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Rags to Riches
The juxtaposition of the haves and have-nots in China can be very startling at times. While the life of the average Chinese has improved a great deal over the past couple of decades under the sweeping economic reforms, the uneven growth has been the source of great jubilation for some and envy for most others.
Not too long ago, I remember passing by a new 5-star hotel being built in Beijing off the highway to the Great Wall at Badaling. The driveway up to the main entrance had not yet been fully paved, yet the hotel was already open for business. A short, wiry man of about 60 was struggling to make a delivery of a couple dozen plastic cartons of bottled beer up to the side delivery entrance. His three wheel bicycle was fitted with a long wooden plank on the back, and the stacked cartons were wobbling precariously as he heave-hoed them past the bumps and potholes in the dirt path. Now, a couple years later, I am sure all deliveries are done by truck right into the loading area, and a flower-lined approach ramp takes guests right to the waiting bellboys.
In Chongqing, the city government is systematically demolishing the old, run-down sections of the city and making way for new high-rise offices, upscale apartment complexes, as well as the tunnels and roadways they hope will improve traffic circulation. Much of the downtown area especially is totally unrecognizable from just a year ago. While most of the infrastructure funding is coming from the central government, there are a surprising number of “got rich quick” private entrepreneurs who have made small (and sometimes huge) fortunes through a variety of business deals, legal or not-quite-so.
One such opportunist we know here started out as an employee in a state-owned enterprise, and was charged with exploring the export market for local agricultural products. After a few years learning the ropes, he took his knowledge and connections with him, “retired” from his government job, and “jumped into the sea” (started a business on his own). This is a very common occurrence nationwide, that the skilled employees with the know-how and contacts set out on their own. Mr. Jia could not have timed it better. Within two years of self-operation, his firm had already earned him a lifetime’s worth of income he would have earned from his old job. Taking his newfound wealth, he though a foreign passport would be of future benefit, so he purchased citizenship in a small South Pacific island nation. His foreign passport facilitated his business endeavors in Hong Kong, and after a few more years there, was granted resident status. Since then, he and his family have moved back to Chongqing, live a penthouse suite overlooking both rivers one one side by day and the bright lights of downtown by night on the other, and he continues to merrily wheel and deal with little concern for governments or borders. Since he and his wife both have HK residency, they can legally have more than one child, and now have a boy and a girl. Their son is now 16, and is studying at a private school in England, which costs his father $30,000 US a year for tuition and living expenses.
They are a very nice family and are Jennifer’s long-time friends, but visiting them in their inner city palace always feels rather odd to me. I can’t help but to think of the vast majority of the local population in this underdeveloped part of the country who are unemployed, have been “downsized” (ie. the state-owned enterprise they once counted on for the "iron rice bowl" went belly up), or are very happy making $100 a month in some back- breaking job. And people from all economic backgrounds often live in the very same neigbourhood, unlike in North America where the well-heeled tend to live well-removed from the needy. I guess it won’t be long before the Great Divide in wealth segregates people here as well.
last modified Aug 9, 2004 at 0:10
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