Yes, India has always remained as the Spiritual Capital of the world for thousands of years and a strong India will definitely result in a peaceful world.

The two peoples may be strong in one hundred years…
But who know what the world will be like in 100 years?

Corruption is omnipresent in China as in India.

International newspapers are just joking beacause it is their job to amuse others…

Last summer, I had the good fortune of visiting China as part of a larger group of MBA students from the Wharton School, USA. Having grown up in India and having traveled around S.E. Asia, I had certain pre-conceived expectations about China prior to my visit.

However, by the end of my trip, these expectations had been exceeded by far. China is an enigma but it also an extremely exciting place where optimism is brimming from all directions. I couldn’t help but compare China to India. And while there are several points of contrast between the two countries the main takeaway was that although China had already made significant progress in narrowing the gap between itself and developed countries, the future for India looks very promising.

As we crossed Hong Kong harbour into Mainland China at Shenzhen, the first thing that took my breath away was the world class highway – a 4-lane dual-carriage motorway – as opposed to the dusty road that I had envisioned. That made me think of the awesome and picturesque Mumbai-Pune highway stretch, the most beautiful highway strip I have seen anywhere in the world.
The primary differences between the two countries’ highway systems are that while both are state of the art, China has a much more extensive highway system as the government there emphasised infrastructure development at the onset of its economic reforms in 1979.

Also, the Chinese highway network has millions more cars that utilise its roads. The Mumbai-Pune highway, despite its beauty, is still underutilised. However, India’s automobile industry is churning more cars every year and its output will surely rise exponentially as long as the government’s plans to link India via highways continue unabated.

Another offshoot of infrastructure is real estate, which is booming in China today. The skylines of Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hong Kong are homes to some of the tallest buildings in the world and are reminiscent of scenes from Star Trek.
A quick trip around Beijing’s Central Business District reveals more cranes per square km than you can fathom. The government has “moved” factories to the outskirts of the city to pave way for commercial and residential properties. Consequently, there has been a flurry of real estate speculation with large swings in property prices in major cities.

Though in India, real estate growth seems to have taken off of late with cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata experiencing real estate boom, property development as in China is difficult in Indian cities due to space constrains. However, the development of suburbs like Gurgaon and Ghaziabad in Delhi, Rajar Haat in Kolkata etc has also seen the emergence of a new type of city growth so far unseen outside Mumbai.

One solution to the space constraints faced by Indian cities is to develop and promote mid sized cities or completely new townships as the Chinese did with Shenzhen, which grew from a sleepy border town of 341,000 to a city of 6 million people since 1980.

However, in India also, tier II and tier III cities like Pune, Mysore, Chandigarh are coming up, defying the age-old system of metro-centric growth.

The third most interesting aspect about my visit was the sheer optimism of the country’s potential – a universal sentiment that was shared by all types of people – people from the interiors of China, entrepreneurs, foreign nationals doing business in China as well as students.

Most striking was the fact that all the students I met at two of China’s top MBA programmes wanted to work in China and were not lured by lucrative jobs offered in the West or even Singapore. The students believed that China was the place to be in both the near and long term and that it would be foolish to leave a high growth/high opportunity market, such as China, for the more flat growth and unfamiliar markets of the West.

This last Chinese nationalistic and optimistic sentiment was both astonishing and inspiring. It made me reflect whether it is possible to mitigate and reverse the brain drain that is characteristic in India today. In the US/UK, there are thousands of Indian students many of who harbor intentions of returning to India albeit primarily for personal rather than economical reasons.

On the flip side, there are many in India who migrate to the West and SE Asia in search for more lucrative opportunities. But the tide is turning in favour of India. Conferences such as the Wharton India Economic Forum (to be held in Philadelphia on November 18th 2005) have played a critical role in reversing the “brain drain” by educating students about the possibilities available in India.

India may not have an extensive world class infrastructure network or the tallest buildings in the world but we still have the conditions and the opportunities available for building successful business while at the same time contributing to the country’s economic development – a thriving democracy, well functioning capital markets and legal systems.

The flurry of domestic and cross border M&A activity over the last few years coupled with the rush of eminent private equity players scrambling to pick a slice of the Indian market is testimony to the growth and investment potential of Indian industry.

Additionally, India has some of the brightest minds in the world and a growing entrepreneurial skill set buttressed by the return of the successful Indian entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley. It is time to put our tremendous resources together to reverse the brain drain and to evoke similar expressions of awe to visitors as I experienced during my visit to China.

Managing Editor Sheela Bhatt was on an 11-day visit to the People’s Republic of China. Bhatt, who was part of the 17-member Indian Women’s Press Corps that went to China, visited Shanghai and Beijing and also took the breathtaking 4,000-km train journey from Beijing to Lhasa.

In a series starting with her first impressions, she will give you a ringside view of the China that she saw, and what it means for India.

Before visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Lhasa my idea of China was that of a country without democracy and leaders without hearts.

The Chinese had cheap and poor labour exploited by the owners of manufacturing units set up mainly for exports, I thought.

Their managers were robots and not as creative as our Gurucharn Das or Jaithirth Rao, I thought.

The Chinese professionals follow discipline on job and the Chinese, always, obey their government. How terrible, I thought.

The Chinese have a historical dislike for Japanese and they are doubtful of whatever America does in and around the world, I thought.

Then, in just over a week’s time, China went about dismantling all my preconceived notions and smashing my theories.

I saw how China is developing, with what space and with what kind of resolve. Talking to some 40 to 50 Chinese brains and hearts was an experience worth sharing.

Before I begin, I must confess that ten days in China may not have brought me closer to the real China but it still holds useful lessons for urban Indians like me. So here goes.

The life and time of China epitomises fear of the human mind and China knows wonderfully well how to deal with it.

The visit to Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City in Beijing gives a fair idea of the depth of Chinese minds.

One would like to believe that the people who built the Great Wall of China could build anything. It’s the world’s biggest military structure and it was the defence against the nomadic tribes who came from up north. The Forbidden City was the palace of the Ming dynasty. It has symbols of wisdom, reliability, humanity, sense of duty and ceremonial propriety. For instance it has a gate named supreme harmony, and palaces named earthy tranquility and heavenly purity.

Today’s China is challenging the commonly-accepted concept of democracy because its authoritarian regime has achieved much more in actual terms than any democracy can dream of. The Chinese government claims that more than 300 million people have been brought above the poverty line in less than three decades.

The Chinese have developed at a frenzied pace not because they are a fascist society and lack democracy, but because they think economic prosperity is the best way of ensuring national security, a theory that formed under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping two decades ago.

One look at China and it is evident how many countries in the world — including India — are lagging behind.

Here is a lesson for those who champion the cause of democracy. For better security of the country build, build, build. Make roads, make bridges, multiply production and multiply exports. The Chinese dreamt it, toiled for it and in record time they have done it.

All their new creations, be it the skyscrapers or the rails or the airports or the super factories have the touch of permanency, its planning is based on long term projections and the government has shown that whatever it does, it tries to keep it people friendly. Critics may call this an illusion or delusion, but the urban Chinese call it democracy.

Whenever we tried to discuss democracy with the common Chinese man, he says, “”But, we do have democracy.”"

“”Of course, that’s not true.”" “”But my father and grandfather did not even have enough food or clothes.”"

Today, whatever success we see in India is privately motivated while in China when you board the train to Lhasa from Beijing you see how an undemocratic government has done wonders for the people living in its not-so-developed Western region.

The passion for building roads and rails and airports is maddening; it is as though the Chinese confidence gets a quiet boost after the completion of each monstrosity.

What America could not do to Kabul after 2001, what India is unable to do to Srinagar for six decades, China has done to Lhasa, Tibet. But is it entirely correct to link China’s giant strides to its indifference to human rights? The truth lies somewhere in between.

Determination and resolve to do big things to ensure future stability and to have a firm grip on the regions have also contributed in a big way. Standing proof for this is Lhasa: boasting a state of art airport and railway station, it has an SEZ of its own and has amazing length of roads, tunnels and bridges unseen in Asia at this scale.

‘Show me the money’ is the refrain of the young.

As an Indian I found Chinese people quite warm even though I remain wary of their government’s stance on the border disputes. India in its national interest must have its own native way of dealing with China.

We are as intelligent as any Asian could be so instead of going by Western, mainly British or American thinking, we should have our own formula of “”harmonious relation”" with China.

Every Indian must shed the phobia of China and should understand the difference between American perceived China and China’s actual game plan in Asia.

In the 21st century, no nation is fool enough to trust other nation. India shall not trust China but Indians should see few facts to shed the phobia of Chinese strategies.

China’s stake in South Asia is too high to take confrontational approach to India. If India is united within (communal and caste based confrontations weakens India)and India remains on path of 8% growth China will not be able to afford to take India for ride. China does have sense of history and value of good relations with India.

See the Chinese development, see their figures of economic indexes and then see how poor people and people who are lagging behind in China can make or break the country.

Meaning China is talking about peaceful rise and harmonious society because an “”improved image”" will give it the time and space to have equality within. India should grab this movement to deal with China in the Indian way. Indian wisdom says when a guy gets rich he becomes insecure. Richer China will have no other option but to talk about peace with neighbours and India should welcome it, sincerely.

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong’s combined GDP is enough to give America jitters in about two decades or even earlier. Before that India should have its strategy in place to compete with China in trade and culture.

Before I finish writing this piece, Shanghai would have got more than one million dollar of additional investment.

A British citizen who was working with UNICEF was climbing Great Wall with me. We were talking about China and its history.

He said, “”Better you go home and write your story faster. China is changing so rapidly that it has defied my expectations. I have spent my whole life in managing development issues in third world country like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and some 20 other countries. But after coming to China I must confess that I don’t know the ABC of development.”"

As a not-so-conservative Indian, I fail to understand how as ancient society as China will withstand these rapid changes in a long run.

Right now, urban people are enjoying their moment and as Pallvi Aiyar, a writer in Beijing, put it the urban Chinese have developed vested interest in not rushing for democracy but more music, more sex, more food and more American films and better and better Western buildings and architecture will bring in individuality of western flavour in Chinese society.

The rapid growth of the Indian and Chinese economies have transformed the two countries in recent years. But this prosperity has also brought other problems.
I think it was in 2003, that the world suddenly woke up to China.
I am not sure what caused it to happen, what particular event or news story. I just remembered the phone in the BBC’s Beijing Bureau started ringing and it has not stopped since.

Well now it is happening again and this time it is not China, it is India.
Every time you turn on the television or pick up a magazine, it is no longer the rise of China, it is now the rise of China and India.
The desire to make comparisons is understandable. Both have more than a billion people. Both are growing at 10% a year.
There are, I suspect, many who are hoping that India, with its freedom and democracy, will win this new race to become the next economic super power. I am not so sure.
I have spent the last eight years living in Beijing, and only four days in Delhi, so comparisons are difficult.
But the few days I recently spent in India made me look at China in a new light.

‘Shocking experience’
Delhi is an overwhelming experience. It is as if all of humanity has been squeezed into one city.
The streets groan under the weight of people. The air is filled with deafening noise and sumptuous smells.
Switch on the television and it is the same.
Between channels blasting out voluptuous Bollywood love stories and pop videos, an endless stream of news channels dissect the latest political scandals, and debauched lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Coming from China it is an almost shocking experience.
But after the initial delight at being in an open society, I started to notice other things.

The hotel was expensive and bad. In my room I searched for a high speed internet connection, a standard feature in any hotel in China. There was not one.
Then with the night-time temperature still well above 30C (86F) the power went out.
I lay for hours soaked in sweat trying, and failing, to get back to sleep and wishing I was back in Beijing where the lights never go out.
But getting back would not be easy.
Passenger queues
I looked at my plane ticket. Departure time 0315. Surely that could not be right.
I called the front desk. “”That’s correct sir,”" he said, “”the airport is too small so many flights from Delhi leave in the middle of the night.”"
He was not joking.
My taxi struggled along the Jaipur road towards the airport.
The two-lane road was clogged by an endless convoy of lorries. Finally I arrived at Indira Gandhi International airport. Despite the hour it was teeming with people.
The queues snaked around the airport and back to where they had started.
Foreign tourists stared in bewilderment. Locals with the resigned look of those used to waiting.
“”Is it always like this?”" I asked a man in the queue ahead of me.
“”Pretty much,”" he sighed.
I was finally shepherded aboard the flight to Shanghai.
Next to me sat a friendly looking Indian man in shorts and running shoes.
“”Is this your first trip to China?”" he asked me.
“”No,”" I replied, “”I live there.”"
“”Really,”" he said, his interest piqued, “”what should I expect?”"
“”I think,”" I said, “”you should expect to be surprised.”"
Jaw dropping
Six hours later, our plane taxied to a halt in front of the soaring glass and steel of Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport
As we emerged into the cool silence of the ultra-modern terminal, my new companion’s jaw slid towards his belly button.
“”I was not expecting this,”" he said, his eyes wide in wonder. “”Oh no, I definitely was not expecting this”".
I also found myself looking at China afresh.
Later that day as I drove home from Beijing airport along the smooth six-lane highway I could not help feeling a sense of relief at being back in a country where things work.
And it was not just the airports and roads.
Driving through a village on the edge of Beijing I was struck by how well everyone was dressed.
In Delhi, I had been shocked to see thousands of people sleeping rough on the streets every night, nothing but the few rags they slept in to call their own. Even deep in China’s countryside that is not something you will see.
In Delhi I had been told of the wonders of India’s new economy, of the tens of thousands of bright young graduates churning out the world’s latest computer software.
I thought of China’s new economy, of the tens of millions of rural migrants who slave away in factories, making everything from plimsolls to plasma televisions.
And of the same rural migrants, heading home to their villages at Chinese New Year festival loaded down with gifts, their pockets stuffed full of cash.
China is not a free society, and it has immense problems. But its successes should not be underestimated.
They are ones that India, even with its open and democratic society, is still far from matching.

Managing Editor Sheela Bhatt was on an 11-day visit to the People’s Republic of China. Bhatt, who was part of the 17-member Indian Women’s Press Corps that went to China, visited Shanghai and Beijing and also took the breathtaking 4,000-km train journey from Beijing to Lhasa.

What a tourist can expect in China
http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2007…pect-in-china/
The Urban Chinese
http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2007…urban-chinese/
The four cities of China
http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2007…ties-of-china/
Eating out in in China
http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2007…t-in-in-china/