Zao an. Ni hau ma? If you don't understand basic Mandarin Chinese, your grandchildren certainly will. In 30 years, the People's Republic of China will own this country. And we will have sold it to them.
My visit to mainland China was a startling eye-opener. The 1.3 billion people, and their economy, have come so far in twenty years that, if you ignore all of the signs written in Kanji, the cities could be anywhere in the Western world. For the most part the people dress like us, eat like us, listen to our music, and drive our cars. Lots of cars. City streets that used to be jammed with bicycles now suffer from eternal gridlock.
The Chinese national bird is the crane - as in construction. New high-rise buildings are going up everywhere, to house the 13 million rural people, a huge and willing labor force, who are pouring into the cities every year to work in the factories and trades. China accounts for 40 percent of the world's total cement consumption and 30 percent of steel. There are eight cities more populous than our number two, Los Angeles. China recognizes Chongqing (formerly Chungking) as having 32 million people in an area the size of Ohio!
Thirty years ago, Chinese communist party leaders realized why that form of society was neither popular, nor successful, in the USSR and Eastern Europe. The people were never satisfied. They could never afford the toasters, televisions, and Toyotas they really wanted. The Glorious People's Republic, which taught that everyone should be equally poor, wasn't at all glorious. The Chinese remedied that shortcoming by proclaiming their "market economy with socialist characteristics". Translation - Greed is Good.
Free enterprise has made everyone free - and encouraged - to earn as much as possible. And the government even pitched in with some assistance: no enforcement of international copyright laws, little concern for environmental issues, trade agreements that have allowed Chinese goods to be sold easily abroad, and favorable currency support. The result: the country reported 350,000 millionaires in 2005. Much of what we wear and use is now made in China, because our own government has imposed few restrictions. And knockoff versions of everything from pharmaceuticals to Harley Davidsons are flooding the world markets.
But there is no blue sky left in China because of the pollution, and people can't even wade into some of the rivers. Nowhere is the water safe to drink. Coal-fired power plants are opening at the rate of one a week to meet the soaring demand for electricity. The Three Gorges Dam, started 13 years ago, and intended to provide ten percent of the country's power with 24 huge turbines, ended up supplying only five percent with 36 turbines. And it has created huge environmental, erosion, and fisheries problems.
It is easy to criticize China's hands-off environmental policy. But they had good teachers. For decades, our own factories belched out untreated chemical smoke, poured oceans of waste into our rivers, and dumped a zillion tons of hazardous materials into the earth. We are still paying the price for that government-backed boost to industrialization. China may also, but not today...
During the Cold War, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev said about Western capitalism "We will bury you". China has merely changed bury to buy. They are the second largest holder of U.S. debt, more than $342 billion. In fact, last year, when Parliamentary vice-chairman Cheng Siwei merely suggested that his government might reduce the amount of US bonds it holds, our dollar tumbled against other currencies.
Think this economic egg foo yung doesn't affect you? Our debt to China is now at the point where it could seriously hurt the US economy. With no more than a subtle threat, they could put pressure on our interest rates. Like your mortgage, or car and education loans. And if, for some reason, they aggressive dumped those bonds, we could face chaos.
And while we are in hock to them up to our eyeballs, the Chinese have a vast lead in educating the current generation. There are more Chinese studying engineering than there are total students in all US colleges and universities. Kids go to school six days a week. Every Chinese boy and girl has chosen an English name, and is learning our language. Elementary school students come up to Westerners on the street, extend their hand, and say "Hello, my name is (Jack), and I would like to speak English with you". They know the capitals of our states, and the faces on our money. Yeah, they do make mistakes, like confusing Herbert Hoover with J. Edgar Hoover, but what child in this country knows either of them anyway?
And what child that you know would tear himself or herself away from the Xbox on a Sunday afternoon to speak Chinese with visitors at a museum?
What can we do to stop this inexorable drumbeat of domination of our dear democracy? We may have already begun. Not with military might. Certainly not with financial finagling. We are going to bring China down by making them just like us! McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut are now everywhere on the mainland. Starbucks has even bought its way inside Beijing's most sacred site, the Forbidden City!
Chinese diet experts announced that their youth are edging toward that most American of conditions - obesity. They have eschewed the ricebowl in favor of chewing on red meat, and high-fat dishes. They are crazy for foreign fast food. And there has been a decrease in physical activity, as more and more city dwellers are commuting in cars and buses, rather than their traditional bikes.
Can the Chinese survive our lifestyle? Remember War of the Worlds.