue Incident” – in which a two-year-old from Foshan, Guangdong, was run over twice by vehicles outside her parents' shop, and 18 passers-by walked past her body on the street without helping – shocked and disgusted people around the world. Some even called China a “material giant and a spiritual dwarf”. 

I believe that the lack of a value system and a spiritual vacuum lay at the roots of China’s moral crisis. 

We have imported the concept of market economy but not the corresponding ethics. Traditionally, the core values were benevolence, righteousness, proper rites, knowledge and integrity, as mandated by Confucianism. 

But all traditional and religious systems were destroyed after the Communist Party took power, especially during the Cultural Revolution, when Chairman Mao Zedong ordered the citizens to destroy the “four olds”: “old customs”, “old culture”, “old habits” and “old ideas”. The basic social fabric was torn to pieces. 

This mad political movement marked the beginning of China’s moral decay and lack of trust among the people. At that time, people were encouraged to report and denounce each other – even their teachers, neighbours and parents. 

In recent years, Confucianism, condemned by Mao, has gained popularity. Former president Hu Jintao’s call for a “harmonious society” was perhaps a sign of its rehabilitation. 

Today, our top leaders like certain aspects of Confucian values, such as the ruler/subject relationship and respect for authority. But many of its values, such as its attitude towards women, are not in line with modernity. 

That’s China’s problem: there isn’t really a united value system that resonates with the modern Chinese society.

More in the South China Morning Post.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more experts on cultural change at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

China´s aging crisis: guns vs canes - Howard French

Howard French

The world´s most populous country is facing an unprecedented crisis, as its population ages fast, tells former New York Times Shanghai-bureau chief Howard French to PBS. The fast rising demand for social security, health care and a diminishing work force, will narrow down China´s economic expansion in the near future. The aging crisis not only shows the immense failure of the one-child policy, it will also force the country to become more welcoming to much-needed immigrants.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you looking for more political experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list. 

Again: China is not heading for a crisis - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber

Foreign media see - wrongly - often many crises appearing in China, writes economist Arthur Kroeber in his upcoming book China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®. The Australian Financial Review has an early review. There are problems, but "he does not see a headline-grabbing crisis, rather a slow Japanese-style decline."

Australian Financial Review:

"Visitors to China observe the waste and inefficiency visible everywhere and often conclude the economy will soon hit a crisis," Kroeber writes. 

"These predictions have so far been wrong, not because observers are wrong about the degree of waste, but because they fail to realise that in a country of China's size such waste can be irrelevant so long as it is a by-product of any effective process of meeting basic needs." 

In making his point Kroeber points to the boom years between 2000 and 2010, where China needed to create 20 million new jobs and build 8 million new homes each year just to meet the basic shelter and employment needs of its population. 

"It is hardly surprising in this scramble many fairly useless jobs were created and many housing units were built which had to wait months or years for buyers," he writes.

Kroeber argues the overall result of this building boom has been to provide China with world class infrastructure. 

But he says this phase of growth is now over and Beijing must look to a new model which emphasises "efficiency rather than scale". 

"This transition will be difficult," he writes. 

This is where Kroeber and others see emerging problems for China. 

Their concerns have less to do with economics and more to do with politics -- an area of study those predicting a perpetual crisis should perhaps focus their energy. 

The central question is whether the Communist Party and its increasingly authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, can relinquish sufficient control over the economy to allow it to grow at elevated levels over the next decade. 

On this front Kroeber is sceptical. 

But he does not see a headline-grabbing crisis, rather a slow Japanese-style decline. 

He sees stagnation as a result of the government's reluctance to expose the state sector to greater competition and from a lack of political will to address the sector's debt problems.

More in the Australian Financial Review.

Arthur Kroeber is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.


  Are you interested in more stories by Arthur Kroeber? Do check out this list.

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Why this crisis is tougher on China - Paul Denlinger

Paul Denlinger

Bear and bulls are fighting each other on the effects of the global crisis on China's economy. Business analyst Paul Denlinger explains on his weblog China Vortex why this crisis is worse for China than the previous one. 

Paul Denlinger:

In late 2008, when the global financial crisis broke, local government tax offices in China routinely visited larger employers to find out about their employment situation. The implicit threat was that if they laid off people at this time they would be inviting a tax audit which obviously would not work in management’s favor. Employers struggled, but the economy recovered, and through 2009 and 2010, it looked like China’s economy had dodged the bullet. 

This time, it’s different. China’s domestic growth and consumer spending have continued to grow. If there are significant layoffs though, it will hit Chinese consumer confidence hard, especially when people hear stories about other people being laid off from their jobs. Immediately, Chinese will go into savings mode again, which will put a damper on domestic economic growth.

More at the China Vortex.

Paul Denlinger is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

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How I fought the financial crisis - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

At the end of 2008, 2009 the consulting industry dropped like a stone, Shaun Rein decided to hire more senior people and invest. In Forbes he recalls how he overcame some scary business decisions that now helped him to fight the crisis.

I fretted not only about paying salaries but that I might have to close if things didn't get better. After slaving for three years building up my firm, the China Market Research Group, positioned as higher than McKinsey in price and quality for strategy projects focused on China, I feared losing it all.

I sat down with my wife at Starbucks to figure out what to do. She asked if I thought China's economy would be strong in five years. I said yes. Then she said, "Go out, and hire more top people, and build the brand. If we personally need to sacrifice, so be it." With that, we launched our plan.

Shaun Rein's company recovered in 2010 and he advises what he did: continue marketing, continue hiring. More in Forbes. 

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Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need his advice at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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