南华早报今日文章：Chongqing rising 附原文

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南华早报是香港阅读率最高的英文报纸，香港朋友告诉我今天在back page有一封很长的文章
简介："Eric Li argues that the success of one inland region's socialist experiments to advance the residency system, tackle corruption and open up its market will pave the way for China's next stage of development"
地址是：http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/ ... ser&ss=China&s=News
感谢论坛网友江边的石头提供英文原文，因为直接点网址好像看不到全文：A quiet revolution is happening in China's hinterland. If you think China's rise in the past 30 years has changed the world, you haven't seen anything yet.
Breakneck growth has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and transformed a poor agrarian society into a global industrial powerhouse in one generation. Yet, the world's  second-largest economy is now at a crossroads. Its spectacular success has also brought a large wealth gap and widespread corruption that threaten the sustainability of its development and social cohesion.
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There are two Chinas: the coastal regions built on export-driven growth and the grossly underdeveloped larger inland regions. Will China continue its current trajectory and  become a major global power, as America did? Or will it languish in an ever-widening divide between the haves and the have-nots with the latter dragging down the former? ( k  b, O- b9 J

The answer may be found in the mountainous and, until recently, one of the most underdeveloped regions in China's west. In merely half a decade, the municipality of Chongqing has become a major laboratory of public policy innovation. Three large-scale policy  experiments interwoven by one revolutionary idea - growth with equity - are fast transforming this region. These experiments in urbanisation, social fairness and market economics are based on unmistakably Chinese values. 0 ~2 C! d6 |+ T  X" o' N! g4 w& i
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Urbanisation is taking place at a speed and scale unprecedented even by China's  standards. Of the 32 million inhabitants of Chongqing, only 12 million are registered as city dwellers. Unlike the coastal regions that were mostly already urban at the beginning of  economic reform, Chongqing's demographic is a mirror image of China at large. 8 p' V; f* a7 V  u

In 2008, a rural land exchange was set up. The exchange now allows farmers to turn their farmhouses back to arable land in exchange for cash from developers who buy the square footage in the form of additional quotas for urban development. So far, US$1.5billion worth of transactions have taken place.( U7 T# d0 q1 a$ a3 {3 g2 L( K
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Overall, about two million people have been registered as urban residents. Another million are expected to make the transition within a year. A total of seven million are projected to take up urban residency by 2020, taking the  urbanisation rate to 60per cent. What is more remarkable is that this demographic shift is  taking place without the loss of arable land.
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The government has also stepped in to  ensure the welfare of those at risk of being left behind, by building 430million sq ft of low- income housing. ( |. V1 \( O! [, _. x1 P
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The biggest impact has come from Chongqing's pioneering of a system that grants new city dwellers the much-coveted urban residency status and its accompanying education and health care benefits five years after taking up city residence. In one fell swoop, the most  intransigent structural divide, the hukou  system, is at last being breached.   g8 W2 @' A0 \3 m2 K& Y
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To attack corruption, the government  began with the hardest nut to crack - the  pharmaceutical industry in the public health sector. A computerised procurement system has been built for use by all public hospitals. Their drug purchases can be viewed openly by the public, real-time, with names of suppliers and unit prices. This programme is helping to regain public trust.

Open market economics forms the third  pillar of Chongqing's development. In 2007, only 25per cent of its gross domestic product was generated by the private sector. Today, that figure is 60per cent. This remarkable growth has in part been fuelled by microfinance. As state banks concentrate their lending to state-owned enterprises, capital formation has been the bottleneck to the expansion of private small and medium-sized enterprises across the country. In Chongqing, hundreds of government-approved and regulated private non-bank providers of microcredit have lent US$15billion to SMEs this year alone.
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At the same time, government policies are spurring large-scale developments in technology and manufacturing. The development model of the coastal regions encourages low-end assembly industries, with higher-value components still being made overseas. In landlocked Chongqing, the government opted for the rapid build-up of scale in downstream  assembly. This is driving component makers to move production from overseas to Chongqing. 6 Q6 \( Q2 H0 e8 q

Perhaps the most significant element of the Chongqing phenomenon is its underlying  driver: public morality. A Chinese brand of  socialism underpins its development. The red-culture campaign, with its revival of communist revolutionary music, reaffirms modern  communitarian values that resonate with  Chinese culture's Confucian roots. Rapid  economic development can only be justified and sustained on the basis of a fair and just  society. A strong government is proving to be effective because it is consistent with the  Chinese tradition of honouring moral authority vested in political power. In an increasingly  materialistic environment, the government led by the Communist Party is reclaiming the  moral high ground in the municipality.

The implications are significant. Without genuine development of its inland regions, the rise of China may very well be miscarried.2 \' \' ]. ?( g& b, H5 d, B
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Deng Xiaoping launched China's economic reforms 32 years ago with the establishment of the first "special economic zone" in Shenzhen - the first stop of China's rise. He  relaunched reforms nearly 20 years ago with his "southern tour" that was best symbolised by the emergence of Shanghai - the second stop. But, the sprawling factories of Shenzhen and the glittering towers of Shanghai do not yet a powerful nation make. Could this mountain metropolis be the third stop and final launching pad of the ascendency of a major civilisational power? All eyes are on Chongqing.  M- G9 \+ L, S8 _7 h: y: C

Eric X. Li is a venture capitalist in Shanghai and a doctoral candidate at Fudan University's School of International Relations and Public Affairs