one who got biggest first, the one who
dominated a market or managed to get to the stock market before the others. It all came down to capital; and to get it, you needed to speak the language of Wall Street. At this, Pat was the master.
He took the whole of China and reduced it to a couple of growth trends so powerful that they would transform the whole country into an economic superpower within a decade. The officials loved what
they heard; Pat thought that investors back home would feel just the same.
We were almost always invited back by the officials for follow-on meetings with their bosses, and we steadily worked our way up the hierarchy. Pat’s message was so compelling that it
seemed at the time that we hadn’t needed the inside connections, the Chinese guanxi, that most foreigners thought underpinned Chinese business. In about six weeks, we were meeting with
deputy ministers for the industries that we had targeted.
Over the weeks, as we pieced together the story we got from each visit, reassembling our scribbled notes back in Ai’s tiny office, an overall picture of China’s economy seemed to
come slowly into focus. There were some industries, like telecommunications or power generation, that were so basic that it was probably a safe bet that they’d grow quickly. But often, in
those areas, the government restricted foreign investment, so we couldn’t get in. Then there were other areas that looked much more tricky, like consumer goods where local tastes and brands
were almost impossible to understand. How could we ever contribute to a marketing campaign for cans of ‘prickly hawthorn juice’, for example? Or come up with a best-selling brand name
like ‘Golden Bean’ for upmarket leather handbags? No, consumer goods were clearly too difficult.
But some industries did seem to make more sense, like the automotive industry. With the economy expanding, it seemed like a safe bet that there would be more and more trucks and buses and cars
needed to move people and goods around the country. One of the ministries we visited had been spun out of the vast Chinese military complex some years earlier. They were busily converting their
factories from the manufacture of military products to civilian use. Many of them were making simple parts for China’s big truck-makers. It sounded as though it might be an interesting area
so we arranged to take a look.
emong
Over the next three months, we were on the road continuously, visiting almost every part of China. We started in the south-west, in Sichuan, accompanied by two officials from
this Ministry. Later we moved on to the central regions of China, Hunan and Hubei, ending up in the frozen oilfields in the extreme north-east near the Russian border by Qiqiha’r.
The first trip started in the south-west in Chongqing, China’s largest city. Together with the surrounding counties, Chongqing has a population of nearly thirty million. I could scarcely
imagine it: this vast city hidden right in the depths of China, little known outside, with a population bigger than that of many countries. As we came into town from the airport on that first trip,
I noticed that, unusually for China, there were few bicycles in the streets. This vast city sits in a steep-sided valley at the confluence of two mighty rivers, the Jialing and the Yangtse. The
winding stone-flagged streets there are much too steep for riding. The density of people was staggering: millions and millions swirling in the roadways, passing through from the surrounding
countryside, all in faded blue overalls and with piles of baggage, blocking the gates at the station, crammed into buses, milling about on the pavements. Even late at night, around the quayside, at
the point where the two rivers meet, wave upon wave of porters in identical blue overalls struggled up the steep-sided hills, carrying heavy loads on the end of bamboo poles, staggering up the
stone steps towards the city centre. Early next
dominated a market or managed to get to the stock market before the others. It all came down to capital; and to get it, you needed to speak the language of Wall Street. At this, Pat was the master.
He took the whole of China and reduced it to a couple of growth trends so powerful that they would transform the whole country into an economic superpower within a decade. The officials loved what
they heard; Pat thought that investors back home would feel just the same.
We were almost always invited back by the officials for follow-on meetings with their bosses, and we steadily worked our way up the hierarchy. Pat’s message was so compelling that it
seemed at the time that we hadn’t needed the inside connections, the Chinese guanxi, that most foreigners thought underpinned Chinese business. In about six weeks, we were meeting with
deputy ministers for the industries that we had targeted.
Over the weeks, as we pieced together the story we got from each visit, reassembling our scribbled notes back in Ai’s tiny office, an overall picture of China’s economy seemed to
come slowly into focus. There were some industries, like telecommunications or power generation, that were so basic that it was probably a safe bet that they’d grow quickly. But often, in
those areas, the government restricted foreign investment, so we couldn’t get in. Then there were other areas that looked much more tricky, like consumer goods where local tastes and brands
were almost impossible to understand. How could we ever contribute to a marketing campaign for cans of ‘prickly hawthorn juice’, for example? Or come up with a best-selling brand name
like ‘Golden Bean’ for upmarket leather handbags? No, consumer goods were clearly too difficult.
But some industries did seem to make more sense, like the automotive industry. With the economy expanding, it seemed like a safe bet that there would be more and more trucks and buses and cars
needed to move people and goods around the country. One of the ministries we visited had been spun out of the vast Chinese military complex some years earlier. They were busily converting their
factories from the manufacture of military products to civilian use. Many of them were making simple parts for China’s big truck-makers. It sounded as though it might be an interesting area
so we arranged to take a look.
emong
Over the next three months, we were on the road continuously, visiting almost every part of China. We started in the south-west, in Sichuan, accompanied by two officials from
this Ministry. Later we moved on to the central regions of China, Hunan and Hubei, ending up in the frozen oilfields in the extreme north-east near the Russian border by Qiqiha’r.
The first trip started in the south-west in Chongqing, China’s largest city. Together with the surrounding counties, Chongqing has a population of nearly thirty million. I could scarcely
imagine it: this vast city hidden right in the depths of China, little known outside, with a population bigger than that of many countries. As we came into town from the airport on that first trip,
I noticed that, unusually for China, there were few bicycles in the streets. This vast city sits in a steep-sided valley at the confluence of two mighty rivers, the Jialing and the Yangtse. The
winding stone-flagged streets there are much too steep for riding. The density of people was staggering: millions and millions swirling in the roadways, passing through from the surrounding
countryside, all in faded blue overalls and with piles of baggage, blocking the gates at the station, crammed into buses, milling about on the pavements. Even late at night, around the quayside, at
the point where the two rivers meet, wave upon wave of porters in identical blue overalls struggled up the steep-sided hills, carrying heavy loads on the end of bamboo poles, staggering up the
stone steps towards the city centre. Early next
Similar Books
