I am wrapping up my trip to China with a stop in Hong Kong for the GMAC Asia Pacific Conference. It has been very interesting to see so many of the major cities of China and see how much growth has taken place here. There are so many new skyscrapers! I know that this growth is not reflected across the whole country, but still while other countries have struggled during the recession, China has charged ahead. How did the world’s now second-largest economy avoid the freefall while preparing for world dominance?
Michael F. Sullivan, Ph.D. answered this question in the latest issue of B. Magazine.
During the height of the recent global recession, one country stood out as the only one to avoid recession – China. At a time when the United States saw its gross domestic product decline by more than nine percent, China’s GDP declined by less than 2 percent. As the United States was increasing its deficit by $1.4 trillion, China increased its economy by 10 percent and added $500 billion to its reserves. While cities in the United States have struggled to fund necessary repairs or additions to their infrastructure, China has spent the last decade building its own high-speed railway. And, whether we like to admit it or not, the fact that China avoided a recession kept the rest of the world’s economy from hitting bottom. How has it achieved such economic success and become, for the first time in recent history, a real player in the world market? It had a plan. Continue reading in B. Magazine »
