China: Transformation at Light Speed

How fast is China transforming itself into the modern age? Consider these examples from the Money and Markets article, "The 6 Giants of Global Profits" by Martin D. Weiss:

China: "To Get Rich is Glorious"

When Chinese Premiere Deng Xiaoping spoke these words back in 1993, Larry Edelson was among the first to let us know.

And indeed, that's when China unleashed an economic force unprecedented in modern history. That single, but pivotal, change in philosophy marked the beginning of China's relentless march to prosperity.

And along the way, we are seeing a series of largely untold economic miracles:

• Chinese consumer spending has jumped from virtually zero to nearly $1 trillion.
• There are now over 100 cities in China with a population over 1 million. The U.S. has only nine.
• China currently boasts 1.3 billion consumers. Plus, to stimulate foreign investments, Beijing is pulling out all the stops.

China plans to boost natural gas consumption by as much as 500 percent ... invest nearly $4 billion in information technology and infrastructure ... expand fiber optic networks ... beef up mobile communications capacity ... establish digital capable HDTV transmission ... and use GPS technology for traffic control.

China is building massive skyscrapers, highways, city expressways, subway lines, and an intra-city light rail.

It's expanding the Beijing airport, improving water, electric, gas, and heating facilities. All across China, the equivalent of a city the size of San Francisco is being built every two weeks. This year alone, Shanghai (with 17 million people) will complete towers with more square footage than all the available space in Manhattan combined.

Even more significant is that China just launched a rural initiative for over 800 million citizens.

It plans to spend over $11 billion a year on rural education, irrigation, and medical services.

And it's investing tens of billions to build 112,000 miles of rural roads — enough to circle the globe four times over.

Imagine, just imagine, the raw materials and natural resources like cement, asphalt, tar and steel required to feed that kind of growth. That's why consumption of just about every imaginable resource is flying off the charts!

Read the complete article here.