20 Replies to “If You Build It”

  1. The reason the condos are vacant is because they are all in Vancouver cooking “moo goo gai pan.”

  2. C’mon, Kate, it’s stimulus infrastructure planning. Those are three good ideas right there.

  3. Inland cities sound like a good idea to me. What you don’t want is the Canadian model where all the country’s population slowly, inevitably, mercilessly decamps to 3-4 expensive, unlivable cities.
    This article makes it look like China put too little emphasis in establishing a primary industry and infrastructure (esp. railroad). It might have been better to append the new city beside an existing town but for all we know they did.

  4. How stupid is this government?
    All they need to do is give out free welfare and subsidized housing, along with special treatment and rights because they are non white.
    Promise special protections under the legal system aka HRC, throw in some feel guilty white people who kiss their ass for being non white. Theeeeeeen add in some special minority rights for jobs and education and believe you me THEY WILL COME!
    Don’t get me wrong, I like the Chinese people, have spent allot of time in mainland China. But why mess with a formula that has been working for the west for so long? Hell, half the third world occupies the US now, and look at how well it’s doing.
    Great future prospects too be sure………….

  6. the Canadian model where all the country’s population slowly, inevitably, mercilessly decamps to 3-4 expensive, unlivable cities.
    Only an idiot would do that. Don’t worry, ALL the country’s population isn’t that stupid.

  7. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry; Chinese capitalists trying social engineering or the fact that it is US/Canadian dollars financing this thing. If the Chinese ever call in their loans the western world is going to have the big one.

  8. Actually, I think they are right. They have to prevent ‘massive hubs’ where, as in Canada, the population flocks to only a few key cities and the rest of the country atrophies and requires massive external financial input to even maintain its commuter roads and public services.
    To attempt to set up multiple hubs, that can be linked to the larger ones – is a correct idea. The fact that this hasn’t emerged from the ‘bottom up’ is because those large cities already exist…and prevent these smaller towns from developing.
    So, I think the Chinese are right. They have to encourage the old generation to accept the change; the peasant generation will, of course, miss the farm. But their children and grandchildren can live in these new towns – linked to larger cities…and build those towns.
    It would be a grave error for China to ignore its vast population and territory and enable its population to all move only to a few key cities. That would mean that many would be underemployed; that the economy would not be diverse and spread out….
    They have to strengthen the people and the economy and that means – a vast network of ‘hubs’ or cities and towns, linked to each other. Not just a few key cities.

  10. When they have all moved to cities all that will be needed is vast fields of techno corn and techno soy owned and operated by Mosanto to feed the city “mencattle” (Not to be confused with “cattle men”) the same processed grub but with different textures, colors and flavors…Later, their textile industry will also boom: Larger cloths will be needed to fit their new fat asses too…Big pharma will eventually join the fray as many pills will be needed for the billions of new cases of high blood pressure and diabetes…Then the chinese will know they finally made it in the major leagues just like us north americans…
    See, it’s all win-win!

  11. Check out Raheel Raza’s take on the Manhattan Mosque Madness (at Fox News) over at Dr. Roy’s blog:
    http://torydrroy.blogspot.com/
    She’s hit the nail on the head: political correctness and bleeding heart white liberals have delivered a slap in the face to all Americans — and have made life immeasurably more difficult for moderate Muslims.

  12. The only thing governments have ever built that they successfully populated very quickly were concentration camps.
    I can see that making a come back in the not to distant future … In many, many places.

  13. There are various ways to develop. One is the ‘natural way’…where people locate themselves around a ‘hub’ such as a river, a set of rich farmland, a train station.
    The other way is to build the infrastructure – the roads, the train stations, and encourage people to move there and develop factories and jobs.
    This tactic ought to be used, for example, in Haiti. The goverment ought to develop ‘hubs’ with roads, water, hydro, housing, schools, …and encourage people to move there. Instead, the Haitian govt does nothing; it leaves the Creole peasantry to essentially rot..and be looked after by external aid. It’s the external aid that supplies makeshift, impermanent schools, medical care, water. But there’s no infrastructure and no employment. And the people can’t finance this infrastructure themselves.
    Same thing with our native reserves. Many have no roads to them; they are isolate ghettoes, governed by corruption. There’s no possibility of an economic infrastructure because the insane Indian Act forbids individual entrepreneurship on reserves. So – all they can do is either leave, or sit back on welfare.
    China has an enormous problem with its vast peasantry. It has to modernize them, it can’t allow an enormous gap in income and lifestyle between two population sets. It also can’t allow them to all migrate to just a few cities, for those cities can’t absorb them and you can’t have a vast territory focused only around a few cities. Therefore, it effectively has to build new cities, and encourage people to move there and develop those areas.
    Canada is not a good comparison, for the population in Canada, whether in the few large cities or the many small towns are all essentially middle class: low, middle and high – but all middle class. It’s quite different in China – where you have a vast population still living within sustenance peasantry, illiterate, superstitious and adversarial to even the people in the next farm or village.

  14. Chinese economic stimulus = Norinco AK 47 in the ribs and a brusque reminder production quotas have doubled.

  15. Sorry ET, I have to disagree with you again, while I have seen economic developement around rail, rivers, or ag. land. I have also seen what an industrious, people with a work ethic, and brains can do with a desert, or a piece of land deemed not viable for ag. There are countries that lack raw resources, yet produce finished materials and products, and have a high standard of living. All of this I have seen on various countries – even Canada. I have also seen where people expect Gov’t. to look after them even tho they reside in a potentially rich area.

  16. mikewa- I have no idea what your point is. Who is talking about the lack of or availability of raw resources? I certainly wasn’t.
    I was talking about the giant gap between the infrastructure and lifestyle of a peasant economy and an industrial economy.
    Much of China’s population remains trapped within a peasant economy; China can’t afford to ignore these people because of their numbers; they have to enable them to industrialize. AND to prevent a type of industrialization that would involve a majority of that population fleeing the country and moving to only a few key cities.
    They have to enable more city-sites that are industrial and where these people live. Education won’t do it that easily. Peasants get trapped in ancient superstitions and modes of life. AND, you still have to provide that industrial infrastructure. It doesn’t appear on its own in an isolate area. You need roads, water, energy sources, markets, communication systems.
    Once this basic infrastructure is in place, then you can educate and wean the young population off the peasant lifestyle.

  17. Why hasn’t anybody thought of this before!
    It would be the perfect city for China to begin it’s muslim imigration plan.
    Lots of apartments, and goats a plenty!

  18. Sounds like Dave (central planner) Bronconnier’s move to “re-new the east village” in Calgree.

  19. Another grand monument to Humanities lack of understanding itself. People are not Robots or just Matter. We do not act like stop watches.
    So except for small trends never rely on models. To be Human is to be organic in the physical sense. Accompanied with a Soul & Spirit. The latter Two not subject to the Physical.
    In other words Human beings are walking Chaos machines. Expect that the unexpected will happen.
    So says Murphy & St. Vidion (Wizard in Rhyme series.).
    JMO

  20. ET you’re pretty much spot on. I own a farm in Sichuan Province and have lots of trouble with “traditional” ways of the peasants. This is a long term project, the Chinese gov’t sometimes manages to plan things decades in advance, so it’ll be a long time before any of us can say one way or the other if it was a good idea.
    For what it’s worth, I’ve seen derelict buildings in Chengdu City stand empty for 10 years, then get rehabilitated into useful, rented places.

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