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Move Over, Michigan, China Is The World's Next Rust Belt
Forbes ^ | 12/10/2012 | Gordon Chang

Posted on 12/10/2012 7:31:49 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Six cities in Liaoning province, including Shenyang and Anshan, recently announced they are converting abandoned industrial sites to farmland. Dongguan, once a booming factory center, is on the verge of bankruptcy as companies close, leaving the local government severely cash-strapped.

Just two years after China overtook the U.S. to become the world’s largest manufacturer, the country faces the prospect of decades of de-industrialization. And there is little Beijing can do to arrest the slide.

Globalization once propelled China. Hong Kong manufacturers flocked to that country’s coastal regions in the early 1980s largely because labor costs were low and regulation lax. Later, companies had little choice but to move to China because their competitors had already located there, and soon suppliers congregated around assemblers, forming efficient industrial communities. The country became an integral link in the production plans of manufacturers, large and small.

As a result, China made itself the manufacturing powerhouse. From nowhere, it became the world’s biggest producer of steel, cameras, toys, sporting goods, shoes, garments, textiles, televisions, cell phones, pens, you name it. One enterprise, Shenzhen-based BYD Co., grabbed more than half the global market for mobile phone batteries. One city, Datang, produced more than a third of the world’s socks: about a pair and a half for each man, woman, and child on the planet each year. The country manufactured eight out of ten of the world’s microwaves and nine out of ten of its DVD players. China churned out 70% of all counterfeit goods.

But as the Chinese say, “no feast lasts forever.” Various trends coincided to erode their country’s competitive advantages. First, Chinese authorities started enforcing environmental rules as citizens took to the streets to complain about metals in the soil, pollutants in the water, and soot in the air.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: china; michigan; rustbelt

1 posted on 12/10/2012 7:31:51 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“El mundo es redondo y revuelve.”


2 posted on 12/10/2012 7:55:29 AM PST by kenavi (Lost the country? Win your state.)
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To: SeekAndFind

So? There are still out producing us and still making counterfeit goods. They are also putting lead and other hazardous materials in toys and dog food.

Just deserts if you ask me.


3 posted on 12/10/2012 7:59:02 AM PST by TMA62 (Al Sharpton - The North Korea of race relations)
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To: TMA62

Those poisons are going in the food we eat in many ways.

The USDA use to make sure the food we eat was safe. Now they make sure the food we send overseas is safe because other countries will not accept the same slop we are fed


4 posted on 12/10/2012 8:30:13 AM PST by winodog (Thank you Jesus for the calm in my life)
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