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Like Japan China is looking to wean its exporters away from dependence in the export markets- one of the steps agreed on at G-2- in Pittsburgh- and increase spending by Chinese consumers to buy more of the same products at home. Bicycle manufacturer Tandem has lost 40% of the American sales, now it is looking to the Chinese market as incomes are rising in China. As Tandem's general manager puts it in the US the shift is now to buying cheap things. Chinese exports after rising 20% each year for years, recorded a drop in August 2009 of 23% down over August 2008. In China urban household spending was up 9.2%. THe savings by American households jumped to an annualized $566 billion in the second quarter of 2009, quadruple the rate at the start of 2008. Batson gives this account from Shunde in Chinawhere Tandem has it head offices. He talks with managers at Tandem and sees the struggle within the company to some up with anew mindset, and organization, to sell bicycles in the domestic market where other bicycle manufaturers like Giant Manufacturing Company of Taiwan already have a large share in the high end market. Mr Tseng had to convince his fellow managers and the board that it was a good idea, as the domestic market is tough to pentetrate, kickoffs are common, and competition is intense. Tseng says Tandem will approach first the children's market where competitors haven't focussed, and treat as atoy for kids. Tandem will bring higher quality better built bikes into this market. And this is similiar to what it sells to American kids with lots of colors and funny names. Tandem managers aren't sure Chinese distributors or retailers will pay enough attention to their bicycles so they decided to open astore in Shunde and start small and scale up. Tseng says that Tandem will have to pay its tution first and learn about the market. This means it will still continue selling to America and Europe. Chinea's government is now encouraging these efforts to target the domestic market with tax breaks and coupons. But as China and Japn also become more inward looking economies and trade inside Asia increases, the domestic demand is not enough to make up for the loss in the American and European markets. The US and Europe each put in $9.5 trillion into the global economy, even at their current recession diminished pace, compared to the $1.5 trillion spent by Chinese households. Per capita incomes tell the story. In the US $35,486 and in China $2,270. T...

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Ethnic minorites are not easily persuaded that modernizing and investment can be traded for limits on cultural autonomy and on the religion, language and culture of the region. This is the situation in Xingiang and Tibet. What is not realized is that Mao's army took control of Tibet and Xingiang in 1949, which have not historically formed part of China, and the immigration adds another level of conflict because of the fear that the ethnic cultures are threatened. The Uighur revolt shows that the tradeoff of modernization for limits on religion, culture, language and participation in governance does not work in the ethnic regions of China, says the Economist. See the link in the NYT on Mr. Wang, a protege of President Hu Jintao, who himself was at one time in charge of Tibet. Because of this China risks getting more entrenched with continuing policies that may not work out.

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A big change and a rare combination of events is causing labor costs to rise. China's new labor law makes it more difficult for employers to reduce wage costs by methods used in amarket environent without an enforeable code of conduct. The costs of certain raw materials like plastics have gone up significantly. Environmental laws are taken more seriously. And just when wage and raw material costs are rising the government in response to international pressure on the trade surplus is phasing out tax rebates on the less sophisticated products like toys, apparel, leather etc with the intention of moving into more sophisticated products like electronics and cars. As a result after years of falling prices in 2006 prices of Chinese goods in the US went up by 2.4%. And China is putting pressure on commodity prices worldwide through its growing use. All this contributed to USA inflation going up 4.1% in 2007 from 2.5% in 2006. How will this change in 2008 and the years ahead just when the USA is entering a recession and period of sluggish growth? About 7.5% of American spending on consumer goods come from China. With the weaker dollar in relation to the yuan, Chinese factories get fewer yuan for their exports to the USA, the depreciation of the dollar being about 7.6% in 2007 with more depreication ahead in 2008 and 2009. Factory wages have gone up by 80 % in the last few years and the lowest factory wage is about $125 according to experts. Chinese factories have already factored all this into their new pricing asking for price increases of 20, 30, 40 or 50 % according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. What to expect then on the retail shelves of stores in the USA? Expect a price increase of 10% on Chinese goods. This means from now on Chinese goods instead of lowering inflation in the USA will actually add to inflationand the area of cheap goods coming to a close. As it takes time to move production to places elsewhere in Asia like Vietnam and India its going to be some time before another country takes the place of China....

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China's president Hu Jintao responds to questions by the WSJ on relations with the U.S., the 2008 financial crisis, the 11th Five Year Plan period, China's currency Renminbi, the Korean peninsula, and China's new assertiveness in foreign affairs.

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Yale Prof. Fair says that evidence from his model shows the yuan appreciation having a positive effect on American jobs looks better than it really is. Two negative effects are in play. The first is that Chinese output decreases will have an effect on Chinese imports that will affect US exports. And the other effect that will come into play is the increase in US prices. His conclusion is that it unlikely we will see a large increase in American jobs from the appreciation of China's currency.

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Hong Kong street protests take place to oppose a new law that allows extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. Carrie Lam who heads the government in Hong Kong continues to support the legislation.

This happens as China and the U.S. are engaged in a trade war with tit for tat tariffs and the U.S. takes action to prevent flow of sensitive technology to China from American companies. The U.S. and China are increasingly at odds in trade and business policies, and the U.S. sees China as a rival to its post war position in Asia, and in technological leadership. China sees human rights in the context of its own history and struggles with colonial powers, and efforts to stall its modernization efforts in the last 3 decades.

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The declining prospects for construction and heavy equipment manufacturers in the Chinese market with the slowdown in growth in China. This affects Caterpillar Inc, Volvo AB and Komatsu Ltd. Between 2008 to 2010 investments in machinery, construction projects and other types of fixed assets went up by 61% to $4.36 trillion. China's domestic manufacturers Sany Heavy Industry Co. and Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. also expanded during this period. Now analysts see demand in China as having collapsed compared to the earlier period. Monthly sales of hydraulic excavators for July 2012 declined by 23% to 5886 units, and first half sales were down by 38%, according to machinery trade association. China's stimulus spending also contributed to the surge. The new stimulus planned for 2013 is more selective in investments and much smaller because of overcapacity and overbuilding in many sectors. Some investments such as John Deere's new plant under construction in China and two in Brazil also under construction, will move forward at a slower pace and impact margins. Cummins CEO, Linebarger sees the situation continuing throught he second half of 2012 and recovering gradually in 2013. The slowdown is not deterring construction machinery equipment manufacturers. Caterpillar CEO, Doug Oberhelman, sees demand accelerating after the lull and is slowing its plan to double workforce in China to 11,000, and quadruple excavator production by 2015, but not idling assembly plants so that he has inventory on hand for a recovery. Exports of made in China excavators is also an option, and exports increased 115% in July 2012, over the prior year. But this may be based on manufacturers belief that the drop in demand in 2008 and recovery in 2010 will recur, which may only result in higher inventories as the current stimulus is much smaller and selective. The Chinese government plans to follow the DRC/ World Bank Report and is moving away from the large role of state run firms in the economy....

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Scott Anderson of the NYT provides an indepth look at the Arab World and its fragmentation through the eyes of five people from each part of the Arab world- Egyptian, Kurd, Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian. He says the countries that fell apart are precisely the ones that were formed by the British and the French, and Italy, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire  using divide and rule policies- Britain in Iraq, France in Syria, and Italy in Libya- without much thought given to setting up viable nation states. This is why Iraq has a Sunni-Shia divide, Syria has similar divisions, and Libya with a largely tribal based structure, never really held together after the colonial powers left, and were held together only by strong dictators. Today's problems trace back to these historical events. This is complicated by the largely young demographic and restlessness of the people for change coupled with problems of underdevelopment in education, tribal loyalties, religious loyalties, and lack of political and social structures that could keep the countries together as change and transition to democratic processes took place. The role of the military further complicated matters in Egypt. Even Iran experienced these divisions because of the intervention of the great powers including Russia in Iran since 1900, leading to swings between liberal governments, foreign power supported governments, and a swing back to religious leadership as at present. This is one view of the region, others are presented by Ramadan (Oxford),  Bernard Lewis (Princeton), and leaders in Qatar and Emirates, other experts, some of whom point to the failure in leadership and the elites to find solutions to the problems of underdevelopment, in education, health, infrastructure, and aspirations for a voice in their governance. As the same divisions left by colonial powers affected Asia- in India, China, and Korea, but a larger vision of progress prevailed through crises and difficulties.        ...

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  “And 5 million manufacturing jobs were lost while racking up trade deficits of $19 trillion." The Washington Post does not deny this as false, and this is the crux of the point DJT has made what everyone with eyes to see has seen for 40 years. DJT sometimes exaggerates to make his point. False should mean the meaning is false not that a particular number 70% vs 50% for India's tariff on Harley Davidson motorcycles. It should also consider PM Modi's stand for India- to support the US position when it comes to American factories closing by the thousands and destroying not just it's manufacturing but also it's middle class, just as Gandhi would have done. That close is India's sentiment for the American people and the Republic, and the defense of its recovery as a manufacturing nation for its workers and families. DJT did not say that it is a poor country as the Washington Post says is "Trump's telling." As Greg Ip of the WSJ pointed out in 2024, it is that the US simply cannot sustain the blows to its workers and its manufacturing base from a $1 trillion deficit year after year with China. Before bringing economist's into the picture one has facts of what the devastation to American workers has done to communities across America. DJT said and most workers will stand by his words- "For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. American steelworkers, auto workers, farmers, and skilled craftsmen. They really suffered gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream." Not a single report in the US and foreign media reports of Liberation Day Rose Garden speech by DJT on April 2, 2025, says that DJT said he would trust what he sees with his own eyes and experience for 40 years, and not economists who have turned their backs on American workers, turned to a UAW worker from Detroit and asked him to tell what he saw for 40 years.  "Brian, I’d like to have you come up here for a second. Okay? I just see him sitting. He’s been a fan of ours, and he understands this business a lot better than the economists, a lot better than anybody. Brian, say a few words, please. Would you?" And this what Brian a retired autoworker from Macomb Conty, Michigan saw for 40 years that economists refused to see in their economic theories- "I have watched my entire life, I have watched plant after plant after plant in Detroit and in the Metro Detroit area close. There are now plants sitting idle. There are now plants that are underutilized, and Donald Trump’s policies are going to bring product back into those underutilized plants. There’s going to be new investment. There’s going to be new plants built."     ...

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Risks to China's banking system from the bond market in China. China's bond market has grown rapidly to 25.5 trillion yuan or $4.1 trillion yuan, especialy in the period following the stimulus. But it is not similiar to bond markets in developed countries, the U.S., Japan and France. It has a patchwork of regulators, is closed to foreign investors, and does not offer protections to investors. It also lacks an effective ratings system. Most bonds are held and traded by the banks, which concentrates the risks in the banking system. In developed countries the risks are spread out among investors. Bond markets offer the advantage of reducing dependence on banks for lending but with banks holding most of the bonds in China, including that of local governments, the risks if bond issuers default are concentrated in the banking system.

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The title says it all. The Jobs bank the United Autoworkers trade union in the US setup in GM in 1984 threatened American automaker GM's very survival in 2006. It put workers who were not needed at GM in a jobs bank. It basically meant the idled workers -many of them close to retirement -would stay there till they retired doing nothing collecting full salary. As Mohandas Gandhi had done for India in Hind Swaraj in 1910, the American labor movement needs to look at itself in the mirror if labor is to find its way into a world of dignity and fairness in wages that Mr.Biden truly seeks for American workers.   It was setup when GM had 45% of the US market and 415,000 workers. By 2006 113,000 workers were not needed with GM having lost marketshare to Japanese makers and the Jobs bank was costing GM about $10 million a week, half a billion a year threatening its survival. The Labor movement and the UAW union did nothing to fight its own membership and set it on the right course in union with management, putting at risk the very foundation that labor had put in place since Wilson, FDR and Truman for  fairness in wages and working conditions. Jeremy Peters tells the story in the NYT. That it was recent as 2006 and shows how much had gone wrong with the labor movement and the failure of its leaders to do the right thing. The Jobs Bank says NYT was intended to prevent manufacturers from shifting manufacturing overseas, instead it did just that by undermining confidence in unions and the American labor movement, and in American workers. Two crippling wars initiated by Republicans Bush and continued by Democrat Obama, disinvestment in American manufacturing, companies like Apple shifting their entire manufacturing through outshoring to Taiwan and China, the 2009 crisis from deregulation of American banks, led to the loss of not one, but two decades for America. In today's news a modest $2 in minimum wage increase from $15 to $17 over 3 years is all that New York governor Kathy Hochul could get- even though Assembly Democrats were asking for more- to give American workers and families a fair wage to meet the cost of living crisis.  ...

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Jimmy Carter comes back to us from a different era. He was born in a tiny town of Plains, Georgia, in 1924 and grew up on a family farm in a home that lacked plumbing, electricity, as a boy.  Jimmy Carter attended college for 2 years in Georgia, then enrolled at the US Naval Academy graduating in 1946. It shows the changes happening in the US with Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman in the efforts to industrialize America, bringing electricity and new opportunity for college education to rural areas in 1932-1952 which continued with highway systems under Eisenhower 1952-1960.  Carter also led the unwinding of the Democratic party with roots in the Roosevelts-Wilson era since 1902, going back to Teddy Roosevelt who as a Republican pushed hard for integrity, pro worker and antimonopoly policies in the administration. A process that went on with another Southerner, this time from Arkansas that led China's entry into the WTO and world trade without any safeguards for American workers 1992-2000. Policies that went unchanged under another Democrat Obama in 2008-2016. Instead of staying in the Navy he joined his family's peanut farm business in 1953, followed by running for governor of Georgia and grasping the opportunity to run for president as an evangelical from the South to bring moral integrity to the White House.   ...

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Much of the information Friedman says comes from Ruchir Sharma could be seen through simple observation. By the time it is written about so much has already happened. For example Tech firms crowding out innovative new firms starting from scratch is happening since 2000, from the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. By the time the concept makes it into the economics textbooks many years later it is obsolete. In economics textbooks of the eighties crowding out referred to governments crowding out private firms in the competition for capital. Concepts of comparitive advantage in economics textbooks were similarly obsolete when Japanese and Chinese competition in the last three decades brought into play a very different model of competition of subsidized private and state run companies focussed on dominating key industries that never made it into textbook economics and theories of experts. Comparitive advantage theory in textbooks were too simplistic not able to account for real life situations in which a determined national competitor could move up the ladder every few years in sophistication and technology to compete in products at many levels. The old textbooks simply said Portugal would make wine because it had some advantages and America with its advantages in steel production would make steel. This kind of theory put many people to sleep as other nations took over American markets- first steel, then electronics, then telecom, and then renewable energy. To protect American workers Robert Lighthizer and other American negotiators of trade with China, Japan, South Korea, used their own head and observation of what was happening. This was a better guide to the best response to protect American workers. Doing what makes sense, doing what works for final delivery point to the intended beneficiary, the American worker, or European worker, or Indian worker, provides a better way to get things done.   ...

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Hon Kongers have tripled the amount of renminbi they hold to about US$11 billion because of the clear path of yuan appreciation signaled by the government. It has appreciated 7.1% so far this year with the Chinese government controlling the changes in the exchange rate. Forward markets price in another 4.4% gain in the next 12 months. The flood of outside money is why the Chinese reserves have grown by $1.6 billion a day in 2008. At the end of June it stood at $1.81 trillion up 18% from the beginning of the year even though the trade surplus is down 12% from a year earlier and Shanghai's index of domestically owned stocks is down 49% this year. In the first half of 2008 analysts estimate about $50-$200 billion were brought into China even with the tight currency controls. All this new money creates inflationary pressures in China and the central bank knows that it poses risks for the financial system but China is also intesrested in maintaining growth so it may not want to kill this inflow altogether and some of it may go to finance investment in the country....

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Greg Ip of the WSJ points to the economic changes in China's economy and the threat of deflation in 2016 with the large debt and slowing economy. For the last decade China was seen as a currency manipulator as it kept the value of its currency lower to increase imports. With the large changes in China's economic situation in 2015-2016 China may face a situation similiar to Japan with deflationary trends. China faces political pressures in 2016 with the U.S. presidential election in 2016 to not intervene with the currency. The goal of making the yuan a global currency adds to these pressures. Other factors are the need to service debt in dollars of Chinese property companies.

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The yuan has risen 14.5% against the yuan in the last 4 months, according to the Chinese Commerce ministry. Loosening the Chinese currency's peg to the dollar will increase the value of the renminbi even further. And with further declines in the euro expected this would seriously affect Chinese exporters to Europe. This also makes European goods more competitive than American goods in the Chinese market putting the Obama's administration's goal of doubling exports further at risk. The Shanghai stock index declined by 5.1% on Monday May 17, 2010, reflecting these concerns. The Chinese government continues to intervene in currency markets and the renminbi is now at 6.827 renminbi to the dollar.

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China takes a different approach to the stock market declines on August 24-25, 2015, after the earlier failed interventions in July and early August called into question the transparency and integrity of the financial markets. The main Shanghai index opened 6% lower on August 25, and ended down 7.6%. This time the government let the market find its own level. Li Jiange, vice chairman of state owned investment company Central Huijin, wrote in his blog post that "The trade volume of the market can reach 2 trillion yuan ($300 billion) a day, which means if it collapsed no one could save it...The issues of the market should be handled by the market itself." In July and the early part of August Central Huijin was reported to have intervened to support the market. On Aug. 14, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) stated achange in policy to intervene "only when the market changes dramatically and introduces systemic risk." It is important to note that even with the 40% decline in the market index since June 2015 peak, it is still up 35% compared to the prior year....

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Economist Paul Krugman points out the risks of a trade war in the tariffs announced for steel and aluminium by president Trump. Yet he accepts that he advocated stronger action on China's currency in 2009-2010 when the U.S. economy was weaker. In the past on the TPP agreement proposed by president Obama, Krugman said that it would have an insignificant impact as most of the gains on trade were already made. Here Krugman is critical of the language used by president Trump about trade wars being "easy."  This is taken out of context though as president Trump is saying that it is easy in the context of a country enjoying a $100 billion surplus with the U.S., because that country is going to have incentives to maintain a good trading relationship with the U.S. Essentially this means that the steel industry in the U.S. benefits. China also benefits as it closes many of the older steel plants that led to overproduction. This would reduce overcapacity in China's steel industry, a problem China's economic planners see as a priority. China already is making the shift to higher technology products and this process will be accelerated, as it puts less emphasis on steel and metals as it did in its earlier stage of development. As a result contrary to textbook economics this has the potential to be a win-win solution for the U.S. and China in the long run. So little was done under the Bush and Obama administrations to manage trading relationships with other countries so that the interests of small communities across the U.S. were protected from unfair trade- that Reagan administration trade expert Robert Lighthizer took up the cause of the U.S.,workers in these communities. Surveys showed U.S. public opinion also had shifted among educated, professionals and middle class on this issue by 2015, against unfair trade that hurt U.S. interests. Robert Lighthizer is now the Trade Representative for the U.S. in the Trump administration. Reports in the WSJ about the discussion within the Trump economic council, show Gary Cohn favored not imposing the tariffs on steel and aluminum. Lighthizer advocated the tariffs and was able to convince the president.  For Trump this presents a win-win situation, as a mild response by China -and other trading nations that have enjoyed a favorable situation in the past -with its huge surplus and favorable trading relationship with the U.S. would present a win for the president. Economist Krugman accepts this when he says tariffs in the current context of the trading field- that is more favorable to other countries- are not such a big deal, only the use of such policy that is likely to endanger world trade.  As in much of the debate that takes place this adds to the headlines today yet provides delayed and limited relief to communities across the U.S. devastated by world trade as documented by experts who studied trade patterns and their effect on regions across the U.S.  As the WSJ points out in one report the trade deficit itself may continue to grow under president Trump because of other factors. The U.S. dollar surged 8% during the last 2 years of the Obama administration with the economic recovery underway. With Trump's election win the dollar surged another 3%. This may play a bigger role in the direction of the trade deficit than the new steel tariffs announced by president Trump. Workers and unions matter. As TPP pushed by Democratic party president Obama was opposed by the unions, and by the auto industry (workers and auto companies) in the midwestern states which suffered a hollowing out in the last decade. A WSJ survey after the election showed Clinton received 56% support from union workers in 2018 compared to 65% for president Obama in the 2012 election. Some of that erosion in support may come from Obama's TPP stand fervently opposed by the unions and workers in the auto industry. A similar situation took place in Ontario with hollowing out of the auto industry in this large industrial state in Canada and led to the rejection of the Conservative government and election of the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau. This lesson is so far lost in the Democratic Party's debate.     ...

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Bret Stephens articulates an idea presented earlier by Robert Kagan, Walter Mead and others, about the world of western liberal democracies needing the U.S. as a leader. He points out that the policies of U.S. president Bush committed the U.S. to activist policies worldwide following 9/11 terrorist attacks, followed by a backlash in the form of president Obama's policies that have reversed these policies to the other extreme leaving entire regional neighborhoods such as the Middle East to unravel, and undoing the very gains made under Bush at so much cost. Stephens says the "broken windows" theory for keeping streets in cities safe -by regular patrolling and making sure broken windows or other appearences of disorder and breakdown do not send the wrong signals to passersby and those with inclination to break the law- has application and lessons for America in the regional neighborhoods of Asia and Eastern Europe.

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This editorial in the NYT says Bill Clinton moved the Democratic Party to the centre in 1992. In 2016 about 25 years later, after the removal of the Glass Steagall Act led to the 2008 global financial crisis and a deep recession, after the trade relations with China led to loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs over two decades and the hollowing out of industry in the midwest, things have changed. The revolution led by Bernie Sanders, a shrinking middle class, smaller access to college education for the middle and working class, and wide disparities in income, are putting the Democratic Party closer to its roots and the days of FDR. The Democratic Party platform calls for a 21st century Glass Steagall Act to separate normal banking from investment banking, opposes the TPP to prevent any further export of jobs overseas, and goes for a $15 minimum wage. This was also evident at the opening day of the Democratic National Convention when Sanders told the gathering in Philadelphia that even though he was not the candidate, these are the planks of the platform that Hillary Clinton will be pushing for in her presidency. What the editorial does not point out is that the Republican economic platform also calls for reinstatement of Glass Steagall Act, opposes TPP and opposes any loss of American jobs to overseas locations. It differs on the minimum wage leaving it to the states, and it is likely to skew tax cuts towards the wealthy, but also possibly removing the lower income brackets from taxes as Britain has done under the Conservative Party. Both parties today are looking for support from the middle and working class and have directed their appeal to these two groups which are in upheaval. The election of Trudeau in Canada recently also followed this trend, after the hollowing out of Canadian industry in Ontario and Quebec in a similiar pattern as in the midwestern U.S.  ...

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Chinese company investments in Korean companies are not doing well because of widespread feeling among Korean workers in these companies that the Chinese company is only interested in transferring the Korean company technology to China. Also hopes of selling products in the Chinese market have not been realized. Instead the experience is that the Korean company ends up up laying off most of the employees after being hollowed out. In 2003 BOE a Chinese company paid $380 million for Hydis, a Korean maker of displays for cellphones and laptop computers. After the transfer of technology to build a new display panel factory in Beijing, Hydis was left o hollow out and went into bankrupptcy protection in 2006. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation bought a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor of South Korea in 2004. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, one of China's top state owned companies saw this as a push abroad, as China accumulated large dollar reserves from foreign trade, and a chance to acquire foreign technolgy for SUV and luxury car manufacture. Shanghai Automotive has partnerships with GM and VW to use foreign technology to make cars in China. The Korean economy after the financial crisis of 1997 was opening up to foreign investment. In this climate the Korean side was expecting China to open its market to Korean cars from Ssangyong, but this did not happen. Instead Korean workers say the company transferred technology to its Chinese parent, and after 5 years the partnership is falling apart in protests by the workers, layoffs and bitter battles amid declining sales. The Korean workers even have a word for such foreign companies that have come to Korea, during Korea's opening to foreign investors after the 1997 banking crisis, when Korean firms went for fire-sale prices. That word is "meoktwi", a slang term that means "a thief who eats and runs away." This has hurt China's reputation in South Korea, and its reputation as an enlightened investor in other countries. It also is what may be happening with Taiwanese investment in China in this downturn. Companies like Hon Hai, with its Chinese subsidiary Foxconn, are reported by the Economist to be shrinking their Chinese operations in a large industrial city sized campus employing 250,000 workers in the Shenzen area, to 100,000 workers. That factory city made laptops, PC's cellphones for Western companies using foreign technology....