Similar to most Americans in times past, I feel the Chinese fully embrace the concept of the “American Dream.” That is, many of our Chinese friends fully expect their lives will be much better than that of their parents – more economic opportunity, higher quality living standards, and more freedom of movement. You feel their sense of excitement and urgency with their quest for upward mobility. Communist party dogma seems irrelevant in the everyday life of most Chinese.
A recent Wall Street Journal article referred to such upwardly mobile Chinese as the “aspirational China.” I fully believe the current Beijing Olympics is a fitting metaphor for “aspirational China” and its compelling future.
Although my family and I have made many trips to China, our recent, long, June 2008 trip seemed to amplify to us China’s continuous change and its unprecedented, spectacular economic growth and development. This last trip brought us to eight different airports throughout the country, from the very small, remote Shangri-La/Zhongdian Airport in Yunnan province to the recently opened Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3 – the largest in the world. Regardless of the areas we visited, from the far-flung regions of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces to the urban clusters of Beijing and Shanghai, the overall infrastructure/transport facilities we used were practically all newly-built, integrating 21st century technology, and most efficient. China’s transport system has been comprehensively transformed/modernized. In stark contrast, upon return to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, I was reminded of the antiquated, aged infrastructure that most Americans must deal with on a daily basis.
Any frequent visitor to China will come home with the sober realization that we, as a nation, have much work to do to get ourselves more competitive in this newly globalized, interdependent world.
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