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Enterprising Entrepreneurs
Many China watchers (myself included) maintain that China is in the process of reclaiming its place as a world power and major mercantile nation, as opposed to just coming on the scene now as most people believe. The Chinese have a very strong, almost inbred instinct for trade and commerce that was allowed to flourish in various dynasties like the Ming and the Tang, but was suppressed in the early days of the People’s Republic of China. Perhaps it is precisely because of the keen entrepreneurial spirit that communism proved to be such a bust. It did not take much more than a couple of decades of imposed communes and a socialist planned economy for people to wake up to the fact it goes completely against the cultural grain. The Chinese are a wheelers and dealers by nature, and just need the proper backdrop for them to make tremendous inroads on the path to a higher living standard and more prosperous tomorrow.
Canada, one of the most socialist states in the world along with some northern European countries, is quite a contrast. There is a prevalent welfare mentality that causes people to rely so heavily on government hand-outs. “They are cutting social programs, taxes are going up, jobs are hard to find”, etc. are common themes. Yet in Canada, like in many other “developed” nations, the more arduous jobs are yielded to recent immigrants who are hungry to work and willing to sacrifice for their long term goals. Then many third and fourth generation Canadians dare to complain that the country is being overrun by Asians. Wake up man, your ancestors went through the very same process generations ago! Except in the immigrant community, the entrepreneurial spirit has taken a beating in Canada. Granted, opportunities and room for growth in this developing nation are much more abundant than in post-modern Canada, but it is no reason to blame the government for all our problems.
In China, people know that they are going to get little help from the authorities, so it creates a self-reliance that many westerners would do well to learn from. Students understand that to get ahead, they have to WORK HARD in school and in life. Contrast that with the relatively slack western education system, where in many parts of North America some students graduate without even being totally literate. In China, there are over a billion people vying for the same resources and jobs, so competitiveness is a simple fact of life. The implicit reality of this makes for a sink-or-swim mentality which compels people to find ways to keep afloat. This work ethic, coupled with the necessary know-how and connections, also allows for a select few really rise above the turbulent waters of the masses, and soar into realms of stratospheric business success. Over the next couple of days, I plan to write about three such overachievers, all good friends of mine.
last modified Aug 17, 2004 at 4:24
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