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A city the size of London in the middle of China

Richard Marles

by Richard Marles

14 Aug 05:45am

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Filed under: Australia, China, Economy, Industry, Kevin Rudd

23 comments

Have you heard of Changsha, Chengdu and Chongqing? How about Wuhan or Weifang? Indeed try a little test: name seven cities in China … you can even count Hong Kong.

The world's oldest twins at home in Weifang. Photo: AFP

To my shame, I was unaware of any of these places before I set off for China last week. I was also unable to name seven Chinese cities.

As a late ring in for our Foreign Minister – who had something on even closer to his heart than China – I joined Trade Minister Craig Emerson in leading a trade delegation to China of a hundred Australian businesses.

Our mission (the brainchild of Kevin Rudd) was to extend the outlook of Australian business to include cities in China beyond Beijing and Shanghai and sectors beyond the provision of resources.

The delegation visited each of these little known cities: every one of them equal to or larger than London.

It is hard to imagine that there is one city the size of London lurking in the middle of China that few Australians have heard of. But it simply beggars belief to learn that there are 16 which fit this description.

These cities are the backbones of provinces whose astonishing economic growth is largely responsible for keeping the world’s economy in black numbers. For example, the economy of Shandong province itself is larger than those of several G20 countries.

The Chinese Government in its most recent economic blueprint has put a focus on pushing development west into central China. As a result a place like Chongqing experienced growth of 17% last year compared to a national average of 10%.

But the Chinese strategy is not simply limited to geography. There is also a growing realisation that an emerging middle class demands a different kind of economic growth: one that is driven by domestic consumption rather than exporting manufactured goods; and one that emphasises the quality of life rather than growth at all costs – a corollary of this is an increasing focus on the service economy.

For Australia’s engagement with China the implications are profound.

Whereas over 80% of our exports to China are currently resources, looking forward, China offers markets of enormous proportions for all the modern services that a developed economy like Australia has to offer.

For many Australian businesses that journey is already well underway.

VR TEK Global is an Australian company specialising in recycling technologies which has developed a process to turn used tyres into high value car components. Technology that was developed at Deakin University in Geelong is now being put into practice dealing with the mountains of used tyres in Hunan.

The Tsingtao brewery in Shandong province, one of China’s two largest brewers, takes 70% of its barley from Australia, much of it provided by Elders.

But nowhere is our new emerging relationship with China more evident than in architecture.

In Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as well as many other cities in China architecture is blossoming. The lines, form and amazing colours of a building like the Canton Tower create a completely different aesthetic which defines modernity in the 21st Century.

Buildings such as these seem to be playing by a new set of rules when it comes to structure and form. It is emblematic of modern China.

What is occurring in China today is an economic transformation in such a short space of time which is extending the bounds of the human experience. New waters are being charted.

This plays right into Australia’s strengths, because we are by nature an imaginative people full of ingenuity. Looking outside the square, finding answers beyond the realms of conformity, charting new waters is what we do.

So it is no surprise when looking at these fantastic buildings to discover that Australians are right in the thick of their design.

Marshall Day Acoustics are responsible for designing the acoustics in the Guangzhou Opera House. John Bilmon from PTW architects in association with his Chinese partner designed the famous Water Cube which hosted the swimming at the Beijing Olympics. The Water Cube is now a Chinese icon and as such must surely be one of the most important works ever designed by an Australian architect.

But be it architecture, environmental remediation or accounting, Australian ingenuity is beautifully placed to take advantage of this next chapter in China’s journey.

The size of China is a mask. The single giant red patch on the map on the eastern side of Eurasia with one or two cities marked on its east coast belies a mass of teeming human activity in its heart which is occurring under the radar.

Once we look through the entity of China, and its thirty or more provinces are revealed, the opportunities for business become boundless.

These are opportunities Australia must seize.

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23 comments

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    • Gregg says:

      06:51am | 14/08/11

      Richard, it is this kind of article that will be reminding some people of just how shallow, dumb or ignorant, politicians can be.

      Sure, unless you have recently been studying Chinese history or geography the names of cities do not exactly roll of the tongue as quickly as what our own cities would or for that matter a lot of cities in other countries with more of an English spelling.

      But your quality, whatever it is Richard comes from not even being able to envisage that China will have so many large cities when they have 1B+ people!, like WTF did you think they would all live and a quick look in an atlas would show you many provinces, just as the US has many states.
      And we send you on some sort of overseas mission!

      Chongquing btw is regarded by some as having a population of about 30M, that being for the greater Municipality, it being one of four centrally controlled and yes the only inland one, possibly the size making the Communists think they need to keep their finger well in the pie.
      The CBD has a Dog Street and yes, as the name implies, that is where you could have made a choice as to which dog meat restaurant you dined at.

      As for this being a Rudd genius thought, come on man for do you not think Australian companies looking for export markets are not always looking abroad whether Rudd, Emerson, you or Julia would think so or not.
      They have been doing it for yonks, and not just in regard to China.

      You might be better off doing some deeper analysis of just how robust the Chinese economy will be long term if you are capable and then think about dominoes as more than those black bits with dots on them.

      But really, please stay home and not keep burdening the taxpayers.

      Reply

    • Dr B S Goh, Australian in Asia says:

      08:02am | 14/08/11

      I think it is extremely important for Australian students to get to know China, India, Japan, Indonesian and Korea better.

      When I was a student at university I was required to study one of three scientific languages in order to get a Bachelor degree, namely German, French or Russian.

      It seems to me that we should have a requirement for all LOCAL Australian University students to graduate. This is to spend at least one month in a Study Tour of one of the countries, China, India, Japan, Indonesian, Pakistan and Korea.

      The present approach for better understanding of Asia is to ask student to study an Asian language. As a person who is good in Maths but very weak in languages I think that is a hard task to demand the study of an Asian language. There is not need to know languages in order to get an understanding of an important Asian neighbor.

      Our Australian students should know that most Asian countries require their Uni students to study and pass English to graduate. Hence in this increasing competitive World they are equipped with a great advantage over our uni students and graduates.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      09:42am | 14/08/11

      If Asian students - as per your last sentence - have an advantage in learning English, then why would not our native students enjoy the same advantage ?
      And learning a second language as an exercize in increasing general learning capacities is, according to the literature, overrated.
      To put it blunty, I get feisty when I hear that we should, to engage in commerce with Asian nations, learn their language, (culture ?)
      Asians, and quite rightly, don’t give a fig about whether, in the process of the pull and push of economics, we can speak their lingo, or know of Li Po, or wonder why their are so many bridges in Vietnam.
      Asians (and anyone else for that matter) who make deals in money are Capitalists first, and Culturalists second.
      Otherwise Poets would be wearing suits, and not marketeers.
      Isn’t that right ?

    • iansand says:

      12:09pm | 14/08/11

      I have heard Chinese officials say “Why would you learn Mandarin - all our children will speak English”.

      I have also actually been to Weifang.  It was the “foggy season”. http://www.flickr.com/photos/iansand/1853504697/

    • stephen says:

      05:39pm | 14/08/11

      Clicked on your photos.
      Nice shots.
      The Cannon EOS range are great cameras.
      Better than Nikon ? Maybe, but the new adv. on TV, (American made) is a beauty.

      PS The point to your reply is, maybe, four seasons ?

    • iansand says:

      06:52pm | 14/08/11

      Stephen - The “foggy season” was the universal explanation for a haze that would make your eyes water and throat hurt.  When I came back from that trip I had a sore throat that lasted over a week.  There is a price paid for rapid economic expansion.  I believe Chengdu is much, much worse.  In Jinan (also in Shandong), you could taste the air.

    • stephen says:

      08:55pm | 14/08/11

      Still reckon India’s the go.

    • Dave says:

      09:02pm | 14/08/11

      Jesus, Stephen, as a not particularly fluent Mandarin speaker I felt embarrassed reading your comment. Young people at school in China learn english compulsorily - just like Germany. So younger Chinese will be able to speak or understand English but not necessarily fluently. Many will lose their ability in the language after they leave school, especially when they are not using it on a daily basis. My wife is mainland Chinese and speaks good english but is not fluent to business levels - which is what we are actually talking about here - we’re not talking about being able to say “wo keyi you yi ge cha ma” or basic stuff like that, we’re talking about needing to say complicated stuff; you know, like “if you put that nuclear rod in that hold there you will blow a lot of people up”...Rock up and try to do business in english only and see how you go. YOu wont get past the door and, if you do, you’ll wonder why all your products have been made using cheap and shoddy material that wasnt in the contract and why you cant seem to get a hearing with the local officials of the justice ministry. In short: language is culture; language is respect; language is what will make things happen. If you dont know that youre just another Laowei with more money than sense and - if you persist in trying to do business in China like that you may not get any more sense but you will certainly end up having less money.

    • Baz says:

      08:43am | 14/08/11

      I think the problem is China does not truly want us there. Yes, for things of a larger, more complicated scale that is going to be held up to the bright lights of the world stage they need foreign know-how (read: they can’t do it themselves), and the manufacturing (...and blueprints) they are to an extent certainly willing to oblige. But this concept of China opening up and Aussie companies really being able to compete there on anything close to a level playing field is completely flawed. You can read of countless stories of companies having tried already, and being burned. Danone/Wahaha, Fellowes, and the blatant IP rip offs such as Huawei - Cisco..the list goes on. I think eventually western companies will have to have caught on.  And if anything I think China is going to close up again, once the powers that be feel they have what they need to do so.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      09:22am | 14/08/11

      China, as a ‘thing’ may be impressive, i.e. grand notions of grand things like modern railways, Olympic opening ceremonies and pandas, but internally she has problems : Local Councils in China are at least 2 trillion dollars in debt. (That’s debt to the Government.)
      This is a management problem, where communication between smaller heirarchies in local areas and the ‘lords’ of provinces are non-existent.
      China thinks that infrastructure development will fix everything, ignoring the fact that individuals lead individual lives, and that so many outside cities and larger towns do not want ‘city’ lives.
      Sure, China has some large towns, but go check your map : the country covers a third of a spin of my globe.
      The place is agrarian, and will be for another hundred years.

      And we…‘are by nature an imaginative people, full of ingenuity’.
      Sir, surely you jest.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      10:00am | 14/08/11

      @ Doc,
      Again you express your ignorance of the Australian way where gaining of knowledge on other countries commences very early in life.
      My own education included Asia being part of history and geography studies at secondary school and that was well before use of computers was even imagined, let alone the internet.

      It would not surprise me if with the internet, students at primary level were looking into Asia and at a community level, many cities and towns have what they call sister cities and towns in Asia.

      At secondary and tertiary levels there are already Asian studies and again you may even find that some courses in the economics and politics areas do include an international aspect, something it would seem Richard missed out on.

      Perhaps it ought to be mandatory that politicians need to study for and pass a brightness measure before they are able to run for elected office.

      The reason for Asian students studying english is that english is recognised as the foremost international language and that also applies to students in other countries where english is not the native tongue.
      You can for instance travel in most places on the planet and find a fair bit of english being spoken or at least find some people who speak it.

      Vietnam was using Russian as a second language during and post the Vietnam War as the invasion is called.
      It did not take them too long to realise that Russian was going to be like tits on a bull and not all that productive and thus there has been a massive movement there re english teaching.
      I was there in 1993 when teachers were getting qualified to teach english and did help a couple, many local residents also going to night school three nights a week as well as Saturdays to learn english too, all very impressive.
      Older people in Vietnam would often approach to see if you spoke French for some loved that language left them by the frogs.

      But again Doc.,
      This is Australia, not Asia or Europe and many countries already do business with countries all around the planet and have been doing so for decades, Asia included and I imagine they will continue to do so, some even getting fingers burnt in the process.

      Sending students off for a month or whatever wherever will not change that for Asian culture and business practices are not going to be learnt without years on the ground there.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      06:35am | 15/08/11

      @Doc
      ” I think there is a big difference between reading about a place by books and by internet and actually visiting a place and smelling a place.

      I give you my own very recent experiences. We always read and see videos about Mongolia and Inner Mongolia as a place of grasslands and horses. I saw about six horses in the distance. “

      Doc, yes there is something called quality of learning and that can affect how you process knowledge and taking time to smell the roses does help.

      But I am very surprised that you as a learned person are suprised to find that Mongolia is not all grasslands!
      For christ sake Doc, most continents on this planet have desert type countryside inland and even New Zealand has their own little patch of alpine desert.

      As for skyscrapers, yep as Richard has discovered there are a lot of them being put up in China and that even includes vacant ones that may Chinese apparently see as a great investment.
      They have even built a replica of an English Village with about nine residents so far.
      Yes, some odd things happen in China and not least with many industrial and business practices.

    • Dr B S Goh, Australian in Asia says:

      10:44am | 14/08/11

      @ Gregg.
      Thanks for your comments.

      I think there is a big difference between reading about a place by books and by internet and actually visiting a place and smelling a place.

      I give you my own very recent experiences. We always read and see videos about Mongolia and Inner Mongolia as a place of grasslands and horses. I saw about six horses in the distance.

      I was taken aback by what I saw a few weeks ago when I visited Inner Mongolia. It blew away many of my perceptions of the place.

      In a travel of about 1500kms by road I did not see any significant grassland. It was mainly low bushes and lots of desert sand like what we see driving across the Nullabor.

      The place is booming because of minerals. It is like Western Australia. There was a brand new city with many more skyscrapers than Sydney has. The taxi drivers there earn almost double what the drivers earn in Shanghai.

      I visited the place with Genghis Khan Mausoleum and where he lived around the place when he was young. Again no grassland but more like Nullabor.

      Reply

    • jf says:

      03:13pm | 14/08/11

      “To my shame, I was unaware of any of these places before I set off for China last week.”

      It is indeed shameful. Not that you didn’t know the names of those cities but that as Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry for 2 years you have only now realised the opportunities that China presents for Australia’s innovation and industry. It is more shameful that Australian industry should be represented by two men that don’t have a days experience in industry between them. I would say you should resign but the only alternatives are other graduates of the ALP university that is the Union M’ment. Instead this whole shambles of a government should resign.

      Reply

    • rogerm says:

      03:35pm | 14/08/11

      I live in Vietnam & the push here is to learn English , wether at school or uni or with private tuition . The one main problem here is the lack of qualified western teachers , I would think that every expat here has at one time or other helped a barmaid or waiter with their English assignments , kids on the street constantly want to engage with us to practice their English . Vietnam is a fast emerging tiger & the young here are determined to be part of it , not just to get to the west but to bring their degree back .

      Reply

    • Dr B S Goh, Australian in Asia says:

      04:11pm | 14/08/11

      @ rogerm.

      It is very good you are in Vietnam doing your bit to improve the lives of others and in particular those in Vietnam.

      Do you know how many hundreds or thousands of Australians are out in Asia teaching English? Is there are a website for the community of Australians teaching English in Asia?

      Today I read in Sydney Morning Herald about asylum seekers and their need of medical care in Australia. There are people pushing for them to have access Medicare.  See: http://www.smh.com.au/national/push-for-asylum-seeker-medicare-cover-20110814-1ispm.html

      This annoys me. Do you know as an Australian citizen who has been working like you as a teacher overseas for five years or more that you are automatically disqualified from Medicare. You can gain access only if you show proof you are back in Australia for good.

      Once I helped carry down six flights of stairs an old Australian friend who was teaching English in an Asian country because he had a big heart attack. There were a lot difficulties and issues making arrangements for him to go back to Australia for treatment.

    • Rogerm52 says:

      09:30pm | 14/08/11

      Well no I have no info on a site for teachers ,just come & do it . But be aware the wages are nothing like Oz.on your other point mate , I don,t give a rats behind if I lose Aus handouts , maybe it’s time you all stepped back & thought do I need this or maybe I can work my way out of this . Other thing old mate, if you can’t afford travel insurance don,t travel . Medicare does not exist here, nor does the dole , nor does the age pension , but here there are 80 million people getting on , some well , some not so well . I take your point re western teachers , maybe not thousands in this country but a lot ,all trying to do the best they can. Pity that those in Oz seem to have forgotten that no one was guaranteed an easy ride from from birth. Perhaps it’s time to rethink why so many expats choose to live in outside of what should be the best country on the planet .

      Reply

    • Daniel says:

      09:56am | 15/08/11

      Why cant Australia learn from China when it comes to Archetecture and get some great buildings built? Its because property developers in Australia are too tight to invest in the creativity. They are continually watering down the great art and visionary ideas of the Architects.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      10:28am | 15/08/11

      I don’t think the Great Wall was built by property developers, so I’m not quite sure where you’re going with your argument.  And I don’t reckon it’s great architecture, either.  Interesting piece of historical military design, but great architecture?

    • Daniel says:

      02:25pm | 15/08/11

      I was really referring to the modern buildings and lack of similar here in Australia due to tight developers and builders. Everything in Australia is done to cheapest possible cost.

    • Mike says:

      01:01am | 16/08/11

      Well a lot of big projects in China (high-speed railways, modern architecture, huge buildings etc) are built a) for “face”, ie to show off, because that’s oh-so-important for the Chinese, and perhaps more importantly (for those concerned at least) b) such projects allow big-wigs to siphon off massive amounts of cash. Neither of which happen to the same extent in Oz (though I would never suggest the latter doesn’t happen at all). But there’s a reason why such a massive proportion of Chinese GDP is spent on infrastructure, and so relatively little on actually enriching the lives of its many people, most of whom definitely could need it.

    • Karina says:

      07:45pm | 07/02/12

      I agree with Alan Baxter, it’s “a very iinspring country”. The biggest upside to Australia for me is “quality of life”. Social stability, security, good work place and relations; All these are some of what made me get the urge to migrate from Brasil to Australia.Always at the background of my mind was the idea of creating “Quality of Life” in order to be able to write. Of course you can write under any conditions but it is much easier here, when I have such a great life, with beautiful sights every day, with the happiness I created, than it was before.Australia brought to me inspiration and endless possibilities, I will be forever grateful to my new home and land.

      Reply
 
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