Chapter 17 3. The miracle of high-speed rail and Chinese standards

In October 1978, when Deng Xiaoping visited Japan, he took the Shinkansen and personally experienced this high-speed train speeding like the wind.He said to the people around him with deep emotion: "It's like pushing us to run. We need to run now." What can comfort Deng Xiaoping is: For 30 years, China has been running, catching up with developed countries, and has achieved great success. World-recognized achievements.Thirty-two years have passed, and the Japanese Shinkansen, which Deng Xiaoping took, still maintains a speed of 250 kilometers per hour, while the high-speed railway developed by China has already run at a speed of 394 kilometers per hour, and the total mileage of China's high-speed railways has soon surpassed that of Europe And Japan, becoming the world's number one.This leap-forward development has shaken the world.In his 2010 State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama said rather disturbingly: We have no reason for China to have the fastest railway.He wants to use China's rapid rise to inspire the fighting spirit of the Americans.

From the historical perspective of modernization development, speed is undoubtedly an important symbol of the development of human civilization and the improvement of living standards.Western history books refer to the period of greatly increased speed from 1848 to 1875 as the period of the "economic revolution" in the West: steel production increased sharply, railways spanned Europe and North America, the Suez Canal was dug, and new metropolises continued to emerge. Tens of millions of immigrants, the British industrial revolution reached its peak, the United States, France, and German industrial revolutions unfolded one after another, and the West established its leading position in the world.Today, when China's high-speed rail is accompanied by the largest urbanization process in human history, when China's three world-class economic circles are connected by four or five hours of high-speed rail, when the "four vertical and four horizontal" high-speed rail network puts When more than half of China is integrated, what it brings to China is not just a change in speed, but a change in the concept of time and space and a revolution in the way of life of the Chinese people. It is the formation of the largest unified market in the world and the process of global modernization. The gradual emergence of Chinese standards in China.

In a sense, the idea of ​​China's high-speed rail development also reflects the basic idea behind the Chinese model.Our guidelines for building high-speed rail are: "Introduce advanced technology, jointly design and produce, and build Chinese brands." We first took advantage of China's huge domestic market and negotiated for the world's four major companies to transfer part of the high-speed rail technology; then organized more than ten of our own Wan scientific researchers digested, integrated, and innovated the imported technologies, and finally formed new technologies and standards that surpassed Western standards, created Chinese brands, and enabled China to lead the "high-speed rail era" in the world today.Looking at the development of China in the past 30 years, this is also the strategic thinking of the Chinese model: to learn from others’ strengths and to make use of our own advantages; in the process of learning, digesting and integrating other people’s strengths, boldly innovate and form our own Something unique that transcends Western standards and ultimately impacts the world.

The story of Tian Ji's horse racing in ancient China that I mentioned earlier also applies here.Generally speaking, the West is stronger than us, and we want to catch up with the West. How can we do it?We adopted Tian Ji's method, that is, when our overall strength is not as good as that of our opponents, we recognize our relative advantages and maximize them, and finally won the game. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" says that "everyone who fights, wins with the combination of righteousness and surprise. Therefore, those who are good at making surprises are as infinite as heaven and earth, and as inexhaustible as rivers." This is also the truth.In the situation of "the enemy is strong and we are weak", China's logic is to learn from its own opponents without giving up its own advantages, and in the process to create a partial asymmetric advantage over our opponents, and through this asymmetric Symmetrical advantages gradually expand the results, and eventually catch up with or even surpass the West in more fields.The development process of China's high-speed rail is just like this.This kind of self-centered, integrated and innovative thinking is reflected in various undertakings in China:

We have learned from the strengths of the Western market economy, promoted the development of China's market economy, and brought into play the efficiency of the market in controlling resources. However, in the process, we combined the tradition of China's strong government and proposed an innovative "socialist market economy" , not only has the efficiency of market domination of resources, but also has the advantage of socialism to ensure macro balance, which has led to the continuous growth of China's economy for more than 30 years. We have learned from the "digital management" of the West, which has greatly improved the management level and operation quality of our various industries, but we have also developed China's "macro-integration power".Our macro integration and regulation were carried out not only when the economic situation was severe, but also when the economy was developing smoothly, thus enabling us to better avoid the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the financial catastrophe that began in 2008.

We learn from the United States to improve economic competitiveness, but we also strive to avoid the ills brought about by the US system's over-reliance on capital-driven.We learn from Europe's focus on social justice, but we also try to avoid the lack of vitality of the European model and other ills.Although we are still exploring this issue, the general idea has been formed, which is to create an economy and society that can balance efficiency and fairness, avoid both American diseases and Greek diseases, and conform to China's national conditions. development model. We have learned from the vitality of private enterprises in the West, and have promoted the rapid development of Chinese private enterprises from scratch. At the same time, we have also promoted the reform of state-owned enterprises, clarified property rights, clarified rights and responsibilities, and created a pluralistic economy in which various systems complement each other.The general idea of ​​the relationship between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises is both division of labor and cooperation, competition and cooperation.Although there are conflicts between "state-owned enterprises" and "private enterprises", our overall thinking is neither "advance by the state and retreat by the private sector" nor "advance by the state and advance by the private sector", but "advance by the state and advance by the private sector". Together, each will make itself bigger, better and stronger, and also make the Chinese economy bigger, better and stronger.

We have learned from the advantages of the Western legal system, formulated more laws than ever before, and roughly formed a relatively complete legal framework and law enforcement mechanism required for the rule of law. A series of political and legal mechanisms with Chinese characteristics, from civil mediation to comprehensive governance.Although China still faces many challenges in implementing the rule of law society, our overall thinking has been clear: continue to promote the rule of law, but also strive to avoid the ills brought about by Western legalism, and strive to build a society that is more just, efficient, and A new rule of law country with lower cost.

We have learned the concept of individual freedom and rights from the West, and greatly expanded individual freedom and rights, but at the same time, we strive to continue to carry forward the Chinese tradition of focusing on family harmony and collective rights, so that today's Chinese society has both individuality and publicity The vitality of the Chinese civilization without losing the family affinity and national cohesion unique to Chinese civilization. This combination of Chinese and Western cultures has enabled us to overcome challenges that many other countries are difficult to overcome.

In short, the basic idea of ​​the Chinese model is to return to practical rationality, and return to the Chinese tradition of prudent thinking, discernment, inclusiveness, harmony, and comprehensive innovation.Following this line of thinking, the probability of success in promoting various reforms and innovations is high.Although China still faces many major challenges, the right thinking means half the battle.As a "civilized country", everything that has been successfully tested in China has its profound cultural and historical background, and its success is inevitable.The West may not recognize you at first, but when you can finally prove that you are doing better than him, just like your high-speed rail construction is indeed faster and better than him, he will only look at you with admiration in the end, and he will have to admit you , and learn from you.

Here we also need to mention the domestic debate on whether to give priority to building railways or roads.Some people once thought that with the advent of the automobile era, as long as a highway network extending in all directions can be built, everyone will definitely choose the highway for travel, and the role of the railway will gradually decline, because the advantage of the automobile is that it can realize door-to-door docking It is more convenient than the railway.The example they cited was that the railway passenger transport in developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom is shrinking, and some places have even begun to dismantle railways. Why doesn't China take precautions, take one step, and directly focus on highway construction?Local governments at all levels are also more enthusiastic about building expressways than railways, because it is easier to attract investment, including real estate, along the expressway, thereby stimulating the rapid development of the local economy.After more than ten years of hard work, China has built a highway network covering most of the country, and the construction of highways has indeed played a positive role in promoting local economies.

But at the same time, we have also seen that our railroads have not declined.On the contrary, China ushered in a new round of railway construction, especially high-speed railway construction.By 2020, a nationwide high-speed railway network will be basically formed.Recalling this debate is nothing more than to show that the study of China's issues must be based on China's national conditions and people's conditions.China's population is more than 4 times that of the United States, and the number of people in the "Spring Festival" alone exceeds the combined population of the United States, Europe, and Africa. Therefore, cars + highways can solve the traffic problems in the United States, but they cannot solve the traffic problems of China, a super-large country. Traffic problems.China's transportation development must play the role of various means to form its own unique transportation system. The success of China's high-speed rail model also makes us see one thing clearly: as long as one thing, especially the establishment of a standard, can be done in China, it can have a huge international impact.Today, the United States, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and other major countries are all negotiating high-speed rail cooperation with China, which is an example.After all, the fiercest competition in the world today is the competition of standards, whether it is economic, technological or political standards.There are three strategies in standard competition, one is the follower strategy, that is, adopting other people's standards and following the production, which is the lowest end in the value chain; the other is the participant strategy, that is, participating in the formulation of international standards, which is obviously superior to the former; The third is the leadership strategy, which is to become a leader in the competition of international standards and let others follow your standards. This is the way to maximize benefits.One of the biggest characteristics of a "civilized country" is its enormous capacity for standard originality.In international politics, the West has always pursued a leadership strategy and has been promoting "Western political standards" on a global scale to serve its own strategic interests.Because the West has the right to speak, even if it makes people in other countries miserable, it does not need to apologize, because what it promotes is the so-called "universal value".In the competition of world political standards, China will also adopt the strategy of participant and leader. This is an important inspiration from the success of China's high-speed rail model.The next ten years will be a critical period for China, a "civilized country", to become the world's largest economy, and it will also be a critical period for the formation and development of "China Standards".All those who really care about the future of China and the world should make efforts for the development of "China Standards".