Why China Works

　　Exercises

　　1. Answer the questions on the text:

　　1) How does the author view the Chinese economy?

　　It is the most important bright spot in the world economy under the global recession, the only major economy that is likely to show significant growth this year, and the only one that routinely breaks every rule in the economic textbook.

　　2) According to the author, why can the Chinese economy perform so well?

　　Because of:

　　(1) the capacity for state control by the Chinese government.

　　(2) its rejection of exotic financial innovations that are the melting core of the global credit crisis.

　　(3) the integration of its economic policies between traditional market tools and state control measures.

　　3) In what way does the author imply that western economists are erroneous in their bias toward “China’s market economic system”?

　　The United States and Europe are moving toward state control by nationalizing their banking and car industries, and imposing heavy new regulation on the financial industry.

　　4) What is the view of Stephen Roach on the Chinese economy system?

　　Investment is the backbone of sustainable growth in the Chinese economy, which works more effectively than other market based systems in times of economic stress.

　　5) Why can China work in the eye of the author?

　　It has followed a radical pragmatism focusing on a slow but steady shift toward freer markets.

　　6) What is regarded as the strategic thinking of the Chinese leaders in market reforms?

　　They understand even under the serious financial crisis that it can stabilize the Chinese market and economy to introduce more sophisticated forms of securitization, including stock index funds, corporate bonds and other debt products. They also realize that, in the course of doing this, they should learn from the mistakes the westerners have made.

　　7) What is the example given to illustrate the steadiness of the Chinese leaders in their policy execution?

　　They continue to allow the value of yuan to rise despite of the American charges and the need for export competitiveness by their own enterprises.

　　8) What is “shock therapy”?

　　It is the economic policy adopted in Russia from 1991 to 1992 that totally deregulated prices and lead to a runaway inflation. It proved to be all shock and no therapy.

　　9) In what ways does the Chinese economic system work efficiently?

　　It can get things done quickly, move in a coherent manner, and marshal its people and resources to a common target: economic growth and prosperity.

　　11) What are the Internet and public opinion used for?

　　For putting pressure on local officials and influencing policy decisions.

　　2. Fill in each blank of the following sentences with one of the phrases in the list given below. Make changes when necessary.

　　1)At a time when the need is growing for mental health services, many countries are unfortunately cutting back on its spending.

　　2)There is an increasing number of people out of work. But the western media often unfairly label them as lazy and reliable.

　　3)Now that the flow of oil has been stopped by BP, the impact of all the spilled oil and natural gas is still being measured.

　　4)Once again its ability to steer economic policy will be tested against the ability to deliver on services and projects aimed at growing the economy and jobs.

　　5)Housing prices are incredibly high today. But he bought his house for a song about five years ago.

　　6)As people are complaining high prices, especially those related to daily necessities, the government feels rather urgent to hold down inflation rate immediately.

　　7)Under the new economy policy investors are invited to buy into state-owned enterprises.

　　8)Since a serious gun shooting occurred in Arizona last week, security concerns have trickled down to all places, including residential buildings.

　　9)Social unrest is a daily occurrence in the country nowadays. It is in the last place when it comes to investment for multinational companies.

　　10)Efforts to ban smoking in China are so effective yet. Some chain smokers never think of quitting while many others have battled in vain to quit.

　　3. Match the terms in column A with the definitions in column B:

　　A_______________________ B__________________________________

　　1)financial innovation A) A reduction in the general availability of loans (or

　　credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions

　　required to obtain a loan from the banks.7

　　2)stimulus package B) A non-bank entity or organization such as

　　investment companies and mutual funds that

　　invests in large quantities. 8

　　3)overheating C)A legal entity created by a government to undertake

　　commercial activities on its behalf. 6

　　4)stamp tax D) The trading of a corporation's stock or other

　　securities (e.g. bonds or stock options) by

　　individuals with potential access to non-public

　　information.9

　　E) An industry that requires large amounts of capital, machinery and equipment to produce goods. 5

　　5)capital-intensive sector F) Generation of new and creative approaches to

　　securities, money management or investing. 1

　　6)state-run firm G) An economy that is expanding so rapidly that too

　　much money is chasing too few goods and

　　economists fear a rise in inflation . 3

　　7)credit crisis H) tax levied on certain legal transactions such as the

　　transfer of a property such as building, copyright,

　　land, patent, and securities. 4

　　8)institutional investor I) A plan or a series of measures taken by a

　　government to jump-start its ailing economy,

　　generally as a part of its fiscal policy. 2

　　10) insider trading

　　4. Translate the following passage into Chinese.

　　我們所面臨的來自中國的真正挑戰(zhàn)并不是他們向我們大量銷售的貨物，而恰恰相反，是他們正在提升的價值鏈。這在將來可能會對美國經(jīng)濟構(gòu)成最嚴(yán)重的新挑戰(zhàn)。

　　在過去三十年的大部分時間里，中國集中精力建設(shè)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，這主要靠廉價的勞動力和勤勞苦干的工人就行了。但工廠也都現(xiàn)代化、交通世界一流、港口大型化、機場高效化了，而且所有這些都是以人類歷史上從未有過的速度和規(guī)模完成的。

　　現(xiàn)在中國又想跨入更高質(zhì)產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)的時代。這意味著由政府官員確定的經(jīng)濟發(fā)展的下一步是要以建設(shè)高速網(wǎng)般的決心投資發(fā)展人力資本。自1998年來，中國政府已啟動了大規(guī)模的教育發(fā)展計劃，投入的資金按GDP比例計算增加了兩倍，在而后的十年，中國的大學(xué)增加了一倍，大學(xué)生增加了四倍，從1997年的100萬增長到2007年的550萬。中國列出了的9所大學(xué)為其常青藤大學(xué)聯(lián)盟。歐洲各大學(xué)以及美國的州立大學(xué)因受大規(guī)模經(jīng)費削減影響而處于崩潰狀態(tài)，而中國的大學(xué)大發(fā)展趨勢則恰恰相反。耶魯大學(xué)校長理查德·雷文在今年年初的一次演講中指出：“這次中國大學(xué)的擴展是前所未有的，在僅十年的時間里就建起了世界上規(guī)模最大的高等教育。實際上，2000年以來中國大學(xué)擴招的大學(xué)生人數(shù)超過了美國大學(xué)招生的總數(shù)。

　　那么這一史無前例的教育投資對中國和美國有何意義呢?諾貝爾經(jīng)濟學(xué)獎得主羅伯特·福格爾預(yù)測了訓(xùn)練有素工人的經(jīng)濟影響。在美國，高中畢業(yè)的工人的生產(chǎn)率是只受過9年教育的人的1.8倍，而大學(xué)畢業(yè)的則要高出兩倍。中國正在大規(guī)模地擴大高中和大學(xué)生的人數(shù)。盡管目前中國在服務(wù)業(yè)上仍遠遠落后他國，但中國企業(yè)將會很快進入這一巨大市場。福格爾相信高技能工人的增多將在今后大大刺激中國的經(jīng)濟增長率，使其GDP在2040年之前達到驚人的123萬億美元。

　　不管這一難以想象的數(shù)字是否準(zhǔn)確，但有一點是很清楚的，中國正開始提升其價值鏈，進入一直來只有西方國家獨占的產(chǎn)業(yè)和工種，這才是來自中國的真正挑戰(zhàn)。應(yīng)對這一挑戰(zhàn)的最佳和最有效的方法不是威脅和關(guān)稅，而是深層次的結(jié)構(gòu)改革和大規(guī)模的投資，使美國經(jīng)濟重新獲得活力，使美國工人再具競爭力。

　　5. Read the following text and choose the best sentence from the list (A-E) below to fill in each of the gaps in the text.

　　1)It assembles more toys, stitches more shoes and sews more garments than any other nation in the world.

　　2)China is home to 1.3 billion people and has 100 cities of more than a million people.

　　3)Even at 25 cents an hour, Chinese workers cost more than laborers in the poorer countries of Southeast Asia or Africa.

　　4)Indeed, the country's embrace of market economy over the last decade and the government's insistence that farmers fend for themselves are combining forces to all.

　　5)That disparity has set in motion the largest human migration in history.

　　Supplementary Reading

　　China: The next branding superpower?

　　1.China and the U.S disagree ________.

　　A.whether the Chinese should buy more

　　B.over who dominates the bilateral trade

　　C.whether the value of RMB is deliberately held down

　　D.over what the Chinese consumers should buy

　　2.The Americans assume that China will remain ________ so that it will continue to import American higher value added products and services.

　　A.a manufacturing superpower

　　B.a developing country

　　C.a service-based economy

　　D.a regional economic power

　　3.By moving up the value chain, China intends to become a ________.

　　A.manufacturing giant

　　B.branding superpower

　　C.competitive nation

　　D.political superpower

　　4.According to the author, the work of branding in China would depend more on ________.

　　A.domestic companies

　　B.foreign investors

　　C.the government

　　D.multinational companies

　　5.With better access to Chinese market for foreign companies, what do Chinese policy makers fear?

　　A.Chinese consumers will prefer famous foreign brands.

　　B.Chinese brands are unable to move up to the high end of the brand chain.

　　C.China can also add values through marketing and distribution.

　　D.China will have to spend billions building brands.

　　6.The Space Rate between the U.S. and the Soviet Union is mentioned to reflect ________.

　　A.military competition during the cold war

　　B.the anxiety of the Americans in the space rate

　　C.national economic security in China

　　D.the national anxiety of China over their brand competitiveness

　　7.The author believes in less than a century the consumer trends in the world will be overwhelmingly dominated by ________.

　　A.consumer consciousness

　　B.competitive market

　　C.such brands as Coca-cola, Google, and Toyota

　　D.Chinese brands