I must say I was not prepared for what I saw driving into Beijing and Shanghai. We all hear that China is growing by leaps and bounds, with new cities popping up all the time. It’s one thing to hear that, but another thing altogether to see it.
Driving into Beijing, members of our delegation who had visited the city several years before remarked on how much it had changed in such a short time. Entire streetscapes had vanished and been replaced by gleaming office complexes -- many designed by world renowned architects. Travelling out into the suburbs we saw hundreds of gigantic high-rise housing complexes and many new manicured industrial parks and compounds.
Driving into Shanghai is like driving onto the set of the old TV show, the Jetsons. The architecture and lights on the office towers are spectacular and futuristic. Some buildings feature traditional Chinese motifs, updated for the 21st Century. And others are so fantastic and modern they seem to defy gravity. Many have giant globes or things that look like flying saucers on top.
The driving pace of business and the government’s ability to pour capital into developing infrastructure and guaranteeing debt for businesses creates a synergy that seems unparalleled in the world right now.