China’s economic bright spots provide a warning
What a visit to an optimistic port reveals
If America’s economy begins to deteriorate, people in Ningbo will be among the first to know. The eastern Chinese port, home to 9.6m residents, contains a sprawling industrial district. Its goods are prepared for export, and are shipped abroad via a deepwater harbour, which is one of the world’s busiest. The coast of Zhejiang province is dotted with similar entrepôts, where thousands of mostly family-owned firms have built up a diverse manufacturing base over the past 40 years. They make everything from textiles and car parts to electronics and machine components.
Ningbo is also a city of political importance. Although private industry, rather than state-backed enterprise, has thrived in the region, it has nevertheless been held up as a model of “common prosperity”—Xi Jinping’s way of dealing with wealth inequality. And amid a gloomy overall outlook, with much of the country mired in a property crisis and suffering from weak consumer demand, surprisingly strong exports and fading fears of a recession in America have combined to make Ningbo one of China’s most optimistic cities.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "God bless America"
Finance & economics March 16th 2024
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