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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
Hard work and humility builds up China of today
    2019-08-05  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

Chen Xiaochun

654789759@qq.com

RECENTLY, I read an in-depth story on BBC Mundo about the Bashan Conference, a weeklong Yangtze River cruise starting Sept. 2, 1985 which gathered some of the brightest Western economists of the time to collaborate with the Chinese authorities.

With a mouthful of a title that translates in English to “Bashan Conference: The little-known story of how renowned Western economists helped China devise its ‘socialist market economy,’” the article talks about how the weeklong meeting of some of the world’s most brilliant economists helped draw up a plan for China’s economy and has influenced the Asian nation’s development to this day.

More than 60 prestigious economists and government officials from home and abroad participated in the meeting, including renowned British economist Alexander Cairncross, American James Tobin, who is the 1981 Nobel laureate in economics, and Hungarian professor Janos Kornai, who then taught at Harvard.

Also at that time, China had some of the most important books on economy and finance translated from English into Chinese.

I had never heard of the meeting before, but it further confirmed a notion I have always believed: It is the humble and hardworking spirit, the willingness and eagerness to learn, that drives the development of China as a nation. In many ways, humility and willingness to learn have been reflected in everyday practices in China, top-down from the national level to provinces and cities.

Since 1999, the Guangdong government has held the International Consultative Conference on the Future Economic Development of Guangdong Province every two years, inviting senior executives of international corporate giants to share their experiences and give suggestions on how to accelerate the upgrading and transformation of Guangdong’s economy.

Shenzhen, where I live and work now, is also still learning from the successful experiences of other countries and cities.

Tan Zie Chon, business development director and general manager of Archurban Shenzhen — the first Singaporean company to offer design and management services in China — told me during an interview in 2017 that Shenzhen had adopted many urban and architectural concepts from Singapore. His father Tan Cheng Siong was once a key adviser to Shenzhen’s planning commission.

Today, as far as I know, city leaders are still staying up-to-date on new measures and development strategies, industries and the urban management of developed cities around the world, especially cities in other bay areas.

Apart from humility, a hardworking spirit and eagerness to move forward is another factor that drives the development of the country. Joseph Deleo, CEO and chief designer of the Australian household electronics company Airflo Australia, has witnessed in person the changes China has gone through since the 1990s and is deeply impressed by its work ethic.

During an interview in 2017, Deleo said that even though some issues like counterfeiting in China did give him some headaches, the hardworking culture of China made it a promising place.

Torsten Nagengast is an entrepreneur in the automotive industry with companies in Germany and China. Drawn to China since his childhood, Nagengast finally decided to relocate to Shenzhen in 2017. The work capacity and speed of the city is one of the biggest reasons for his move.

He says he first came to China in 2005 for business. “I will never forget that. I went out of the airplane and [saw] all these nice people, this moving energy, the Chinese way of behavior,” he remembered. “Even if you go to a shop, people always try to do it as good as they can. One thing I realized very early was that everybody wants to progress. This is the power of China.”

“Just imagine, 30 years ago Shenzhen was a fisherman village and last year the German chancellor came to Shenzhen to see how things work here. This answers all the questions,” said Nagengast.

Apart from German Chancellor Angela Merkel who visited the city last year, Chilean President Sebastián Pinera — lured by Shenzhen’s competitive edges in science, technology, innovation and education — proposed to set up a strategic alliance with Shenzhen when he visited the city earlier this year. Tan also said recently that Singapore sends a lot of government officials to China. At least three Singaporean delegations visited Shenzhen last year.

Having grown up in a fourth- or fifth-tier city myself, I know personally how hard Chinese people work in the factories, in the fields, and in the offices in big cities. I know how much we Chinese people thirst for a better future. And consciously, I know we are still facing many problems. We are developing, we are improving, but all this takes time.

For example, regarding the counterfeiting problem cited by Deleo, China is proactively fighting back. Otherwise, it will not be able to attract overseas talents and companies to do business here, which is crucial to its development.

By the end of 2014, three specialized IP courts were formed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Since 2017, 19 specialized IP tribunals have been successively set up.

The article on BBC Mundo highly recognized China’s achievement over the past four decades, and predicts that China will definitely surpass the U.S. and become the largest economy by 2030 even though its economy growth rate is slowing.

I am not sure whether or when China will surpass the U.S. in economy, but I am optimistic about China’s future, because a humble and hardworking spirit seldom fails.

(The author is a Shenzhen Daily reporter.)

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