Experiential Economics

Elbowing my way through swarms of people at the train station in Chengdu, China, this January, I dodged rolling suitcases and cut through lines to keep in stride with our local guide. He carried a big dorky blue flag for the 13 of us flailing foreigners to follow. Though I made fun of the flag, I was secretly very grateful for it. Getting lost would have been a nightmare, and my Chinese vocabulary is limited to “hello,” “bathroom,” and “eggplant.”

“Do you often bring tours through the train station?” I asked. “Um, no, actually,” he said. “No—never.”

Turns out, local guides took students in EC215: Made in China (our Jan Plan course taught by Professor Philip Brown on-site in China) to a lot of places they rarely went with tours. This wasn’t your typical trip. We went to study economics, which meant our itinerary was jam-packed with visits to factories, shipyards, and dams. As for the train station, Professor Brown thought that it would be fun to experience an overnight train. (He was right.)

In just 21 days we traveled more than 2,000 miles, forming an understanding of the country with the largest population, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, and a history dating back more than 3,000 years. Colby alum Chih-Chien Hsu ’80 accompanied us for half of the trip. Well known in the Asian shipping industry, Mr. Hsu was our “in” to a lot of factories and shared invaluable perspective and insight. He ensured we got a taste for Chinese culture as well, ordering us all sorts of local delicacies (whenever we asked, he would smile and say it was dog) and exposing us to one of China’s favorite pastimes, karaoke.

China was commemorating 30 years of economic reform, and we were there to see the results first hand. Since the 1980s China has slowly embraced capitalism, encouraging private enterprise while keeping some core businesses, such as steel and power, in the hands of the government. We visited both state-owned and private companies and compared how they were run. Vacuums, irons, ships, paper, cement, and steel were among the products we saw being made. Traveling along the Yangtze River, from smoggy Shanghai to the pristine Tiger Leaping Gorge, we considered the pros and cons of damming projects along the river’s breathtaking banks.

From big cities of 32 million people and “small” cities of 10 million to villages, farmland, and wilderness, we were exposed to a diverse cross-section of the country. By bus, train, boat, plane, and foot we traveled through six provinces from east to west and back again. Along the way, construction cranes, China’s unofficial national bird, lurked in the background.

We had our eyes peeled for signs of the economic slowdown. It was apparent at the Yangshan Container Terminal, where activity seemed eerily sluggish for the world’s largest container port. Attitudes about the economic crisis varied, but in general people seemed much more optimistic than I had expected. By the end of our trip, it became clear to me that the Chinese people possess a sense of pride that seems able to withstand any obstacles.

As I pushed through crowds at the train station, the size of China’s population was right in my face. How can this country sustain its roar- ing growth—socially, politically, and environmentally? What are the implications of China’s rapid economic development for ordinary citizens? I’m still struggling to answer these questions and many more, but our journey along the Yangtze enhanced my understanding of this dynamic country in a way no textbook ever could have.

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