By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Time was when the refrain, “See Paris and die,” reflected the global view that Paris, the capital city of France, was so magnificent that once you have seen it, you can happily die, having experienced the apogee of life’s splendour. It was a refrain that also echoed the Italian saying “Vedi Napoli e poi muori” – “see Naples and die.”
That was an expression used at a time Paris was the ultimate tourist destination, a place so extraordinarily beautiful that life afterward might feel incomplete. And make no mistake about it: Paris is still an iconic city. Its art, architecture, cuisine and, indeed, atmosphere still make it an alluring and charming city. But the French capital is no longer the “End of Discussion” as Nigerian car enthusiasts branded the Honda Accord 2006 model a couple of decades back.
And just like some Electric Vehicles (EVs) – Rolls-Royce Spectre, Tesla Cybertruck and Denza Z9 GT – which epitomise the pinnacle of luxury and innovation, timeless elegance and cutting-edge technology, obscured the 2006 Honda Accord, China’s phenomenal development has taken the shine off Paris and Naples. And you need to visit the Asian country to experience the momentum firsthand. The refrain now is “See China and live longer.” And it couldn’t have been otherwise. China with the world’s second largest population and fourth biggest landmass has taken the entire world by storm, confounding many. With a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of US$18.6 trillion, second largest in the world, and purchasing power parity (PPP) of US$33 trillion, largest in the world, China scores first in export of electronic machineries and EVs. It is the world leader in renewable energy and production of batteries.
China, which overtook Japan in 2010 as the second largest economy in the world after its economy grew for more than 10 per cent in two decades starting from 2000 and is set to surpass the U.S. in nominal GDP by the 2030s has achieved remarkable success in poverty alleviation, lifting over 800 million people out of poverty since 1978. In November 2020, it eliminated extreme poverty by lifting the remaining 98.99 million rural poor out of poverty – an incredible feat achieved through relocation programmes, industrial development and social welfare.
Over 10 million people were relocated from inhospitable areas to better-developed regions with improved infrastructure and job opportunities even as it continues to refine policies to prevent people from falling back into poverty, focusing on low-income groups and underdeveloped regions. This has led to quantum leaps in both growth – increase in GDP – and unprecedented development – poverty reduction, better education and qualitative healthcare.
The magic of China lies in the fact that it is not a one-province marvel. With a total of 34 provincial-level administrative regions, each of them is a centerpiece of development and splendor. For instance, Guangdong, the richest province, has a 2024 GDP estimate of $1.8 trillion, which surpasses the GDP of many countries including Spain and Mexico. If Guangdong were a country, its GDP would rank among the top 15 globally, with per capita GDP in cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou exceeding $20,000. Yet, Jiangsu Province outpaces Guangdong in higher per capita GDP, income equality and living standards. The magic is the healthy competition among the provinces with each excelling in areas where it has comparative advantage.
Even some of the poorest provinces such as Gansu, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Qinghai and Ningxia have GDP per capita far better than many sovereign nations and what is seen as underdevelopment in China will be celebrated as phenomenal development in some countries even in the Western hemisphere. But China is much an economic marvel as it is a technological wonder, not only building a digital economy but also taming nature and building the most magnificent environment ever known to man. The fact that the country is self-sufficient in almost everything is no longer surprising. Its countryside is as magnificent as the urban centres. Transportation has been so revolutionized and architects are designing buildings that look out of this world.
On Tuesday, I left Beijing for Qingdao, a major coastal city in Shandong Province, famous for its beaches, Tsingtao beer and German colonial architecture. The 693-kilometre journey lasted 3.5 hours on high speed rail and the beauty I beheld on arrival at the port city was breathtaking. I thought I had seen it all in Beijing, but the spectacle was indescribable. Located on the southern tip of the Shandong Peninsula and by the shores of the Yellow Sea, Qingdao, a coastal city with excellent natural resources and brilliant cultural heritages, which also serves as an international transportation hub in China, has a population of over 10 million people.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is said to be so enamoured with the city which has a long history and splendid culture and also one of the cradles of Chinese Taoism that he has visited twice since 2018. In 2019, Qingdao hosted a multinational naval activity marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Navy and was selected as one of the happiest Chinese cities from 2020 to 2024. In 2024, the State Council approved the city’s positioning as an important national historical and cultural city, a modern ocean city, and an international comprehensive transportation hub.
A hilly city by the sea, featuring a rather tortuous coastline interspersed with capes and bays, Qingdao has Mount Lao in the east, Dazhu Mountain, Xiaozhu Mountain and Tiejue Mountain in the west, Daze Mountain in the north and Jiaolai Plain in the middle. There are three river systems – Dagu River, North Jiaolai River, and rivers in coastal areas – as well as a coastline of 782 kilometres, 49 bays and 120 islands. Yet, what ought to be barriers to development have been turned into great advantages, which is the essence of the China magic.
For instance, right across the Yellow Sea is the 37-kilometre Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, one of the world’s longest cross-sea bridges and the longest in northern China that leads to Huangdao – Yellow Island – home of the Qingdao Port. There is also the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Tunnel, the undersea tunnel with the shallowest placing depth and the largest cross-section in the world. Construction of the second undersea tunnel, which will be the world’s longest undersea road tunnel upon completion was started in 2020.
Then there is the Qingdao Port on the Yellow Sea Coast which is the world’s fifth busiest container port handling 26.8 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers a year. It is among the top 10 global ports by cargo tonnage – over 700 million tons annually. Presently, the Qianwan Port area, which is the main container hub and one-third of the entire port has been fully automated with no human workers on site. The automated section alone handles three million containers a year and 10,000 a day.
Mr. Chan Steven, who is in charge of the automated area, explained to TheNiche that the goal is to have 100 per cent smart and sustainable port. The story of Qingdao is the story of China writ large. Just in one generation, the country that used to be the backwaters of Asia has become the cynosure of all eyes – a world spectacle by simply putting scientific and technological innovations at the core of its overall development.
Truth be told, after seeing China as I just did, the appetite to die disappears. Why? Because scientific and technological innovations are taking place every day and what some see as the “end of discussion” in China’s advancement may well be the “beginning of discussion.” So, those who behold China today want to still be alive when tomorrow comes to witness the sheer magic ensconced in China’s technological womb.*Amaechi is the publisher of TheNiche (ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment