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That used to be the case; now the new Silicon Valley for producing anything is in Shenzhen with crazy innovation (kinda like what Japan used to be in the 80s).
by bitL 7y ago
That used to be the case; now the new Silicon Valley for producing anything is in Shenzhen with crazy innovation (kinda like what Japan used to be in the 80s). You can set up your own goods production there in minutes and in all kinds of quality as your budget allows. A regular Chinese now matches a regular American in quality of life as measured by typical economical metrics (adjusted for purchase parity, not in nominal value). Many US/EU companies reduced to selling stuff one can buy on Alibaba for 1/10th, just rebranded to appear US/EU-made. There are some areas Chinese can't do yet, like advanced metallurgy, which was generating quite a bit of business for US/EU, but that disadvantage is disappearing rapidly as they continue throwing money on it and invest into research.
- mcguire 7y agoI was with you until "A regular Chinese now matches a regular American in quality of life as measured by typical economical metrics (adjusted for purchase parity, not in nominal value)." A regular Chinese in Shenzhen, maybe. I'm not sure about someone from the part of China that isn't on the coast or Beijing.
- umeshunni 7y agoThere are 300M+ urban Chinese that now have a standard of living comparable those of their Western counterparts. There are 800M+ Chinese people living in relative poverty in rural areas that bring the average and median quality of life metrics down.
- NicoJuicy 7y agoSo, 1/3rd instead of 1/2th.
- dragonwriter 7y ago> A regular Chinese now matches a regular American in quality of life as measured by typical economical metrics (adjusted for purchase parity, not in nominal value). No. China’s per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity is still under US$17K. Even with perfectly flat income distribution that would be around half of US median personal income. Realistically, the gap is much more than 2×.