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Issue No. 39 - February/March 2008
Chinese checker reports
Respected wealth management expert Ramana Rao of Metaplanners travelled to China in December to judge first-hand the investment environment there.
It was Ramana’s first trip to the world’s economic engine room – he visits India and the US frequently – and like many others he found the massive infrastructure development immediately impressive.
But while others see an economy running ungoverned, Ramana sees a pattern of return to Chinese tradition.
“For example: in the midst of Shanghai the roads and traffic more resemble that of a western country than an Asian country,” he says.
“Someone asked about the very wide roads and the tour guide told us that in the Chin dynasty the road widths were standardized to 57m with a 10m median strip. The emperor wanted a thoroughfare for armies.
“You get an impression that everything is being done in a hurry – but that’s not so.
“Cranes are everywhere. They are bigger than any I have ever seen and on 80-storey buildings there isn’t much scaffolding – it’s like New York being built in the 1930s.”
Ramana was in China to meet key players, including government, who are essential to any development deal there.
Shanghai Motors, for instance, is a joint venture between GM and the City of Shanghai.
“Political will has clearly shifted,” he says. “The Chinese remember the time under Mao as a bad dream – an aberration in the long and proud tradition of Chinese entrepreneurship.”
Ramana uses food to illustrate this point. Chinese food in China resembles that of the west – it’s quite bland in contrast to the dramatically better Hong Kong cuisine.
“For the 40-year period under Mao, there was no experimentation,” Ramana points out. “When you look at the food in Hong Kong the difference shows.”
He suggests what we are seeing is an explosion of trial, with the occasional error, as Chinese entrepreneur...
