The Kunshan Way
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Preface
China ranks No. 1 in economic and per-capita income growth, holds the largest foreign exchange reserves, is the third largest economy in the world, yet I know of few people from outside the country who can name any of its provinces or morethan three of its cities. How is it possible that we know so little about a country which figures so largely in the world today? While there are a number of reasons, one is the lack of reliable information about how its economy functions and the part provinces and cities play in it.
This book is the first in a series of economic tour guides which present the numbers in the context of the system and people which created them. Kunshan was chosen because it has accomplished more in its 20 years of existence than any other city like it in China. It is also significant because it is a city which, unknown to you, touches you and the people you know on a daily basis.
Actually, selecting Kunshan was a lot easier than figuring out how to express its success. After staying in Kunshan, observing the people and interviewing its government and business leaders, it was clear that there is more to Kunshan than numbers. In many respects, China is too vast to handle easily. It's hard to comprehend a country which has moved more people out of poverty in 30 years than the total population of the United States, but still has twice that number waiting in the wings.
In the same way, it is hard to express how a rural township like Kunshan went in 20 years from providing the majority of grain in the Suzhou area to manufacturing the majority of laptops for the world. Everyone I talked to, in Kunshan, was quick to point to the proximity to Shanghai, inexpensive labor and low development costs. But, given these factors are shared with all of the communities that surround Shanghai and many other major cities in China, the question remained: why had Kunshan risen to the top?
Kunshan, like every city in the world, has a character that defines it as a place and a city. Can you imagine someone trying to define New York, London, Paris, without referencing the characteristics of the people? Add the fact that China is more diverse in terms of different languages, food, customs and climate than any Western developed nation. For those who think people in southern and northern Germany, France, or the US are different, at least they speak the same language.
In Kunshan, the locals speak a local language which is close to, but different from their immediate neighbor Shanghai.
While most today speak Mandarin, some of the older generations do not. The differences extend beyond dialect to physical attributes, character and food, despite the fact that they share a common heritage and border.
The difference is, Kunshan is just one of 500 Chinese cities with more than 500,000 people, whereas the US has only 33 cities of comparable size. Kunshan is larger than Philadelphia, Phoenix, Atlanta, Algiers, Vienna, Hamburg and Perth, but unlike those cities it is a fifth-level city that few have heard of outside of China.
The task of trying to describe Kunshan is not easy. But, if you have the chance to walk around Kunshan, you will immediately get what I can not adequately describe, a town of bustling streets, where electric bikes share roads and sidewalks with cars and people, where unremarkable 80 and 90's buildings sit next to new architectural creations and centuriesold structures, where cabbies listen to the foreign exchange report and neighbors exchange gossip over tea, just as they have for thousands of years, where modern factories sit across from ancient farm fields and hi-tech businesses and fishermen ply their trades side by side, one in their research facility on riverbank and the other on the river within their traditional boats. I hope when you read the interviews and commentary you will see the differences which are responsible for Kunshan and China's growth and understand that Kunshan is just one of many places you need to get to know if you want to do business in or with China.
For those of you who read this while the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is going on, I hope you will take the half hour train ride to Kunshan and see for yourself how change has come to China.
"Better City, Better Life" is the theme of the Expo and if you want to understand and experience how one of China's leading cities is making this happen, it would be well worth the trip to Kunshan. Regardless of whether you're interested in doing business in Kunshan or just trying to discover the essence of China yesterday and today, there are few places that can give you so much of both. As it is, China sits at the crossroads of a new era where its influence will be as important to the world as the world's influence was to China for the last 30 years. The Kunshan Way is a sign post which can help you understand China past and future.
I would like to thank the following people:
Huang Youyi, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of China International Publishing Group (CIPG), for his friendship, intelligence and support of projects which express the reality of China;
Foreign Languages Press' Li Zhenguo, Xie Chen, Nicole Ouyang, Wen Fang and all others who assisted in publishing this book;
Mr. Gao Zhanxiang, former Vice Minister of Culture, author, artist, dancer and photographer, who has shown me that how inextricably linked culture and economics are;
Ms. Gao Yan, for her insights and inspiration;
Yang Shikun whose tireless work has made the book possible;
Ms. Gao Lili and Ms. Hu Tao for their research on cultural and historical issues and support; and Mr. Zhao Yiyang for providing invaluable research on the structure and economics of Chinese cities;
Officials of Kunshan for their time, efforts and patience, including
Mr. Xu Yulian, Mr. Jin Jianhong, Ms. Zhou Ming, Mr.Dai Xiaohua, Mr.Yang Xinfeng, Ms.Yang Qiong and Ms. Liu Li (Kunshan Bureau of Commerce) for their extraordinary efforts and hard work in arranging interviews and hospitality;
Mr. Li Pengju, our Kunshan-based photographer who provided many of the beautiful pictures you will see.
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