WARNING: The following post represents the opinion of an individual who has neither training in complex economics nor much knowledge of the intricacies of the real estate sector. If you feel the viewpoint expressed here fails to take into account this or that number, fact or statistic, then don’t worry: you are probably right, it doesn’t. But then again, this isn’t exactly an academic journal.
The subject of China’s development is unavoidable in the press these days. Despite some fierce competition from the Iraq war debacle, the Middle Kingdom’s drive for economic superstardom has more than held its own in terms of world media coverage. China the Rising, China the Superpower, China the World Factory, China the Paper Tiger, China the Country Where Soon 1.3 Billion People Will Live Luxurious Lives… viewpoints, opinions, predictions abound.
This post, however, will not get bogged down in any detailed analysis of the intricacies of the Chinese economy. Why bother, when it seems that even well-paid, well-trained economic theorists can’t really figure out what’s going on here. (thanks to Dezza for bringing attention to this article on his site) Instead, I would rather address a more tangible aspect of China’s drive for development: urban construction.
It would be a gross understatement to say that Chinese urban areas are undergoing massive renewal. Well, perhaps “renewal” isn’t exactly the right term to use; they aren’t renewing much of anything, rather just building whole new cities and keeping the old name. Actually, “city” isn’t such a good term either: more like densely populated construction sites. Whole blocks are ripped up simultaneously to make way for glorious new towers. Chinese developers do not seem to like the small scale, cautious approach: new projects can easily have 10-15 highrises going up at once. And in a booming coastal city like Hangzhou, there are a lot of projects. As I ride the bus, I pass such wonders as the “City of Civilization” and “Modern City”, massive developments that alone could easily dwarf the downtowns of many mid-sized North American cities. I guess maybe I’m just not used to it, coming from a city that, at most, has had only a few new highrises added to its skyline in the past decade (thank you, Quebec nationalism).
But arriving in places like Shanghai and Hangzhou (or even Beijing), you could be forgiven if your initial impression was that you had ended up on the Jetsons, not in China. Massive glass towers, elevated highways, more massive glass towers, soon-to-be opened new elevated highways,etc. Hardly what most people expect of the world’s biggest developing country. Having not yet been outside a major city or gone inland, you naively ask “How could this be a poor country when many buildings look more suited to colonizing space than sheltering people?”
I remember having a building pointed out to me in Shanghai last year, a massive tower shining bright in the night. As I stared in awe, I was informed that the building was in fact bankrupt and empty. It supposedly had an elaborate automated lighting system set up to make it look inhabited, and thus save the developer major embarrassment. Refusing to believe this story, I quickly chalked it up to urban folklore. However, the next evening, sitting in a park waiting for my train back to Shandong, I witnessed no less that 5-6 skyscrapers go dark at the EXACT SAME TIME. Had I just witnessed a power failure? No, the decorative lights on the outside came on in all their tacky glory. What was going on here? Were these buildings in fact completely empty? Was my cynical friend right?
And these are exactly the kind of questions that still confound me. Sometimes I think I am living in a developing world city with a developed world skyline. Can one really measure the success/economic strength of a city/country by the number of skyscrapers or highrises it has? If you build enough glitzy glass towers, does your population automatically move up to the next level of industrialization? You look up, you see some massive futuristic beast, screaming wealth and power. You look down, you see a dirty migrant worker struggling to get his cart full of trash down the street. Is China in the painful throes of becoming a major economically developed superpower, or is it all just smoke and mirrors, the ultimate triumph of style over substance? If you have any ideas or answers, feel free to let me know, because I sure don’t.