Doing China in a day!
09 August 2007
Seems a bit simplistic to say this, but there are people who still think they can ‘do China’ in a day; OK, well not quite, but you get the idea. Gordon Wong dispels the myth
Needless to say, with a land area of 3.7 million square miles (the third largest in the world), and the world’s largest population at around 1.265 billion, this isn’t feasible. If one takes a step back to look at the country’s industrial infrastructure, it’s possible to see how China has developed according to specific investment and governmental policy patterns; macroscopically, this has resulted in a backdrop that can be viewed on a broadly geographical basis.
As such, anyone interested in targeting a particular industrial sector, horizontally or vertically, can take a look at a China map and see that (according to Interfax figures of 2001) some 54% of the country’s GDP comes from the coastal (and adjoining) provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Hebei, and Liaoning. In contrast, the central and northern provinces contribute some 32%, while the furthest inland provinces to the west, despite being the largest combined geographical area, account for just 14% of China’s GDP.
Drilling down further into this, certain provinces, areas and cities have evolved strengths in certain industrial sectors and activities. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in Guangdong province for example has established a reputation as the world’s workshop, with major manufacturing output for electronics, plastics, toys and garment products, to name a few; in 2001, around 5% of the world’s goods were manufactured in this area, and since the launch of China’s reform programme in 1979, the Pearl River Delta has been the country’s most dynamic region economically, accounting for 12.2% of China’s GDP in 2005.
Not wanting to rest of its laurels however, the country has resolved to build on this reputation with various plans to modernise the PRD region, economically and socially, and establish living standards commensurate with those of a medium-level developed country. So, for China’s jewel in the crown, the breathtaking levels of development over the last 30 years are certain to continue apace, to the extent that some observers project that the area will become a Chinese Ireland or Spain within the next decade.
So, while it’s patently not feasible to do one’s entire China business in one trip, it is nevertheless possible to gain a realistic snapshot of the country’s future by taking a flying visit around the PRD region. With its numerous special economic zones, and thousands of increasingly modern factories, many of them bursting with the latest in global technology, the Pear River Delta region fulfils the needs of anyone interested in electronics design, assembly, packaging, test or related activities. China in one day? Almost.
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