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Fareed Zakaria Editor, Newsweek International Newsweek May 9 issue - Americans admire beauty, but they are truly dazzled by bign ess. Think of the Grand Canyon, the California redwoods, Grand Central T erminal, Disney World, SUVs, the American armed forces, General Electric , the Double Quarter Pounder (With Cheese) and the Venti Latte. European s prefer complexity and nuance, the Japanese revere minuteness and minim alism. For more than a hundred years it was dreams of this mag nitude that fascinated small groups of American missionaries and busines smen1 billion souls to save; But now the very size and scale that seemed so alluring is begi nning to look ominous. And Americans are wondering whether the "China th reat" is nightmarishly real.
Every businessman these days has a dazzling statistic about China, meant to stun the listener into silence. China is now the world's largest producer of coal, steel and cemen t, the second largest consumer of energy and the third largest importer of oil, which is why gas prices are soaring. China's exports to the Unit ed States have grown by 1,600 percent over the past 15 years, and US e xports to China have grown by 415 percent. The most astonishing example of growth is surely Shanghai. Fifteen years ago, Pudong, in east Shanghai, was undeveloped countryside. Today it is Shanghai's financial district, eight times the size of London's new fina ncial district, Canary Wharf, in fact only slightly smaller than the cit y of Chicago. And speaking of Venti Lattes, last week Starbucks CEO Howa rd Shultz noted on CNBC that in three years the company would probably h ave more cafes in China than in the United States. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, Britain was called "the works hop of the world." It manufact ures two thirds of the world's copiers, microwave ovens, DVD players and shoes.
Join NEWSWEEK's Fareed Zakaria for a Live Talk about the rise of Ch ina on Friday, May 6, at noon ET. Enter your City and State Enter Question Submit Erase entry To get a sense of how completely China dominates low-cost manufacturing, consider Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is America'sand the world'slargest corpora tion. Its revenues are eight times those of Microsoft, and make up 2 per cent of America's GDP. It employs 14 million people, more than GM, Ford , GE and IBM put together. It is legendary for its efficientsome would say ruthlessefforts to get the lowest price possible for its customers. In doing this, it has used technology, managerial innovation, but, perh aps most significantly, China. Last year Wal-Mart imported $18 billion w orth of goods from China. Of Wal-Mart's 6,000 suppliers, 5,00080 percen tare in one country, and it isn't the United States. But the statistic that wins this contest, that conveys the depth and brea dth of the challenge the United States faces, is surely the one about th e Intel Fair. Intel sponsors a Science and Engineering Fair, which is th e world's largest precollege science competition, open to high-school st udents from around the world. Last year was a good one for Americans: 65 ,000 participated in the local fairs that are used to select finalists. Yes, Chinese fairs are not as good as American fairs, the standards are d ifferent, and you can't compare apples and oranges.
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