Shangluo Successes

Studying China’s Development

The city of Shangluo and its surrounding villages received a visit from students of the International Master of Business Administration （IMBA） program at Beijing Normal University. Most of these students are civil servants from other developing countries who came to China to study its development modes. The hope is that their studies of China help them contribute to the economic and social situation in their home countries. Nuredine Oumer Mohammed from Ethiopia put it this way： “China experienced decades of very fast economic growth that made it one of the most advanced developing countries. Therefore， there are many things we can learn here. We’re seeing Chinese workers and technology transfers from China in Ethiopia， so I really wanted to experience this country directly.”

The program is composed of students from more than twenty countries at various development levels. They all have a unique point of view on China and were excited to explore a place like Shangluo， which is incredibly different from Beijing where they spent most of their time. They had only experienced one of the most developed places of the country： According to HDI （Human Development Index） statistics， Beijing’s residents are comparable to the Swiss. Shangluo presented a new and interesting situation for the students： They could visit poor villages， but also see how an area developed tremendously over twenty years resulting in strong infrastructure and industrialization. They could also see that some challenges remain and witness the government’s efforts to meet them.

Discovering “Surprisingly Developed” Poor Chinese Rural Areas

The participants were vocal about their excitement to see another side of China so far from Beijing where they spend most of their time. Although the students are very interested in the classes of the IMBA program， they are also eager to directly experience the country， especially places developing quickly. China’s top tier cities rival those in Europe in many ways， but it is a massive complex country with a wide gap between urban and rural areas.

Even taking the train to travel from Beijing to Shaanxi was worth the trip. “It made us fully grasp the scale of a country like China，” gasped Laura Avondet from Argentina. “We saw the vast countryside and many secondary cities no one outside of China knows about– but these cities have millions of inhabitants！” Nuredine Oumer Mohammed thought “it was interesting to see something completely different from developed Beijing. Witnessing poverty in China was a meaningful experience. I can certainly relate because China is way ahead in its development process compared to my home country. And yet I was surprised to see dirt houses in Wangjian Village. Some of them really look similar to those in my country！” Maame Afua Quansah from Ghana said she was especially interested in the way the area changed. “I was expecting to see very simple villages without much economic activity，” she admits， “but the places we went to were booming. I was surprised and left wanting to see more.”

Despite some persisting poverty， most of the students were surprised at the development they witnessed， especially the industrialization in such a rural area. Many students were impressed by Shangluo’s factories， especially those of BYD （BYD Auto， based in Xi’an， was the top manufacturer of highway legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles in 2015） and Shaanxi Xiangju Pharmaceuticals， which produces traditional Chinese medicine and other products such as antibiotics. “The factory’s production chain is complete，” remarked Tim Reid from Granada. “They produce medicine and do everything on site， including packaging. And they export to foreign markets， including Africa.”

Even if with a positive impression of Shangluo and its surroundings， the IMBA students also realized that some villages still face economic challenges. Aditya Kumar Ranjan from India pointed out that a place like Wangjian could not provide many jobs for young adults， so many of them go to bigger cities to secure better income to help their family. Because of that， kids often must live with their grandparents. Some villages have developed economic strategies based on tourism. They can certainly attract Xi’an residents， but Tim Reid thinks foreigners and Chinese visitors from other provinces are unlikely to venture out to them and will usually stick to Shaanxi’s main attractions like the terracotta warriors. After a visit to a company that produces bathroom equipment， Tim Reid was struck by the lack of customers and wondered whether the products would sell on the local market， considering they seemed too sophisticated for usage in average village houses. But thanks to the area’s good transportation infrastructure， such goods don’t necessarily need to be sold locally.

Lessons on Economic Development and Poverty Reduction

The students agreed that good infrastructure contributed much to the economic development of the area. “The road network is really good around Shangluo， especially for such a mountainous area，” said Tim Reid. “I can tell that the government put a lot of effort and money into improving the connectivity of this area， and it paid off. In Grenada， we really struggle with infrastructures and I am convinced that improving it would tremendously help our development.”

In addition to “traditional” infrastructure， the students were also impressed by the good internet reception in such a rural and mountainous area. The wired village cabs readily support e-commerce platforms such as aiguanji.com in Shanyang town. After only a year of existence， the company has already achieved 130 million yuan， which deeply impressed Aditya Kumar Ranjan. “Such e-commerce success testifies to successes of rural internet usage as well as logistics systems，” he opined. Maame Afua Quansah stressed the importance of this local company selling goods produced in the area by the farmers， so it really boosts local employment and revenues.

Students also emphasized the importance of planning. Tim， Maame and Nuredine all insisted that mid and long-term planning are essential to economic development and poverty alleviation. They stressed that because political change can happen very quickly in their countries， fostering change is a challenging issue and that they could learn from China’s five-year plans， which identify target groups of people for poverty reduction and establish clear development goals. In China， government is the main player in poverty reduction. This is not the case for all developing countries. Bun Long from Cambodia stated that the situation in Shangluo is “very different from Cambodia where NGOs play a very important role in poverty alleviation. I think the Cambodian government could take inspiration from the Chinese government’s long-term planning to tackle poverty”.

All the students agreed to say that they learned a lot during a very short time in Shangluo， and that their countries could benefit from the study of such policies and development strategies. Nonetheless， they also emphasized that any borrowed techniques would need to be adapted for the specific local situation. Development levels are different， but most importantly， the scale of countries compared to China can make things difficult. For example， Grenada has barely 100，000 inhabitants in total， much fewer than Shangluo itself.