Book Review: China, Inc.

Everybody has China on the brain. Scarcely a day goes by that I do not hear China's name uttered as a dire threat to American prosperity, and in many instances we should beware of China's mighty surge into the world of modern economics.

I have spent very little time in China. My sole adventure to the country was back nearly 20 years ago. Things have changed greatly according to the more recent accounts I have received from friends and business colleagues.

A friend (Dean Whittaker, another ED consultant) that I met up with at the International Economic Development Council annual conference in Chicago last week suggested that I read China, Inc. I gave the book a try and here is what I learned:

· The book gives you a good "feel" for what the place is like.

· China touches everything and everyone in the world, but many folks still do not know it. Or they have a limited appreciation for the nation's widespread impact.

· Official figures understate both China's population and its economic power. I have always sensed this to be the case. People are hungry for numbers when they are scarce. So they are prone to believe just about any numbers they are given. There lies an impotrtant lesson for all of us.

· Farmers launched China's free market revolution by braving death to do business. Rural people now risk their lives and health in China's factories. This really stuck with me. I thought I knew, but I really didn't.

· Maoist egalitarianism has yielded to the world's widest gap between rich and poor.

· With cheap labor, excellent engineers and stern determination, China threatens every industry in the developed world. This is the point of most news articles and books on the subject of "China."

· As U.S. manufacturing withers, U.S. farmers welcome China's appetite for soybeans, a harbinger of its coming need to import more food as China's farmers flee to factories. Interesting shift, huh? That could be good news for Midwestern growers, if they can grow enough beans to export them.

· Wal-Mart buys cheap products in China and sells them to Americans who've lost their jobs to Chinese competition. We've heard these accounts, and yes they trouble me as well.

· Almost two-thirds of China's cities have dangerous levels of air pollution. This is another point that has been brought out by recent media accounts.

· China's population policy has resulted in a risky surplus of young males that may threaten global security. China could stand to learn a lesson or two about balance and sustainability.

· Chairman Mao's picture is now a commercial icon decorating watches and clothing. It's amazing how we manage to market everything we run across.

The book is aimed at people with limited knowledge of China, or let's say those who have only read about it. I must confess that's s me, save my trip there a long time ago.

I felt the book was a bit dilettantish in places. I know...how dilettanish of me to say so. It's hard not to get that impression of a book that sweeps across vast topics in limited pages. Those who know China will learn only illustrative tales here, but those who do not know China will learn what even the most scrupulously accurate journalists cannot always convey: the feel of the place. That is no small matter really.

I appreciated the author Ted Fishman taking me to some meaty places that give you a sense of what China is really like. For example, China's prosperity has a dark underside, which the Chinese and their defenders (Wal-Mart, and other multinationals) like to sweep under the carpet.

Many rural Chinese migrants to urban areas enter a world of discrimination and exploitation. I think my grandfather, Vito Iannone, might have experienced the same thing when he left Italy in 1904 and landed at Ellis Island. To finance their journeys to the city, Chinese migrants must visit loan sharks. When they board the trains they face the possibility of theft by organized criminal gangs, sometimes working in cooperation with railroad personnel. They arrive in the cities and, if they are lucky, they find jobs in factories where standard operating procedure calls for overwork and neglect of employees' safety and health.

I thank Dean for suggesting the book. My wife tells me I should start a library with all the books I buy. Maybe she's right.

China, Inc.
By Ted C. Fishman
Scribner, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.,
N.Y., 2005