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China

John and Doris Naisbitt: China Megatrends

By thomascrampton ⋅ February 18, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

While in High School, my school’s principal required all teachers to read “Megatrends”, the runaway bestseller by John Naisbitt about ten big trends hitting the world.

A few weeks ago at the DLD Conference I met with John and his wife Doris for the first time and learned about their latest passion: China.

The husband-and-wife team recently completed a book on the social and economic implications of China’s rise.

The fruit of work done at the Naisbitt China institute in Tianjin, China Megatrends was published in German last month and will be coming out in English later this year.

As you can see from this video, John and Doris fall into the half-glass-full camp of China watchers, emphasizing that those looking at China’s development must recognize how much change has taken place in just 30 years. Western democracy has developed for more than 200 years with lots of bumps on the way - the same is now happening in China.

China is in the middle of an emancipation process, they said, but the goal is not to become exactly like the west. The new (digital) generation of Chinese wants to join the world, but on their own terms. In fact, China has become a model for other developing nations.

But what about the problems of corruption and pollution that is always mentioned in connection with China? No one is more aware of these problems than the Chinese themselves, John and Doris said. It is the main topic in the national newspapers and even in the speeches by president Hu Jintao.

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Comments for “John and Doris Naisbitt: China Megatrends”

  • It would be a good analogy to compare China and Japan before and during the "bubble economy" era as well.

    If anyone wants to have an in-depth look about China's "democracy" changes, Taiwan and Hong Kong's past shouldn't be overlooked; and their current economy growth can learn lessons from Japan and Korea in the '80s and '90s. Making comparison with only the West in the past 200 years will miss many important issues and scenarios happening in China.

    After all, China and the West are on different tracks, different vehicles and may head for different destinations.

    Thomas: we met in Taipei in the causal meeting arranged by O&M. :)
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thomascramptonconf

Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...