{ "version": "https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1.1", "title": "Artöm Mazurchak: posts tagged state", "_rss_description": "I live in Berlin. I built Biz-cen.ru in Russia, Lashoestring.com in the UK. I run a Telegram channel", "_rss_language": "en", "_itunes_email": "", "_itunes_categories_xml": "", "_itunes_image": "", "_itunes_explicit": "", "home_page_url": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/?go=tags\/state\/", "feed_url": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/?go=tags%2Fstate%2Fjson%2F", "icon": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1700581632", "authors": [ { "name": "Artöm Mazurchak", "url": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/", "avatar": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1700581632" } ], "items": [ { "id": "74", "url": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/?go=all\/ethnographic-journey-through-china\/", "title": "Ethnographic journey through China", "content_html": "

In September, three of my classmates from Skolkovo – M., K. and R. and I went on a trip through six cities in China: Guangzhou → Shenzhen → Xiamen → Shanghai → Hangzhou → Beijing. The whole trip was thoughtfully organized by M. She was the first Chinese student to graduate from the Skolkovo MBA program in fall 2019, and earlier this spring she moved back home after spending five years working in Russia.<\/p>\n

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It’s worth mentioning that back in December, we had an off-site Skolkovo module in Hong Kong at HKUST – the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Their business school is ranked #1 in the world for EMBA programs by the Financial Times. As part of the program, we had lectures on China’s economic development to help us better understand the local business landscape, visited several Hong Kong-based companies and spent one day in Shenzhen. Hong Kong really made an impression of a modern city full of massive skyscrapers, lines outside Gucci stores and Teslas used as taxis. That day trip to Shenzhen in December was way too short to get any real sense of mainland China.<\/p>\n

In my mind, that quick trip didn’t really change my impression of mainland China as I still pictured it as one giant factory that supplies the whole world. At the time, I saw Hong Kong and Shenzhen as exceptions to the rule. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.<\/p>\n

This new trip completely blew me away, I had no idea what was really going on in China. Before my first visit to the US, I had some expectations and a mental image of the country. But with China, it was all pretty vague, mostly formal descriptions and growth charts from HKUST.<\/p>\n

What surprised me<\/h2>\n

1.<\/b>Each city we visited had its own clear goal or strategy and was seriously working toward it. In some places, that led to clusters of companies that supported each other. For example, Shenzhen is a big tech hub. A bunch of hardware companies are based in the same area. If one company is building a new device, they can just cross the street to talk to parts suppliers. That makes everything faster and more efficient.<\/p>\n

2.<\/b> The cities are growing at an incredible pace. That means constant construction, new road and major updates to city infrastructure. For example, Beijing had 13.5 million people in 2000 and by 2015 it had grown to 21.7 million. And it’s not just about size, they’re also putting real effort into the urban environment. In some residential neighborhoods you’ll see trash bins made to look like wood. Or Shanghai – there’s a stunning waterfront with beautiful landscaping and thoughtful little details, like tiny crow sculptures built into the railings along the river.<\/p>\n

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The waterfront in Shanghai<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

3.<\/b> GDP growth has been around 7% in recent years, while mortgage rates are at 4%. Inflation in 2018 was just 2.1%. Numbers like that push people to buy property, which has driven up the price per square meter, even in second-tier cities to around $15 500. There’s also a special program for Chinese citizens: every month, 12% of your salary automatically goes into a fund that can only be used to buy real estate and your employer adds up to another 12% on top of that. As a result, many people own apartments they don’t live in, they rent them out instead, which keeps rental prices low. For example, a two-story apartment in Xiamen with a large master bedroom, a kids’ room, two bathrooms and a huge kitchen-living area with a bay view can go for just 50,000 rubles a month. That said, M. mentioned she thinks the real estate market is a bubble.<\/p>\n

4. <\/b>The government plays a major role in business and interestingly, it often feels like a positive one. For example, entire cities or regions will publicly lay out their development strategies, so it’s clear what they’re aiming for and what kind of projects they want to attract. That gives people a sense of direction where to apply, how to get involved and what the bigger picture is. On top of that, the government creates large-scale strategic programs, builds processes around them and allocates real funding. One example: a region might set a goal to bring in up to a million entrepreneurs, scientists, and top-tier professionals either from abroad or among Chinese citizens living overseas by 2025, with dedicated funding to support that goal.<\/p>\n

5.<\/b> Electric cars are everywhere in big cities, I got the impression that every fifth car was electric. You can spot them by their green license plates, while gas-powered ones have blue plates. Officially, the stats say it’s more like one in ten, but still they’re hard to miss. There are also tons of scooters on the streets and they’re all battery-powered. You walk around and there’s no smell of gasoline, it’s kind of amazing.<\/p>\n

6.<\/b> There are so many services built into WeChat. It’s technically a messenger, but really it’s a whole ecosystem. Even Airbnb isn’t just a separate app, it also works as a mini-app inside WeChat. We needed SIM cards, so M. sent a request and 15 minutes later a guy showed up on a bike and delivered them. Someone cracked their phone screen, we ordered a repair through WeChat and an hour later a technician found us at a tech expo, fixed the screen in 15 minutes and that was it. At a regular (not fast food!) restaurant, we scanned a QR code at the table, picked our dishes, paid through the app and the waiter brought everything over. M. said we were also using Meituan a lot, it’s kind of like an upgraded TripAdvisor for ordering services. One more thing, there’s almost no outdoor ads on the streets, but there’s tons of ads inside WeChat.<\/p>\n

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Mobile service for SIM card delivery and screen repair<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

7.<\/b> We mostly traveled between cities by train. The high-speed trains we took reached up to 250 km\/h and some can go as fast as 400 km\/h. The rail network is huge and the stations are massive. The trains look a lot like the Sapsan back in Russia, but with some nice touches. Each seat has a built-in power outlet and there’s a windowsill wide enough to hold a cup of coffee. All the seats face the direction of travel and when the train is about to head back the other way, a staff member simply turns all the rows around to face forward again.<\/p>\n

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