The biggest rule-set changes China generates are internal
Thursday, July 29, 2004 at 11:52AM ìNew Boomtowns Change Path of Chinaís Growth,î by Howard D. French, New York Times, 28 July, p. A1.
ìChinaís MIT Upgrades Itself: Tsinghua Tries to Keep Pace With Nationís Global Ambitions,î by Philip Tinari, Wall Street Journal, 28 July, p. A11.
The rapid urbanization of China is creating a slew of megacities. If, in its past, Beijing always cast a wary eye over the upstarts in a Shanghai or Hong Kong, now they are looking at over 150 cities of one million-plus citizens (compared to just nine in the U.S.) and ten cities of 4m and over. The sheer magnitude of all the urban planning going on in China constitutes a major rule-set reset, and not exactly one in slow motion. Chinaís urban population is growing at 2.5% a year, one of the fastest rates in the world. All this shows yet again that Chinaís historical integration with the outside world is dwarfed only by its amazing pace of internal integration.
All that development naturally taps the intellectual capital of the nation, which in turn forces a revolution in educational institutions, which are more pressed now than ever to crank out not just competent grads, but imaginative thinkers and leaders:
ìWe realized that the old system doesnít fit with the current society,î says provost [of Tsinghua University] Hu Heping. ìWe need to produce people who can think for themselves and one day lead a powerful China.î
Chinaís red-economy has been straining the limits of the education system. Multinational companies, scrambling to expand, complain that the dearth of talented people is their chief constraint in China. As the same time, many college graduates struggle to find suitable jobs. Efforts of universities such as Tsinghua to better match graduates to Chinaís new jobs will be key in sustaining the countryís rapid development.
So who knows? Maybe all those ìextraî males will be needed after all for something besides going to war?
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