No matter how many times you visit China, how often you visit or where you visit, you have to be impressed.
Case in point, I was in Hangzhou for a couple of hours this week. Hangzhou is a city on the outskirts of Shanghai which is home to a lot of industry and agriculture. While driving around here, one thing that absolutely dumfounded me was the sight of Ferrari and Aston Martin dealerships.
Seeing Ferrari and Aston Martin dealership in the big cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou is fine but considering Hangzhou is only two and a half hours away from Shanghai, you don't quite expect to see these dealerships there. For those familiar with India, it's like expecting to see a Ferrari dealership in a place like Nasik (you'd expect one in Mumbai but not quite yet in Nasik).
Whereas Robin Sharma famously sold his Ferrari in his book, in China, you suspect the monks can quite literally own their own Ferrari's now.
The overall volume of wealth in China is simply incredible and China's ability to stage world class events like the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games is a testament to this.
Where China has been a big exporter of products, I hope China evolves into being a major exporter of know-how as the rest of the World certainly has a lot to learn from China. Just think about any part of the World and I'm sure you'll find some way Chinese knowledge can help improve it.
Also, on a lighter note, in case you do ever visit China, the going rate for Mont Blanc pens is now 20 pens for RMB 100 (approx. USD 15). No, I didn't buy any but in case you're ever there, you now have a place to start negotiating from.
