Quote:
Originally Posted by howardroark
Impressive build site. It makes the Chicago Spire look like a pot hole. I have to admit, I'm jealous that the chinese can build so much faster and build much grander buildings than my fellow americans. Oh well, time to pass the torch to the new super power of the world.
|
Actually , for as impressive as it seems , China has a long , long way to go although it is getting there fast.
At current growth rates it'll be 20 years at best before China can match the US GNP. That's not even touching on GDP. All the same , I think its inevitable that China will become the number one superpower before the century is out (providing the trend is maintained)
With that said , try not to forget the scale here. It's much easier for China to build these buildings than it is for so many other countries for a number of reasons.
Firstly , China is doing now what we've been doing for centuries. We've already built the things we need for the most part. In China's case , the floodgates are just opening. The demand , therefore , is present now as it was in the West years ago. Once the market saturates (and eventually it will) , coupled with the law of diminishing returns , the Western pattern of skyscraper development will be the norm here as well.
Secondly , a company with a 100 million customers in China still only commands %8 of the market. In The U.S. , it's %30 . For the purposes of this point , there's no need to think about exchange rates and their impact on skyscraper construction. What I mean by that is that 200 million yuan will buy you the same building in China that 200 million dollars will buy you in the U.S.
China , unlike the Middle-Eastern skyscraper theme-parks , has a market-driven need for these things. It also has a serious lack of space in the places it needs space the most. They have no choice but to build up instead of outward. Since they can afford to build 100 storey super towers and campus-style construction a-la Indian model is out of the question , it's a foregone conclusion that China will build super towers at every available opportunity. It's not just an expression of the ego here , it also happens to be a practical solution to a problem borne of necessity.
In any case , it's unlikely that anybody else will be entering into the super-power game any time soon. For that reason , even if the Chinese manage to gain global economic supremacy , the US sphere of influence is pretty much guaranteed to never contract to less than the English-speaking world (with it's vast and untapped resources) , the Westernized democracies , and the Western hemisphere. China's hegemony is pretty much limited to Eastern Asia and that may or may not include India (probably not)
Prev
Linear Mode
