Chapter 26 Chapter Ten Our Lady of Guadalupe (1)

It's not that we're becoming more and more Anglo-Saxon savages, it's the fact that we must rise to the challenge. —Frank Schiermacher, publisher of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, explains in The New York Times that German workers are being retrained and working longer hours. Go to China to learn knowledge. —Profit Muhammad As I worked on this book, I became more and more willing to ask the local people when I interviewed in various places, when they first felt that the world was flat. In the spring of 2004, I asked this question again during a lunch with several Mexican journalists in Mexico City.A Mexican reporter said that he had seen some reports in the Mexican media and the Internet that the statuette of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Mexicans, was actually made by the Chinese and shipped to Mexico through a port in California, USA. .From then on, he realized that he was living in a whole new world.

Mexico is known for its low labor costs, yet Mexicans import patron saint figurines from China because they can be made cheaper in China than in local Mexican factories, even accounting for transatlantic shipping costs.This fact shows that you live in a flat world. At Mexico's central bank, I asked Governor Guillermo.Ortiz, did he know there was such a thing, and with a wink he told me that he had sensed for some time that the competitive world stage was leveling, that Mexico was losing its natural geography adjacent to the US market Advantage. "The 2001 statistics showed that for the first time in 20 years, Mexico's exports to the U.S. fell," Ortiz said. "That was a real blow to the head. We started getting less of the market, and we lost the market. The world did change. and this change has to do with China.”

Although the North American Trade Agreement has given Mexico an absolute advantage in trade with the United States, and even though Mexico is at the doorstep of the United States, China still surpasses Mexico in terms of low labor costs, and replaced Mexico as the second largest in the United States in 2004. Trading partners (Canada remains No. 1).The transportation cost of machinery and equipment exports such as automobiles, auto parts, and refrigerators is very expensive. Although Mexico’s unique geographical advantages save a lot of freight costs, China’s lower labor costs still make it more popular in computer parts and electrical components. , toys, textiles, sporting goods and tennis shoes have pushed Mexican products out of the market.To make matters worse, in Mexico, some Chinese-made products have also begun to squeeze the market share of local Mexican companies' products, and Chinese-made clothing and toys can be seen on store shelves everywhere.

No wonder a Mexican reporter told me that one day he interviewed an official from the Central Bank of China, what the official said to him about Sino-US trade relations made him feel restless for a long time: “At first, we were still afraid of wolves. Here comes the competition from abroad, then we danced with wolves, now we too will be wolves." A few days after returning from Mexico, I met Ramis, a friend from Egypt.El.Hadidi had breakfast in Washington.Ramis.El.Hadidi has long been engaged in financial reporting in Cairo.Naturally, I asked her when she discovered the world was flat, and she told me it was only a few weeks ago, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.During Ramadan, students and children in Egypt traditionally give them candy or other gifts, much like Halloween in the United States.This tradition dates back to the Fatimid period in Egypt.Ramis.El.Hadidi did a story about the lanterns for MSNBC at the time.For centuries, these small lanterns have been produced in small, shabby workshops near Cairo.

Until recent years, Chinese lanterns flooded the market like a flood, and those small workshops had a hard time.Made in China, the lanterns are made of plastic and have battery-operated light bulbs instead of candles.Ramis said: "They have changed our tradition in innovative ways, and there is nothing we can do about it. These lanterns come from our tradition, from our soul, but the lanterns made in China are better than our own. It's new and more advanced." Ramis said that when she asked the Egyptians if they knew where the lanterns were made, none of them could answer.But then, they'll turn the lantern around and discover it's from China.

Egypt's own lanterns were made of glass with metal edging around the edges and candles inside.Many mothers like Ramis are grateful that lanterns made in China are safer.Made in China, the lanterns are made of plastic and light bulbs, and have an electronic chip inside that can play traditional songs during Ramadan in Egypt, and even the theme song of the popular Ramadan animation series Bakkar.The "Business Monthly" published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt reported in its December 2004 issue that Egyptian entrepreneurs who imported lanterns from China were not only competing with their peers, but also competing with the centuries-old Egyptian traditional industry .Regardless, Chinese-made lanterns are bound to catch on, says Taha, a well-known exporter.Zayet said: "Imported lanterns have reduced the sales of traditional lanterns, and their current market share is less than 5%." People related to the traditional Egyptian lantern industry believe that China has obvious advantages in manufacturing.China can mass-produce it with more advanced technology, making it cheaper to produce.Egypt's own lantern industry is composed of a series of workshops, each engaged in different work procedures, some workshops install glass, others paint, and still others weld and install metal edges. "For so many years, the lanterns they have made have remained unchanged. I think that one day in the future, the lanterns produced by Egypt will disappear completely," Zayet said. "They will not be able to compete with Chinese products anyway."

Like China, Egypt has a large pool of low-paid workers.It borders Europe and straddles the Suez Canal.It could and should use its unique conditions to develop its economy like Taiwan, China, but Egypt has given up its market share to China, and the most important religious and folk crafts for Egyptian Muslims have to be made in China.Ibrahim, an Egyptian merchant who imported Chinese lanterns.Eswar gave Business Monthly a tour of his warehouse in the town of Muski, Egypt's Muslim shopping district. In 2004, he imported 16 different lanterns from China. "At Muski Amid the bustling crowd in town, Eswar gestured to one of his employees, who quickly opened a dusty box and pulled out a plastic lantern in the shape of Simba, the lion cub from the movie The Lion King.This is the first lantern we imported in 1994," he said. Then, he flipped on the switch, the blue lion's head lit up, and the singing of "It's a Small World" came out of the lantern.

The first two chapters of this self-reflection book mainly talk about how companies and individuals, especially Americans, should respond to the challenges brought about by the flattening of the world.This chapter mainly talks about what policies developing countries should adopt to create a good environment for their companies and entrepreneurs to survive in a flat world. Of course, many of the points I said here are also applicable to developed countries. When developing countries start to think about the challenges of the flat world, the first thing they do is self-reflection. All citizens and leaders must look at themselves objectively, find their place in relation to other countries, and see where they are in the 10 factors that lead to the flattening of the world.People have to ask themselves: "How far has my country progressed? How far has it been left behind by a flat world? How far has it caught up with the tide of development and taken advantage of new platforms of competition and cooperation?" As the Chinese According to central bank officials, China is a wolf.Among the 10 factors that lead to the flattening of the world, China's entry into the world market has had an important impact on the vast number of developing countries and many developed countries.In the production of labor-intensive products, no country can do better than China, and China will gradually achieve the same success in the market of capital-intensive products.

As the China factor and the other nine factors play an increasingly powerful role, if a country cannot objectively recognize itself, it will inevitably be overwhelmed by a flat world. So, I think the world today should emulate Alcoholics Anonymous.We call this club the Self-Reflective Mutual Aid for Developing Countries.When Alcoholics Anonymous members first meet, you stand up and say, "My name is Thomas Friedman, and I'm an alcoholic." Also stand up when you meet for the first time and say, "My name is Syria, and I'm a developing country," or, "My name is Argentina, and I haven't realized my full potential yet."

Every country in the world, no matter whether it is developed or developing, should face its own shortcomings calmly, just like the shortcomings of the United States that I pointed out. ("Hi, my name is America, and I haven't developed more advanced technology yet." "Every country should make a deep introspection, because if you don't do chest X-rays, you don't know your own position and potential, no country will develop it," said Luiz, who is in charge of NAFTA negotiations in Mexico.De La Calle said.A country that has not kept up with the wheel of development is like an alcoholic who can't help himself. If you want to catch up with everyone, you must have a deep reflection on yourself.Development is a voluntary process, you need a firm determination and the pace of fighting, self-examination is the first step.

Take a hard, hard look at your strengths and weaknesses, and get a clear idea of ​​what that means in a flat world. "When you and I were born," Delacale told me, "our competitors were just our neighbors who lived next door. Today our competitors might be a Japanese or a French or a Chinese People. In a flat world, you can quickly see where you stand against the competition...Now you're competing with other people, and in a flat world the most talented people get more,' if you're not a good fit If you do, someone will replace you, and it won't be the same person who lives across the street from you. "Development through wholesale reforms As I try to argue through this book, when the world is flat, a country's development depends on getting three basic things right: Infrastructure—from cheap broadband and cell phones to Modern airports and roads, because it is these infrastructures that connect the people of the country to the flat world platform; the right education - to bring more creative and cooperative people to the flat world platform; the right regulation - from From fiscal policy to laws and regulations - manage your people's interactions with the flat world platform in the most productive way available. In the late 1990s, especially after the fall of the Berlin Wall, many countries began to explore new development paths.In the era of Globalization 2.0, as the world shrinks, the era of wholesale reform has arrived. The so-called wholesale reform refers to a wide range of macroeconomic reforms.Countries such as China, Mexico, Brazil and India are pioneers in promoting wholesale reforms.The leaders of these countries use their authority to unleash the otherwise restrained market forces in their societies. They pushed their country to transform into an export-oriented country, a free market economy country, and state-owned enterprise reform.Deregulate financial markets, attract foreign direct investment, reduce subsidies, reduce protective tariffs, and formulate more flexible labor market policies.Ernesto.Zedillo served as Mexico's president from 1994 to 2000, and also served as finance minister before he became president.At one point, he said to me that all the decisions to open up the Mexican economy were made by three people.When China was about to transform from a planned economy to a free market economy, it was Deng Xiaoping who said: "It is glorious to get rich": "It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat." In 1991, the Indian Finance Ministry Minister Manmohan.Singh took tentative steps such as strengthening foreign trade, promoting investment and encouraging competition to open up India's economy.This kind of policy has not been discussed nationwide, but because the Indian economy is too rigid and unattractive to foreign investors, India's foreign exchange has almost dried up at that time.When Gorbachev began to implement reforms, it was also with the power given to him by the Kremlin and the support of a few allies in the leadership.The same happened to Margaret in 1984.That's when Mrs Thatcher decided to introduce wholesale reforms to revive Britain's flagging economy. The fact before all leaders is that building more open and competitive markets is the only way for a country to escape backwardness.Because in such an environment, new thinking, new technologies, and best practices can easily infiltrate all levels of the national economy, so that private companies, and even governments, can feel the incentives of competition, willing to accept innovations and create new ones through innovations. jobs and products.Just like David.Doral and Art.Klay concluded in their book "Trade Growth and Poverty": "Economic growth is the world's best anti-poverty tool." The World Bank reported that in 1990, about 375 million people in China lived in extreme poverty, with per capita expenditures of less than US$1 per day.By 2001, China's extremely poor population had dropped to 212 million people.