*
When the people were the People
John Francis had told Kennedy how at the time when the frontier between Hong Kong and Shenzhen had been timidly opened, controls were reminiscent of Soviet Russia in the sixties: interminably long lines policed by uniformed customs officials and frontier guards, baggage checks, currency declarations, visa inspection and questions, and harsh faces.
After the high barbed wire fences, set up along the narrow creek that separated the People’s Republic from the world, the small town that juxtaposed the frontier, Samzan, or Shenzhen in Mandarin, was just another small and unremarkable Cantonese town, which had historically earned its living from the salt pans on the Pearl River.
According to Francis crossing the frontier between the Mainland and Hong Kong in those early days had been a real adventure. Kennedy had tried to image it, perhaps it was like Cuba or Estonia in 2000, when his adventures on behalf of David Castlemain had brought him to those to Communist states.
All that changed when Deng Xiaoping decided it would become the first of five Special Economic Zones; its proximity to Hong Kong, then a British colony, was his prime consideration.
“So you see Pat the population was multiplied by four hundred, or if you prefer,” Wu said with a broad smile, forty thousand percent, “that’s an average yearly rate of one thousand percent.
“That happened all over China, to a greater or lesser degree. Of course there are towns and backwaters that have not changed one iota, where there is no running water or electricity. But on average the GDP of China the growth has been an almost unbelievable six thousand percent. A real miracle.”
Pat nodded. The information was not new, but it was something that needed repeating, over and over again, a metamorphosis rarely seen in the history of man. Perhaps only the British Empire had seen such a phenomenal growth.
“Remember Pat, the official growth rate figures today, four, five or six percent, whatever detractors say about their lack of transparency or realism, are still extraordinary when you consider the size of our country and from where it’s come.”
“Thanks to Communism,” said Pat unthinkingly.
“Absolutely not.”
“Oh!”
“If you read Midnight or Shanghai Morning you will see the germs of success were already there. Communism and civil war delayed the transformation.” He paused for the message to sink in. “So you see a slowdown is relative.”
“Except for those countries that have become used to your ever increasing demand for raw materials and investment.”
“Ah, there we have those who think the winning roll will go on forever, all good things regretfully come to an end.”
“Let’s hope it won’t be sticky,” said Pat with a grin.
“Sticky?”
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