The Two Chinas

In this article, the author tries to discover the real China. Having conducted seminars in different regions of the country, he recounts his thoughts and experiences. From a typical grimy, industrial city like Datong near Beijing, he flies just two hours south to the province of Guangdong and is greeted by a totally different world. Near here are world‐class hotels, Western clothes instead of the dull“Mao suits” and the streets teeming with thousands of small businesses. So which is the real China? The answer, it appears, is that right now there are two Chinas. However, while cities such as Guangdong are China′s aspiration at this point, the Datongs are still China′s reality.