Beginning the next morning, I embarked on a city tour to grasp what it had to offer. Part of the city claims to be new China, only to be taken aback by reminiscence of communism (lack of political reform). While exploring Shenzhen, a striking image that repeatedly presents itself is of officers in uniform, be it at the super market, traffic crossing, park, theaters, restaurants. Such an image could give a tourist such as myself a sense of security, while on the other hand, the paradoxical Pandora that surfaces is, are the uniformed officials really there to build a sense of security or do they reflect the image of a communist state that needs to monitor activities of its own people at all times?
It is worth noting that once a small fishing village, the transformation that Shenzhen has gone through is nothing less than remarkable. The infrastructure display in highways, buildings, bridges, the socio-economic factors, the professionalism, are all part of Shenzhen's success story. The point becomes even more important when one is reminded that all of this development was visioned by a government that is non-transparent, and the one that discourages innovation and creativity in its people. As has been the case under the government, the Chinese are still very much the type that like to 'follow orders', than to opt for creative solutions. Most of the multinational enterprises that have set up shops in Shenzhen have come to be realize this deficiency first-hand, while dealing with their newly hired cheap Chinese workforce.
The bureaucratic gridlock that plagues the government can be felt on the streets of Shenzhen. There are five people assigned to do a job that could easily be managed by one. There is someone at the front door to swipe your residence card on the machine, whereas the swiping could easily be accomplished by yourself. Given this, a question that begs for an answer is, does China have only manpower (its most abundant commodity) to offer as its contribution towards globalization, and towards attracting MNC enterprises?
Unless there is some transparency in the government, and unless the beaurocratic ways are tamed, I cannot imagine China on the same wavelength as Japan or as the US. It is unrealistic to expect China to continue to grow at 9% annual up tick on its GDP while in communism. However, credit does need to be given to the Chinese for crafting ideas such as special economic zones and tax free zones. This foresight, one of its kind, is now being adapted by other countries as well to attract MNCs. The country's accession on to the World Trade Organization (WTO) a few years ago, surprised a lot nay sayers, and while there is pessimism on China's continued progress, the country might have something up its sleeve to continue on, leaving all the pessimists behind.
