Talking Points for Hangzhou Presentation Slideshow
Slideshow can be found at the following link:
http://youtu.be/urAEzODFd0Y
Slide # / Talking Points2 / Discuss the regional geography and climate of Hangzhou and their importance on trade.
3 / Discuss the influence of the Grand Canal on urban and rural development, and on the opening of markets as part of the Silk Road.
11 / Things to Understand When Looking at Hangzhou as a Case Study for Urbanization and Growth in China:
· The Central Committee makes rulings that apply to all of China. However, it is often up to the Provincial and City Governments to implement those rulings. This can lead to significant differences throughout the country in how directives are implemented and enforced.
· When we see or hear something “positive” or “negative,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that all of China is the same way. ex: Danger of seeing a photo of something in China in foreign media and generalizing it to all of China.
12 / Things to Understand When Looking at Hangzhou as a Case Study for Urbanization and Growth in China:
· After the Central Committee makes a ruling, it financially supports a few ideal “models” throughout the country to demonstrate how it can work. It is up to provincial and local governments, schools, businesses, etc. to figure out how to implement the ruling and/or follow the lead of the model. How well local governments and groups implement a ruling depends, in large part, to the economic strength of the government or group. Rural cities and towns have less capacity to carry out directives in an effective or “model” way.
13 / Things to Understand When Looking at Hangzhou as a Case Study for Urbanization and Growth in China:
• Registered vs unregistered status: People who are registered in a city have more access to what the government guarantees (i.e. education, healthcare, job, etc.) than “migrant” people who are not registered in the city.
• With mass urbanization taking place, people are moving out of their rural locations where most are registered and moving to the cities to seek work. Most people living in cities now are migrants.
• In 1980, 80% of the population of China lived in rural areas. It is estimated that by 2030, 80% of the population of China will live in urban cities.
25 / • Tourism is becoming key industry in Hangzhou and is a central part of its long-term strategic plan for growth.
• West Lake is a major tourist destination in the Hangzhou.
26-30 / Images of West Lake
28 / · City planning reflects the importance of maintaining, protecting, and promoting key cultural and historical sites: keeping the old within the new.
31-34 / Turning history into tourism. Images of Song Dynasty Theme Park
35-39 / Tea and tourism. Images of Tea Museum and Plantation. Hangzhou is known for its Longyin Tea.
40 / Silk Market as another tourist attraction.
41-48 / Lingyin Temple, founded in 328AD is a well-known Buddhist temple that has become another significant tourist destination. Images 41-48 are of various temple halls and of the surrounding Feilai Feng grottoes.
50-53 / • Construction everywhere is overwhelming. Hundreds of highrise buildings being constructed at the same time. One-fifth (⅕) of all cranes currently being used in the world are in China.
54 / · Cities compete with each other for economic strength and to attract domestic and foreign companies.
· Provincial governments and cities have a lot of autonomy to develop and plan for growth.
55 / · Long-term city planning is a key factor in a city’s competitive edge over other cities in China.
· Hangzhou’s plan is to be “the city with the highest quality of living in China.” Local leadership wants to attract multinational corporate businesses to set up headquarters in Hangzhou, and to try to both pull them away from Shanghai and attract new businesses.
· Beauty of the city, West Lake, ancient history, and new-old balance are competitive advantages for Hangzhou.
56 / · Government Building in the New Business District.
· New construction reflects careful, advance planning. For example, in the New Business District, the areas between attractive major buildings are parks, ponds, sculptures, and peaceful areas. But underneath it all is an underground shopping mall.
57 / · Civic Center in the New Business District. Notice the “Outlet” sign – a way down to the mall.
58 / · Cleaning the glass window on the ground. Through the window, you can see the shopping mall.
59-61 / Images in the City Planning Center
62-68 / • These images reveal the rapid growth of modernization in Hangzhou.
• This is a 2002 picture of the New Shopping District before construction began.
63 / · 2003: the beginning of construction.
65 / · Notice beginning of construction of the government building.
70 / · In the city, 99.9% of children attend nine years of school or more. 98.5% of children ages 3-5 are in preschool (Hangzhou.gov.cn website)
· Hangzhou has a highly educated population with a very large middle class.
71 / · Many private schools with more individualized attention. Private schools are highly valued and expensive.
· English fluency in highly valued.
72 / · Families spend a significant part of their income on the education of their children. Despite some new families being eligible to have two children (families may have two children if both husband and wife grew up in a one-child household), many choose to have only one child because they can’t afford to send two children to the best schools.
74 / · Education determines an individual’s level of success in society.
· Two major exams determine the quality of school you will attend: Exam at the end of middle school determines quality of high school. Exam at the end of high school determines the quality of university.
75 / · Children of middle class or wealthy families who do not test well are sometimes sent to the United States to study in order to give a different kind of competitive edge in society.
76-79 / These are images of a school set up to teach migrant children and families.
• A 2003 Central Committee ruling said that government should take care of children when they move to a new place (migrant children). But implementation of the ruling happens on the provincial or city levels and can look radically different around the country. Some cities do a better job of educating migrant youth than others.
• Overall, there is still a significant education gap between migrant children and registered children in the country, but Hangzhou has this “model” school serving migrant children.
80 / • Family is still considered of key importance to one’s ability to advance in society.
81 / Eye exercises at the beginning of the day help students to be more alert and relaxed.
82 / Students at a private college prep school.
83 / The following talking points (slides 83-87) are a synthesis of a lecture given by the director of Mary English School in Hangzhou.
• Concept of the Iron Rice Bowl: that the government will take care of you by giving you a job with job security, a steady income and benefits.
• In the 1980s and part of the 1990’s, the government couldn’t offer enough jobs. If you did not have a status (were not registered in that city), then the only way to get a job was to start a business. So entrepreneurship used to carry a negative stigma and becoming rich in this way was a sign of poor character. Such people were called “Getihu” - they often made more money than highly educated people with the highest social status. But despite their wealth, they were not respected.
84 / • Central government started encouraging private ownership and entrepreneurship. It’s risky as you have to give up the “Iron Rice Bowl” and what is comfortable.
• Communist structure works well for business -- “you want to have local leaders to stay for a long time so business policies don’t change.”
85 / • Entrepreneurship is changing Chinese culture: focus is on profit-seeking, change, individual initiative, creativity, innovation, and flexibility.
• This is creating conflict in society between traditional values and present-day values.
• Confucianism advocates collectivist culture, group orientation, conformity. In general, people still respect power, authority, persistence, and diligence, and the family’s support is still a major key to success. Thrift is highly valued.
86 / • Businesses still start with relationships. There is still Guanxi and hospitality when doing business. Businesses spend a lot on visitors and influential people because the payoff can be huge.
87 / • “In their hearts, [most Chinese people] will look down on people who make a lot of money.” However, culture is changing, especially with young people. There is a Westernization of ways - drinking coffee, not tea. There is a general disappearance of Guanxi among young people in their teens and early 20’s.
88 / The following talking points (slides 90-91)are a synthesis of a lecture given by the Director of a Market near Hefang Old Street
89 / • Large supermarkets are not where most people shop for food. People depend on local markets for all three meals each day.
• Government tried the big supermarket model and scrapped it because it was not popular. Local farmers and local food markets are still the primary means of food production, and large-scale agribusinesses are still non-existent.
90 / • Quality of management and quality of environmental standards can vary from province to province. Central government gives a directive, but follow-through and how the directive is carried out is in the hands of local governments.
• This was a “model” market. It had a computer system that could source every single piece of produce to the actual farm it came from.
91-93 / Street images
94 / Image of Shanghai at night – only an hour from Hangzhou and one of the largest cities in China.