There’s a well known saying among those who write about China: “After you have been in China for a week, you think you can write a book. After you have been in China for a month, if you are lucky you might be able to muster a short article. After you have been in China for a year, you keep silent.”

The point of this quote is, the more you learn about and experience China, the more you realize it has too many faces, it is too complex a place to master, and you have too much to learn. Many of you (all of us?) will return from China with more questions than answers. If so, that’s okay and natural. It’s also, in my view, the way true education should work and is one of the ways a truly educated person learns to view and experience the world. Happily for us, our goal for this trip and course does not require us to become experts on China, but to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the global economy and our ability to operate effectively within it.

In China CEO: Voices of Experience from 20 International Business Leaders, attorney Norman Givant (Managing Partner, Shanghai office, China Practice Group, Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer Law Offices) reminds us that China’s booming economic development has taken place despite the messy, chaotic, and confusing backdrop of the transformation from a communist to a socialist and market-based system. He very insightfully notes, “[Unlike many Westerners] the Chinese have no problem at all in living with contradictions. Their question is: Does it work over time?” He points to Shanghai’s’ remarkable growth as an example. “Look out the window: you see a prosperous, dynamic city that has grown tremendously in the last 20 years, and it grew primarily by ignoring the contradictions [e.g., the poor shanty hutongs/alleys that exist next to a five star hotel or world class skyscraper] and focusing largely on economic development.” (Page 205) Simon Keely (Head of the Hewitt Asia Leadership Center, Hewitt Associates China) echoes a similar tune: “China is full of contradictions. Here we are a socialist country, but it’s one of the most competitive places on earth.” (Page 115) Well stated. Both men clearly “get” and understand this facet of China. I don’t think this means the US is not a place of contradictions, but the China hands I call friends seem to suggest that in China the contradictions are deeper and more disturbing than most places.

For more great examples of some of the contradictions in China that will mess with your mind and tug at your heart, check out following recent Wall Street Journal [subscription may be required] and NY Times articles:

• How Capitalist Transormation Exposes Holes in China’s Government
• So Much Work, So Little Time
• In Booming China, Protest By Poor Intensify
• China’s Reporters Face a Backlash Over Investigations
  
• In Chinese BoomTown, Middle Class Pushed Back
• Chinese Success Story Chokes on Its Own Growth