华盛顿时报 中国神灯

当美国人想起中国的时候，大多数想起一大群人为了微薄的报酬辛苦工作，生产常常危险伪劣——而总是便宜的东西。我们认为中国人窃取了我们的工作，卖那些频频被召回的垃圾给我们。

　　在上海呆上几天，这些想法就烟消云散了，而且还提供了一个全新的视角。

　　上海可能是世界历史上最大的建设项目。与别处相比，那里有更多的庞大建筑同时拔地而起。在七十年代初，纽约州的洛克菲勒（Nelson Rockefeller）重建奥尔巴尼，这个项目十分巨大，扭曲了整个美国建筑业的经济。在一些专家看来，上海目前在世界上有着同样的效力。

　　崭新的、巨大的建筑取代了老城区传统的两层房屋（称为鸽笼）。在17年前还是一片稻田的浦东，中国人建造了一座全新的城市，在没有经验的人们看来，它至少和洛杉矶一样大，可能和纽约一样大。

　　有些大楼是经典的“国际风格”。有些是“后现代”。对西方人来说，许多大厦有着奇怪的大洞。在有些情况下，这些可能是建筑效果。有些肯定跟风水有关——这是关于建筑和摆设要与自然协调的古代中国概念。

　　很多人仍然生活在旧“鸽笼”里——在狭小的胡同里，竹竿横搭着，晾着衣服。它们似乎干净整齐，据说很多居民不愿意离开它们，搬进新的高楼（大多数在市中心外）。许多旧的物业单位没有卫生间，因此住户要使用公共厕所，而那些地方看起来也是干净、管理良好的。

　　街上和公路上挤满了汽车。得知中国如今是世界第二大汽车市场，而且无疑是增长最快的，这令人有点震惊。其中有不少是美国制造的别克。你偶尔会看到福特和雪佛兰。但你每看到一辆美国车，就看到50量中国制造的大众汽车。

　　在明亮的新商业街，你可以看到著名的品牌：劳力士、古奇、路易斯威登等等，而且这些商店不是为游客开的——价格比欧美的贵。你看到美国的商店标志了吗？几乎没有，除了肯德基。

　　在19世纪，美国商人梦想中国市场——“中国神灯（Oil for the lamps of China）”。他们知道这里的人们很穷，但这里有很多人，因此中国市场的一小片就可以令你变富。如今，这里有很多、很多富裕的中国人。今年上海股市指数上升了185%。去年中国有15位亿万富翁（以美元计）。最近，据说有108位。

　　别以为中国人只是廉价商品的生产者，我们应该把他们当作所有东西的消费者来看。（作者 George H. Lesser）

'Oil for the lamps of China'

George H. Lesser

October 21, 2007

SHANGHAI.

Winston Churchill said that in his father's time — the second half of the 19th century — "The world was for the few... and for the very few." And he wasn't talking about "the world" — or even about the West. He was talking about England, then just about the richest country on Earth.

Since World War II, we have seen economic "miracles" transform Europe, Japan, other Asian nations, and a rising tide of expectations everywhere. The few have multiplied.

But nothing prepares you for what's happening right now in Shanghai. Perhaps never in human history has so much been built in such a short time. Perhaps never in human history have so many people gotten so rich in such a hurry.

When Americans think of China, most think of hordes working for slave wages, producing stuff that is frequently dangerous and shoddy — and always cheap. We see the Chinese as people who steal our jobs and sell us junk that is frequently recalled, and probably should be more often.

A few days in Shanghai obliterates those thoughts, and provides a whole new perspective.

Shanghai may well be the biggest building project in the history of the world. There are more huge buildings — more huge collections of huge buildings — going up simultaneously than anything this observer has ever seen anywhere else. In the early 1970s, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller rebuilt Albany, and the project was so big it distorted the economics of the construction industry throughout the U.S. According to some experts, Shanghai is now having the same effect worldwide.

In 17 years, since former Chinese leader Deng Xiao-ping gave permission for the development of Shanghai with domestic and foreign capital, a vast, new super-modern city has been constructed.

Literally hundreds of new, gigantic buildings — both commercial and residential — have replaced traditional two-story tenements, called "pigeon cages," in the old town around the colonial Bund. But across the Yellow River, in an area with the unlovely name "Pudong," where only 17 years ago there was little except rice paddies, the Chinese have built an entirely new city that appears to the untrained eye to be at least as big as Los Angeles and maybe as big as New York.

Just to give some idea of the scale of the work: Reportedly, Shanghai has been completing about 400 new skyscrapers, totaling about 240 million square feet of new space every year. Again, to an untrained eye, most of the new construction, especially that built in the last few years, seems of extremely high quality, and this is confirmed by a Western architect who has tracked construction here.

Some of the buildings are classic "international style" modern. Some are "postmodern." To a Westerner, many are weird, with big, strange holes running though them. In some cases, these may be architectural statements. In others, it is certainly Feng Shui — the ancient Chinese concept of arranging buildings and their contents in harmony with nature.

At the city's joint Danish-Chinese planning operation, there is a scale model of the master plan. The model — which looks like Legoland on steroids — is around 50 feet by 80 feet. It shows the planned development up to 2010. The planners say the model covers only the central core of the city — an area of some 250 square miles. Of that, 7.5 square miles are reserved for parks. The rest, except, of course, for the river and roadways, is covered with buildings, most of them huge. One of them, the Shanghai World Financial Center, was just topped off as the world's third-tallest building.

Lots of people still live in the old "pigeon cages" — in tiny alleys with horizontal bamboo poles holding laundry. They appear to be neat and tidy, and many residents are reportedly reluctant to leave them to move to new high-rises, mostly outside the city center. Many old tenements don't have bathrooms, so their tenants use public ones, which appear clean and well-tended.

The streets and highways are jammed with cars. It comes as a bit of a shock to hear that China is now the world's second-largest car market and is far and away the fastest-growing. Quite a few are American-made Buicks. You do see occasional Fords and Chevrolets. But for every American car, you see 50 Chinese-made Volkswagens.

For some years now, VW has been selling more cars in China than in Germany. The top end of the market is dominated by BMW and Mercedes. For every German car, there are maybe 100 Japanese and Korean cars. And the Chinese make cars.

The bright, shiny new shopping streets are lined with famous names: Rolex, Gucci, Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, and the shops are not for tourists — the prices are higher than in Europe and the United States. And what shop signs do you see for American products? Almost none, except for KFC.

In the 19th century, American merchants dreamed of the Chinese market — "Oil for the lamps of China." They knew the people here were poor, but there were so many that even a tiny bit of the Chinese market could make you rich. Now there are many, many rich Chinese. The Shanghai stock market index is up 185 percent this year. Last year there were 15 billionaires (denominated in dollars) in China. Last week, it was reported there are now 108.

Instead of thinking of the Chinese just as producers of cheap stuff, we should think of them as consumers of everything.

Forget the oil. We don't have it, and they've got electricity. But how about plumbing for all those new bathrooms? Toilets for the loos of China?

George H. Lesser has reported for more than 30 years on international political and economic developments for both U.S. and European publications. He has been based in Washington, New York, London and Brussels, and lives in Washington and Florence, Italy.