Progress in China

“Progress” is a word that carries all kinds of philosophical and historical baggage. However, progress of some sort is undoubtedly being made in China, and foreign visitors are invariably impressed by the speed and scope of the changes there. On our most recent trip to China in November, we saw all of the usual and obvious signs of this progress—new buildings under construction, massive public works projects, infrastructural developments, people earning and spending money everywhere, technology being integrated more and more into everyday life. But there was one small fact in particular that seemed incredibly significant to me: even while we were in a remote, rural mountain area, we were able to get perfect cell phone reception deep down in a cavern and also in a mountain tunnel. Wow. Having a crystal-clear conversation with people on the other side of the planet as you walk among stalactites and stalagmites definitely makes an impression.

Progress: A "touchmedia" screen
with advertisements and visitor
information in a Shanghai taxi.
(photo by CIT)



Progress? Now you can
find Pabst Blue Ribbon even
in remote areas of China.
(photo by CIT)



Local beer, properly bottled,
not made with formaldehyde.
Ahh...Now THAT'S progress!
(photo by CIT)

As an American who values what our political system gives us, I certainly wouldn’t want to exchange our system for China’s. But these days China has an unquestionable ability to Get Things Done. What China has been able to accomplish in the last 25 years is truly remarkable, and other countries can certainly learn from China’s successes. A couple of months ago, Time published an insightful article about this issue called "5 Things We Can Learn from China." It's definitely worth a look, and in fact there are links on that page to a number of articles that should interest anyone wanting to understand contemporary China. Happy reading!