below A Mao impersonator
in front of an international
fashion brand’s shop in
Taiyuanabove A woman rides
past hundreds of “share
bikes”, China’s latest trend
for sustainable mobility
in ShanghaiThey entered in hordes to explore a cheap manufacturing
base and to pioneer their business given the huge
potential market for their products. In exchange,
China got everything its leaders wanted: Protecting
core sectors and enacting laws that required foreign
companies to establish themselves in the country with
joint ventures was a perfect means of achieving the
transfer of technology.
Almost four decades later, this strategy has paid off.
China is the second-largest economy in the world – the
first if purchasing power parity (PPP) is used; it is the
main trade power with the biggest surplus in history,
and the factory of the world. Moreover, with the help
of the government, China has created a group of huge
companies with the ambition of going global, shaking
up the world order.
Individualism and consumerism
have given the boot to old-fashioned
fraternity and collectivism
culture