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China Inc.

by Ted Fishman

Scribner $203

In 2003, the  US labour secretary publicly mixed up the  yuan and the   yen. American thinking about China is, at best, confused. Usually, it leans towards frightened and ignorant.

There are at least two other 'Inc' books out, including the excellent Iraq Inc. Corporate greed makes Americans nervous. Putting 'Inc' in a title is like putting Frankenstein's monster on the cover.

But Ted Fishman's book is confused  and contradictory. He praises Chinese  cities for tending to eat local produce, which cuts down on fuel use and promotes local culture. But later, he describes how  the US must make China buy more  of its food.

The book's greatest flaw is that it examines the most populous nation on Earth without describing cuisine, arts, music, 4,000 years of literature or local traditions. No book on France, Italy or even India would dare make such an omission. Chinese culture ranks low in American esteem - deeply unfortunate, because  the US has a lot to learn from China.

Fishman describes, with horror, how: young Chinese workers clamour for long hours; personal and business life intertwine in lending practices; and Chinese homes function as businesses.

Westerners don't realise it, but Americans and Europeans have a deep-seated cultural preference for separating labour and personal life. The idea is that labour and industry  shouldn't be visible  at home (or at school). You can see this  on  US maps - suburbs are set apart from industrial areas. It's an old preference.  In the antebellum American south, slave cabins were always out the back - out  of sight. Westerners tend to regard this division as normal.

The US is beginning a slow panic over China because it has hit the press that the Far East (China, South Korea, and Japan) finances a large portion of the US, through buying US Treasury bonds. Basically, the Far East has financed President George W. Bush's tax cut. The idea that this will lead  to control over  US government policy frightens  its citizens.

Reading Fishman and seeing past his panic, one notices that the central government works quietly to nurture the creation of new industrialised workers in China. Perhaps the realisation that workers are consumers has dawned on Chinese officials. You have to maintain a base of people who can buy to have things bought, even if part of that buying base is overseas.

One wonders if that's not one reason China has invested so heavily in  US bonds. And it may be why China has refrained from entering the  US automobile market, which would cause Detroit to collapse.

Other, better books will come out, probably from the usual sources: Cambridge and Oxford. Columbia University in New York has the best  Far Eastern programme in  the US and strong connections to Wall Street.

But read China Inc. to understand  US panic. China may be a deciding issue in the next  US presidential election, and the best information most Americans have about China will come from sensationalistic, ill-conceived books like this.



China Inc.