China is a country that appears to be attracting increasing interest from the blogosphere and elsewhere and not without good reason. We all sense the potential lurking in this Asian giant. Depending upon one’s point of view this is either worrying or exciting or, possibly, both.
Only yesterday I took delivery of a new dining table and set of chairs and couldn’t help the raised eyebrow upon noticing the legend ‘Made in China’ stamped on the box. Jolly smart it is too.
I admit to being lured into the ranks of the China-watchers, so I tend to regard throwaway news items like this to be noteworthy:
“China has allowed its citizens to buy gold bullion for the first time since the Communist Party took power in 1949.
Shoppers queued on Thursday to look at gold bars on sale in department stores in Beijing and the southern city of Nanjing
Other moves to develop the gold market include plans for Chinas big four commercial banks to offer gold-related investment products to individual investors next year.”
How ironic that, despite the unarguable ghastliness of their ruling regime, the Chinese are constantly embracing new ideas of enterprise and weath-creation whilst the ruling elites of the West are searching for ever-more elaborate ways of suffocating both.
For us fans of capitalism, watching China is a bit like watching a child develop, from the first utterance of ‘Mamma’ to taking the stabilisers off of their bikes.
Just wait until those hormones begin to kick in!
Would you ever go and do some work for gods sake
eamon
Wouldn’t “Made in China” actually indicate Taiwan?
Self-promotion alert:
The beginning of my “China Blog” is at this location and the end Here. That should let you read a blogger’s view on what China’s like right now.
Promotion over…
How ironic that, despite the unarguable ghastliness of their ruling regime, the Chinese are constantly embracing new ideas of enterprise and weath-creation whilst the ruling elites of the West are searching for ever-more elaborate ways of suffocating both.
… They are allowing their people to buy gold.
Every western nation has been doing that for dozens, if not hundreds, of years.
Now maybe its true that many western governments are becoming more anti-capitalist than they used to be, but they would have to fall far indeed to ban the sale of gold.
You just noticed that the Special Olympics One-Legged ass-kicking champions are getting a little faster, and declared that real olympians should be getting worried.
The only thing that worries me about China is when it finally reaches the end of gradual reform and finds that it is still behind the West (except for Taiwan)… Will they change radically, or decide to war?
Failures and basket-cases are dangerous to their neighbors. With their rivers that run every color except clear, widespread ignorance (outside the city), isolationism, and repression… China will continue to meet these criteria for a very long time indeed.
Industrial-age economies can only go so far.
Very nice website