One of the richest cities in China with a regime that borders on anarchism
reason.com
reason.com
What you think is happening only in bad gangnster movies is actually what is going on in these Chinese cities and villages far away from regulatory organisations. Not the paradise that improves peoples wealth.
(I feel the need to add that I was in in the same province as Wenzhou for a year and had a girlfriend there who's uncle is a knife killer for the mafia there. So it's not just my blooming fantasy speaking here.)
It is not necessarily relative absence of government that is creating some negative fallout. The same sort of things you mentioned do happen all over China, even in Beijing and Shanghai where government police presence is substantially larger.
Keep in mind that westernization of China over last 30 years should be considered as a brand new phenomenon in historical context. China is still learning. Experimenting with market capitalism ensured China that it would grow at a tremendous pace, but it also resulted in a huge environmental, social and legal errors along the way. But what else would you expect from a country that is just starting to wake up from monarchical and communist despotism for several millennial?
All I can say for now is, give it more time.
You ask what changed? You seriously underestimate the kind of China has gone through. China over last 30 years has seen changes that were monumental. Literally, millions and millions of people can now feed themselves with 3 meals a day. China has never been as prosperous as this before, and things are getting better.
Keep in mind that all the horrible things you mentioned are not unique phenomena historically. All those things were there in abundance long before industrialization took place in China. Therefore, these phenomena are not results of industrialization. In fact, more industrialization, more modernization, freer market, removal of notoriously bureaucratic China's communist government regulatory hurdles are what would make China prosperous.
During the next 2 years will be the handover of gov't to the next president and it will be up to him where China goes: the way of Brazil and many African countries with a Gini-Index of 70 and above, or a society with more social equality like the US or even Europe.
However, I have become rather pessimistic in the past two years if there is even a chance for the next president to push China towards more equality. Because that would mean paying taxes and rule of law for the rich. And the rich will not like that.
I think the chances are not too low that there will be revolution kind of change. Maybe cultural, maybe not with weapons and that stuff. But the Chinese people know too much about the wealth of their rich comrades, of their big cities and of the western countries.
The mafias and anarchist dystopia described by GP exists in China. In my nearly 9 years here I have received some reflections of this (random pick: I have spent a night near a children factory near Hong-Kong).
But saying that China, or even Wenzhou is an anarchist dystopia is wrong. It is similar to describing New-York with a picture from the Bronx during a "bad day".
On the opposite, saying that Wenzhou and other places are economic paradise where anyone can do whatever they want without the central government even being aware of this is false. These coastal regions have been set up as an experiment on economic opening by Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao have been in fact "chosen" by him, in order to continue in the same tracks. You can count on the current government to care about these places, and to be ready to do whatever is needed if it goes too far.
What is happening in China right now is impressive, and such a fast mutation is probably unseen in the world history at this scale.
It will have a great impact on the world. Will it be for the best or for the worst? I can't be sure, but what I know is that knowing better each other, increasing exchanges between West and East, is the best and only way we have to push a little, just a little bit, away from the worst case scenario.
"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."
Wenzhou is not succesful because of less gov't involvement, but because there is a well connected network of overseas Wenzhounese that works as the worldwide distrubtion channels for cheep Wenzhou products.
The anarchy part is a consequence, not a cause. If you are rich in China (well in any developing country), the law does not really apply to you, you just buy it. Sucks to not being a millionaire in such a place.
China is getting its incredible growth mostly because of the relaxing of communist idealism and the increasing dose of laissez faire allowed by the central government.
Let Chinese do their own business, they will move mountains.
In the 1990s China privatized many areas of its economy and that triggered the development of private companies and businesses. The coal mining in Shanxi is an impressive yet frightening example what happens when the gov't goes from one extrem (gov't run) to the other extrem (no oversight at all). Alternatively just google for deadly coal mining accidents.
Wenzhou is interesting not because of the "anarchy", but because it has a working network of overseas Wenzhounese.
Then, maybe you can explain why and how anarchy could be a consequence of economic growth.
But I still also highly recommend this movie.
...the flipside of which is that in London if not A-M, the living conditions of the poor and unlucky in that time period were truly atrocious. That's not directly addressed in the article, although it's hinted at in a few paragraphs (and in the photos).
The downside is, China seems overly reliant on two sources of revenue - land sales, and the profits of State Owned Enterprises (government-owned companies). Income and corporate taxes are something of a joke, unless the company paying them is either large, foreign, or both. Given that SOEs suck up all the capital (moral hazard - the government won't let them go bust so banks love loaning them money) and really inefficient (especially if you account for their free or cheap land, and special considerations, though on the other hand they can't break the law as much as private companies), and the damage China's housing bubble might do, they might need to think about a land tax soon (which they seem to be already doing).
I think there's two factors - (1) is that there haven't been many great places to invest money, so rich people throw them into houses, stock bubbles and 'alternative' non-legal investments (like lending groups). (2) is a generalisation, but Chinese people tend to be quite speculative - I guess a few years ago the average Brit would be happy with a 4.5% return on a 2year bank bond, whereas many Chinese people are more willing to take much riskier investments with possibly much higher returns.
As for ignoring laws, the whole-country model (not just Wenzhou) is that many laws are ignored until the government decides to crack down on something. When they decide to crack down, you react quickly. So, for example this month in Fuzhou it's fire safety month, and everyone is suddenly getting their fire-safety certificates in order. Next month it might be traffic, or health... who knows :)
That is why wages rise. When workers can compete with their employers, workers have to be paid more.
But of course he'll never tell about that part. And the Western journalist doesn't want to hear it, because he wants to advertise "less government" with his story.
Is this how capitalism starts? You can't call this China's Silicon Valley (for manufacturing), can you?
"Teach English. Schools licensed to employ foreigners to teach English include D.D. Dragon, Dr Mike's, Kid’s Castle, English First and Web International English. Always inquire about a Z-Visa and check that the school has a license from the local government. There are many unlicensed schools, some of which provide a good teaching experience but your passport might not bear up to scrutiny."
So there are at least some schools there.
Not that it would really matter.