Understanding China’s future potential by studying a small 4th-tier city (Part 2)

“We are born and raised in Gaoyou and cannot run away. We will retire here, and if the economy is bad at that time and we cannot receive our salaries, we should not blame future generations. ”

The Part 1 of the Gaoyou story became a very popular post. Many of our readers are very curious to understand China’s future by looking at one of its most average cities.

In Part 2, we will look at how innovation and government actions play a role in Gaoyou’s development. We are especially moved by a candid talk by a local official, explaining the fundamental motivation behind why they are so anxious about economic growth and local debt issues.

We think his words are quite reflective of China’s local governments’ mindsets in general, and this human-side perspective can add a new light to the hotly debated macro topics such as local government debt.

Please enjoy:

Shaping the fate of industries means constantly innovating.

From my experience in GaoYou, it's not easy to work in the “real economy”. If you stop working, you won't have food to eat. But simply repeating the same work without stopping isn't enough either. Because there are constantly various pressures (such as policy pressure, market pressure, etc.) and new requirements that force you to keep up with the times. If you can't surpass yourself, you will also be eliminated.