| Reno: "Lacking of indispensable education is the soil for immorality, even evil. I always believe of this." I basically agree, because frankly I see this problem in the US all the time. I think the key is broad education that teaches *critical thinking* and evaluation, using reason, of right and wrong and the truth of what one is saying. IIRC there's a precedent in both the Confucian and Greco/Roman/German/Western traditions for an emphasis on the moral value of education and how an educated mind, in general, is better capable of recognizing and exercising morality, but there's often a failure to adequately impart such education. We see this in Shanghai and Chicago, Beijing and New York, all the time-- it's certainly not unique to just one country. Look at our shameful recent history in the USA, when we decided to invade Iraq and initiate a bloody war there, on the basis of not only false information (i.e., Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction-- which he did not) but also an unbelievably false belief that Iraq was responsible for 9/11 (60% of Americans in March of 2003 thought that most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Iraqi, when in fact none were Iraqi!). Look at how many people, American, British, Polish and of course Iraqi, have been killed due to these lies and the failure of the American people to think critically. Richard Hong: "This is what makes people lose their confidence in Chinese domestic products, full of fake stuff." I agree with this too. This in fact is representative of a general frustration that Western businessmen like myself have had in China: the lack of *transparency*. I *want* to invest in Chinese companies that I know have the potential to flourish. I *want* to encourage my friends in the US, Switzerland and Germany to put their money into the Chinese market, with all its potential. But most of us have decided thus far not to invest in China's burgeoning market because of the lack of transparency in the markets. It's too easy for us to be screwed out of our money, to have our investments skimmed off by some corrupt partner or official, without adequate recourse. It's getting better, I admit, but I still find this to be the main difference between, say, New York and Shanghai, and the reason that we all still invest in New York while not investing in Shanghai: In New York, we have open discussion and full access to information about the true financial worth of any company and its tradings, with strong protection of intellectual property and strict rules (enforced by e.g. the Securities and Exchange Commission) to make sure that information the company releases is not misleading-- otherwise, we're too afraid that we're dealing with a "Chinese Enron" that will screw us out of our investment. We also have inspections by e.g. the FDA to give us the security that the food we eat and the medicines we take are safe, and we have an Environmental Protection Agency and other "watchdog" groups which, for all their flaws, help give us early warning and accurate information about and protection from the dangers of pollution. This cover-up recently after the benzene chemical spill in Heilongjiang is, I think, a symptom of a more general problem-- the lack of transparency, openness, and willingness to crack down on corruption. For us Western investors to pump money into China (which we all want to do), we have to feel more secure about our investments, and thus we really have to have a disciplined financial system in China with diligent and *accurate* reporting of information, and penalties against companies that engage in corruption (like the penalties against Enron in the USA, for example). Similarly, if we're going to invest in China, we're going to live in China for a while, and to do this, especially to bring over our families, we have to be reasonably secure that the food we're eating is safe, and the water we're drinking is not full of pollutants that will hurt ourselves, our wives and our children. This cover-up in Heilongjiang-- you just can't do that sort of thing, it scares away foreign investment to an enormous degree. And when corrupt officials screw up like this and allow companies to cause this much damage, they need to be punished, not simply pardoned. If that sort of cover-up were to happen in the USA, the officials would get heavy fines. This is essential to reassure investors that the host government is looking after them and ensuring that they don't ruin their health as a result of polluters. If we're staying in Shanghai for example, how can we be sure that there's not some other cover-up of a corrupt company polluting the water supply? Again, it's all about openness and transparency of information-- transparency really is the lifeblood of a successful economy. Right now, China is losing billions of dollars and Euros since so many Western investors are afraid due to the lack of transparency. Just solve this problem, and we'll all happily arrive in Shanghai in droves, and pump billions more dollars and Euros into the Chinese economy. |
The City and Its Moral Boundary