My first impression. China is not a poor country. There are lots of big and beautiful buildings. It is a very rich country. It is changing very much. The people in China are very helpful and friendly to foreigners. It is hard in Nanqiao because nobody can speak English
My ignorance assumed a developing country can not be a rich country. It is merely in the process of becoming rich, like a farmer who has planted his harvest. This bubble was set to burst the moment I landed at Pudong International airport. From the state of the art airport to the abundance of high end European automobiles to the concentration of skyscrapers across the city. China is not poor.
Where did my ignorance come from? Was it just a personal misunderstanding or representative of the entire western perception of China. I have come to the conclusion my ignorance stemmed from a western narrative which assumes development and modernisation equates to westernisation.
For the past 200 years the end product of economic development for the West has roughly looked the same; economic, political, social and cultural harmonisation to a western standard. Yet China’s development does not resemble anything we have witnessed in recent history.
The ignorance is representative of an age old tension throughout history. One can not help but draw parallels with 1920’s America, Old Money vs New Money. In the eyes of the West, China is New Money, it may be developing rapidly but without Westernising it will never be truly wealthy like Old Money.
Despite its astounding economic success, China will never become a western/westernised state. From the macro social functioning of the country like the difference in state-societal relations, and abundance of nationalised industry, to micro everyday issues like Chinese highway code and even the lavatory, China will not conform to western standards. This a civilisation state which has taken thousands of years to form. 100 years of being rich will not change China. And it is for this reason, in the eyes of the west, China maybe economically rich but it will never be wealthy. Therefore, it is ultimately poor. This is where my ignorance stemmed from.
The next 30 years will see the greatest shift in power from the West to the East in modern history. Ironically, the western standard of development will be redefined by Asia in particular by China.