Experimental Blog # 187

Quotations from "China's Silent Army" - The Pioneers, Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are Remaking the World in Beijing's Image by Juan Pablo Cardenal and Heriberto Araujo, translated by Catherine Mansfield

" ... at exactly 8:08 p.m. on August 8, 2008, history changed its course. That moment marked the beginning of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games..."
"September 15, 2008, just three weeks after the end of the Olympics, marked the beginning of the crisis which threatened the downfall of the Western financial system."
"In a little less than a year, China's prestige and position in the rest of the world had taken a 180-degree turn, from treacherous dictatorship to savior of the world's economy."
"In just ten years the country has multiplied its trade with the rest of the world six times, with an increase from $510 billion in 2001 to $2.97 trillion in 2010."

"As there is no welfare state, the Chinese people save over 40 percent of their earnings, which represents the highest rate of savings in the world. < > this huge quantity of deposits is combined with < > "financial repression," which < > means that depositors are forced to lose money with their savings."
"Therefore the magic wand of limitless funding is paid for at great expense by Chines savers ..."

" ... the whole planet can now hear the deafening grinding of the tectonic movements caused by the rise of China < > The new world order is excellent news for many countries in the developing world. China's pragmatism offers undisputable benefits to < > many African countries that today have access to infrastructure which they had never even dreamed of .."

" ... who is capitalizing on the opportunities offered by China if it is not the local populations?
" ... you probably already know the answer: the local elites, whether economic and/or political, in both democratic countries and autocratic regimes."