Every new year I revisit the Great Australian Cargo Cult. Like the natives of post-war New Guinea we Australians await the arrival of cargo planes full of consumer goods - refrigerators, cars, shoes, clothes, cooking pots - all sent by some far-away god because we are the lucky ones.
Without great effort we receive it all and demand more. And if the flow at all falters, we cut down our leaders and find more promising ones. We want our goods and we'll do as little as possible for them.
Well this year I’m looking at the cult from the giving side. I’m writing in Yunnan, south-western China, having crossed the great Middle Kingdom that donates to our welfare. What a land! A hive of over a billion people all working feverishly. Day and night fresh skyscrapers and factories are being built. In the east, new subways are tunnelling under Shanghai and the airport boasts a 430 kph maglev magnetic train.
There are 160 cities in China with over one million population and looking at the one I visited, Kunming, these ain't populated by hungry rice planters. The cityscape is a forest of skyscrapers; freeways and rail are connecting with Bangkok, Hanoi, Mandalay and Chittagong. It's a huge manufacturing region most Australians don't even know about.
They are quite happy to keep supplying our cargo goods, and so long as we supply all the raw materials they demand and keep signing the IOUs, we are a convenient quarry. But if you look at Chinese history, they do expect strict compliance from their vassals - we pay for those toasters by doing what we’re told.
From what I saw of Kunming, they were not waiting for cargo cults. They were creating their own future. They have revived their ancient silk and tea road trading. They have huge iron and steel industries, factories, universities, and are expanding their tourism.
China is a big wide world with an even bigger one outside it. I'm afraid Australia does not even register within these circles most days, they certainly don't feel they owe us anything. Not even a bamboo plane.
Just Kunming district has five million people full of determination to prosper. There are the usual equivalents to our state and federal demands and tussles, but ultimately there is a willingness to invest and grow, both from government and private sectors.
It doesn't surprise me to see that China now has more industrial researchers than Europe, education is a national focus. The recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report put Shanghai at No 1 in mathematics - and Australia at No 19. We're also 16 in science and 14 in reading. Yes, Shanghai is No 1 both times.
At this rate we'll have difficulty keeping tally of our bales of straw as we work on our Cargo Cult airport. It certainly won't take us into the high-powered literacy and scientific advancement we will need to keep up with even one small Chinese province.
Allow me a final boast. My five-years old Chinese granddaughter spent two months attending a Queensland school this year. Bi-lingual, she quickly adapted with the local kids. And immediately, she was the best reader in the class. In English.
I know I've said it many times over the past nine years, but push aside the straw and bamboo and let's build a real future for this country. And have a wonderful, prosperous New Year.
7 comments:
Hi Ray
After reading your article about Chinese economic growth in the Herald Sun, I gather that economics was not one of your strong points.
Any first year business student knows that the Chinese growth model is driven by excessive levels of debt.
To determine the likely level of economic growth in China, one simply has to look at credit growth in the current quarter.
A country can only borrow and invest in real estate and infrastructure for a period of time.
There is already massive amounts of excess capacity in many industries. However, if the Chinese government says build, then they build even if the investment is a complete waste of money.
Eventually, debt levels become unsustainable, and when it blows up, the banking system goes with it.
Japan used a similar model, and they have been stagnant for the past 20 years.
China will end up like Japan, so don't get too excited.
Andrew
What I was most impressed with is the energy and determination that the Chinese have applied to raise their country, in four decades, from a struggling third-world nation into an economic powerhouse providing employment and wealth for a big portion of their billion people. Who could have believed it possible? Yes they have massive debt - but less than the colossal US debt, a big slice of which is owed to the Chinese!
So long as we continue with our modern economic model, we depend on these giants to keep springing back up. Otherwise we change the model - and who would have the courage to do that? No viable politician that I've ever seen.
* Cheers - Ray *
Hi Ray
We shall see.
If you are right, good luck to you.
If I am wrong, it is back to school for me.
Andrew
Hi Ray, Your article is absolutely spot on.
I speak as the the grandfather of 2 Australian Chinese Grand Daughters. They are smart.
We in Australia have our priorities quite wrong and I cannot see our politicians (from either side) doing much about it.
Keep up the good work.
Regards, Peter Bennett
Hi Ray,I hope its a great year for the Marketeer,look forward to catching up,all the best,Ron.
Happy new year Ray... excellent article.
Have a f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c day... inno
Sir, I re-read your Herald-Sun article of Jan 9, 2014. Lots to think about.
There's a lesson for Australia in the story of your bilingual
granddaughter. It would be great if there was more interest in foreign languages in Australia. But this will never happen before we return the study of the English language to a prominent position in our school curriculum.
I was schooled in the UK in the 1960's and English Language as a subject in its own right was the single most important subject on our curriculum for the first 5 years of secondary school. It was well taught and left me with fond memories. On electing to study science based subjects in years 11 and 12 with a view to tertiary education - and additional English Language course of study was essential to gain tertiary
admission - this was called "Use of English". Nobody questioned its importance then - and now it's gone. You may be old enough to recall the demise of English Language from Victorian schools in the 1970's and much of the illiteracy of Australians today stems from this disgraceful act. Without a sound grasp of a base language it is so much harder to
learn another. Hence our mono-lingual indigenous population of today.
In addition we were taught Latin and French and I was unable to gain an Honours Degree in Chemistry without passing an examination of my "technical German" skills - none of this would be possible today due to
the demise of English Language as a subject. It is a sad fact that the only bilingual citizens of Australia all have English as a second language - often spoken and written with more eloquence than indigenous Australians.
I would love to see this educational anomaly "fixed" and hope you could think about raising the subject within your sphere of influence.
Sincerely, Alan Langley-Jones
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