Motorization in China: A view from the top

I'm back in the US.  My wonderful Chinese adventure has finally come to a close (well, temporarily at least).  This final 6 month stretch in China was definitely the richest, most interesting, and most educational part of the past two years there, for many reasons.  This entry describes a sort of "epiphany" I had over there recently.    

My last three months in China, I took an internship at the Halter Financial Advisory Group. I moved out of my cozy dorm at Tongji on the rural edge of Shanghai, and took a big step up to work in the the thumping financial heart of Shanghai and the jewel of China itself, the JinMao Tower in Pudong (China's tallest skyscraper, though not for long).

What a total contrast in lifestyles from when I first arrived!  In one of my first blogs, I told of the visit and gracious hospitality of the Zhang family, the poor security guard at my school who invited me to his modest home, which lacked even plumbing for a toilet. His only transport was an old bicycle.

180 degree shift later, I found myself working day to day in the Jinmao Tower amongst Shanghai's (and thus all of China's) elite. The managers at my firm were car-owners; my colleagues, soon to be car-owners.  One day on the way to dinner, we made a little pit-stop at the Porsche dealership so one of our managers could sign the papers for her new car (following the advice of her boss, also a Porsche owner).

This is the other side of life in China that until a few months ago, I knew very little about.  This is the side that lives in the beautifully landscaped gated high-rise communities of Pudong, where wide boulevards are easily traversed by the oh so comfortable automobile.  

I spent my first year in China riding the bus and subway exclusively. It was so new to me, so it was fun.  I wanted to understand the system and the people using this system.  My concept of "full bus" was stretched each time I rode the nightbound final bus back from the city and they squeezed 100 people into a bus made for 50. I was amazed and impressed at people's ability to deal with the uber-crowded conditions of public transport. When the sweaty stomach of the guy next to me pushed against me a little closer as another passenger boarded, all I could do was grin and say, "well, this is life in CHina!"  The subway at rush hour, which I took a lot, is more of the same.     

This is life for a large portion of China's 540 million urban dwellers.  No wonder 20 million more people are expected to buy e-bikes this year, and ~5 milion people are expected to purchase cars. Personal mobility is a wonderful thing!  If one can afford to escape the hell of bus-riding, most people do.  Especially if you're a young woman (I heard some pretty scary stories of "creepy" men on crowded buses).

So during my last few months in CHina, I finally gave up on public transport.  The novelty wore off and I could luckily afford not to take it.  I commuted by e-bike during the day (which incidentally, was faster than by car), and cruised the city by night in the comfort of air-conditioned taxis. And that's when I finally came to understand and appreciate the Chinese dream of owning a car. It's a powerful driving force (literally) that, for better or worse, is going to have a huge global impact.     

My boss with his newly purchased Audi, (behind a advertisement for BMW), May 07