China’s engineered solution
15 August 2010
The latest in our series of 30th anniversary articles comes from Gordon Wong, our Asian correspondent. In ‘30 years is true cause for celebration’, Gordon charts how the explosion in the electronics industry has gone hand in hand with an equally dramatic rise in China’s electronics industry.
Although Deng Xiaoping opened up the doors to western capitalism 30 years ago, it was not that action alone that has forged China’s success. Gordon’s fascinating account delves into the more specific reasons for this success. Being a ‘low cost labour geography’ is part of the story of course, but it is not the whole story. I will not repeat the content of Gordon’s article but just pick out one fact that I found telling.
Apparently the nine-man ruling Politburo are all trained as engineers. This makes sense on two levels. Firstly, and shamelessly resorting to stereotypes, if you want something done in a logical, workable fashion then an engineer is a pretty good bet to get the job done. We may not make the most exciting dates or wear the most fashionable clothes, but we can think through getting problems solved. For this reason, it makes perfect sense to have engineers running a country.
The second level is that engineers, I believe, have a proper understanding of how important engineering is. Politicians don’t. Most politicians in western democracies are career politicians. Some (possibly) may be genuinely driven by creating a better society, but most would settle for being the person credited for creating a better society; i.e. it is about their ego rather than the job they do.
The wealth and foundations of a country, its ability to support its population, depends on that country’s ability to grow, make and supply things – and this requires investment in the right areas of infrastructure and education. Engineers would understand this, so it is not by chance that China’s engineer leaders stumbled on a winning formula.
Sadly a western democracy is always going to vote for the good looking charismatic types and according to the stereotype that doesn’t include engineers!
To change the subject slightly, the reason for this series of ’30 years’ articles has been that it has been 30 years since the launch of our sister magazine Electronic Product Design. In keeping with the theme of my words above, EPD has an annual awards scheme, the e-Legacy Awards, that recognises the positive benefits electronics engineers are bringing to society. The awards programme is in its final stages now, entries are in, judges have decided upon the finalists, but it is still open to the discerning public to determine the winners. If you would like to see the finalists and vote for your favourites then please follow this link. Voting closes on 20th August so don’t delay!
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