It was a moment in my life to have met you, there is so much to learn from you.

As far as cnditions in China is concerned, there is still a large population in the rural area who live with great financial burden. And worse still, the communication infrastructure is in such bad shape that literally ten of millions of rural villagers still have no access to current news. Some still live in caves (by cultural traditions and financial restrictions) and some still believe Mao Zedong is still alive.

To overhaul the situation, the central govt is
a) clustering the small villages into larger one for more effective governance and efficient use of the govt's resources
b) installing high quality land lines for broadband connection thus allowing broadview and/or practical information exchange between urban and rural people, such as the latest government's decision for future plans or tips on how to grow a better tomato;
c) inviting private ventures to invest in infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges (in exchange for allowing the ventures monopolised toll collection businesses on those roads and bridges for an agreed number of years);
d) subsidizing villagers to purchase white goods and agricultural tools, seeds, fertilizers and also tax relief. This subsidy had actually lured back many villagers who had already headed off to work at the factories in larger towns. (Consequently causing an increasing shortage of labour, a reason for the factory workers' wage being driven upwards)

These are some of ways the govt believe would help the villages, and there are lots of them. In the Guangdong province alone, there are 3000 "shortlisted" villages that are undergoing these major change, and Guangdong is only one of the 22 provinces in China. This will start slow but as momentum is gathered, there is no way to stop.

One the opposite side of the spectrum, China is also the largest speculative financial markets in the world. Since the bullish market began last year with numerous large companies listed in Hong Kong and locally, the market has been extremely active. Today there are over 100 million active security accounts for trading everything from equity and bonds to futures and hedge funds. Seeing speculating the market being a quick way to get out of poverty, people are literally mortgaging their houses and pawning their mattresses just to get into the market. With the average P/E ratio exceeding 50 for most listed companies, the environment is very bubbly and a big correction is around the corner. However some analysts believe the govt will do everything they can to keep the market bullish before the end of the Olympics in 2008.

As far as religion is concerned, it was never encouraged since the indoctrination as it is believed "religion is the opium of people". However the govt is not so much concerned about what religion to which the people wish to devote themselves than the gathering power of people by a religion which could stand against the govt. The Fa Lun Gong is the perfect example. Catholicism is widely accepted and practiced in China, and even come with their Cardinals (albeit not yet approved by the Vatican).

China is so vast and so much is always going on at the same time. I am proud to be its citizen and to see its development of becoming a better place to live in and to do business with.

David Lui