Page 264 - 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 264
9 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
Chengdu and Zhengzhou—the new arteries of China’s country’s economy has moved from away manufacturing
manufacturing empire—with Duisburg, Hamburg and to services (Lau and He).
Warsaw—Europe’s industrial giants. The perfect cargo
has become high value, heavy weight electronics and The roads the truckers drive upon are at least getting
machinery, products that the clients often want to get more modern. Infrastructure investment is expected
to their destinations as soon as possible and are valuable to be one of China’s top economic growth drivers in
enough to make the extra US$1,000 per container that coming years, and the country expects to spend over
they cost over ocean shipping basically inconsequential 2 trillion yuan on projects in 2018. China’s Ministry of
(Shepard, The Hidden). Transport said it would build 5000 km (3107 miles) of
new expressways and renovate another 216,000 km of
Build it and they will come. The process is called roads across the country (Cadell). The road and highway
transit-oriented development, and it’s the way that construction industry in China has been growing rapidly,
most of humanity’s economic and cultural centers were driven by China’s urbanization, increases in automobile
created all through history. America saw the same process ownership and freight and passenger road transportation
transpire in the 1800s as cities sprung up from the prairies turnover volumes, and increasing government
along the new railroad. Now, it’s currently the driving investment. In 2018, industry revenue is expected to
force behind most New Silk Road development. An entire amount to US$391.0 billion, up 3.5 percent from 2017.
array of new logistics zones are rising up in places far from Over the past five years, revenue has been growing at an
the sea like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Eastern Europe, and average annualized rate of 6.5 percent. The total length
far western China. The goal is not only having these trains of road in China increased from 3.7 million kilometers
roll through but also to stop for more or different cargo, in 2008 to 4.8 million kilometers in 2017. Meanwhile,
ideally sparking local manufacturing and distribution the total length of highway in China rose from 60,300
that could, in theory, stimulate new commercial and kilometers to about 136,500 kilometers. In 2018, there
residential areas (Shepard, The Hidden). are 46 industry enterprises operating 435 establishments
and employing 855,782 workers with a payroll of US$22.3
Roads and Highways billion (IBISWorld, Road & Highway).
E-commerce is central to the Chinese government’s Postal and Express Delivery
efforts to shift the economy away from export-led
growth towards consumer spending. On any given day China has the world’s largest express delivery sector,
more than 84 million tons of freight are transported accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s total
across the nation’s massive highway network, roughly delivery volume. Growth of express delivery services
80 percent of the national total. Those who drive the has created jobs, with the number of employees in the
trucks face skyrocketing fuel costs, tolls, truck loans, sector up 130 percent by November 2017 from January
falling rates, arbitrary fines and declining orders. Those 2014, according to the China Federation of Logistics
frustrations spilled over into protests in June 2018 when and Purchasing. The country plans to extend the courier
drivers mounted strikes in at least a dozen places across network and improve computerized systems, services,
the nation, including the megacities of Shanghai and and international connections by 2020. The target annual
Chongqing as well as Anhui, Hunan, Henan, Shandong revenue of the courier sector will be 800 billion yuan at
and Shaanxi provinces. The strikes were scattered, but that time (Xinhua, China’s Express).
they were organized and different from the industrial
action workers have staged over the last few decades. China’s express delivery firms dispatched about
The sizeable network of truck drivers is highly mobile 40 billion parcels in 2018, up 28 percent compared
and well connected via supportive, tight-knit Internet to the previous year. The State Post Bureau said total
communities. They move and communicate on the road business was expected to have reached 976 billion yuan
across the country, unlike like workers in traditional (US$150.21 billion) over the year, 32 percent higher than
factories. China introduced the Labor Contract Law in 2016. Infrastructure had also been improved, with 1,000
2008, improving worker protections through compulsory storage and delivery centers built in 2017, some using
formal employment contracts. But the percentage of new technology such as unmanned warehouses, drones
workers covered by formal contracts has dropped from and driverless vehicles. China’s postal and courier services
42.8 percent in 2009 to just 35.1 percent in 2016 as the have been under increasing pressure as consumers turn
264
Chengdu and Zhengzhou—the new arteries of China’s country’s economy has moved from away manufacturing
manufacturing empire—with Duisburg, Hamburg and to services (Lau and He).
Warsaw—Europe’s industrial giants. The perfect cargo
has become high value, heavy weight electronics and The roads the truckers drive upon are at least getting
machinery, products that the clients often want to get more modern. Infrastructure investment is expected
to their destinations as soon as possible and are valuable to be one of China’s top economic growth drivers in
enough to make the extra US$1,000 per container that coming years, and the country expects to spend over
they cost over ocean shipping basically inconsequential 2 trillion yuan on projects in 2018. China’s Ministry of
(Shepard, The Hidden). Transport said it would build 5000 km (3107 miles) of
new expressways and renovate another 216,000 km of
Build it and they will come. The process is called roads across the country (Cadell). The road and highway
transit-oriented development, and it’s the way that construction industry in China has been growing rapidly,
most of humanity’s economic and cultural centers were driven by China’s urbanization, increases in automobile
created all through history. America saw the same process ownership and freight and passenger road transportation
transpire in the 1800s as cities sprung up from the prairies turnover volumes, and increasing government
along the new railroad. Now, it’s currently the driving investment. In 2018, industry revenue is expected to
force behind most New Silk Road development. An entire amount to US$391.0 billion, up 3.5 percent from 2017.
array of new logistics zones are rising up in places far from Over the past five years, revenue has been growing at an
the sea like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Eastern Europe, and average annualized rate of 6.5 percent. The total length
far western China. The goal is not only having these trains of road in China increased from 3.7 million kilometers
roll through but also to stop for more or different cargo, in 2008 to 4.8 million kilometers in 2017. Meanwhile,
ideally sparking local manufacturing and distribution the total length of highway in China rose from 60,300
that could, in theory, stimulate new commercial and kilometers to about 136,500 kilometers. In 2018, there
residential areas (Shepard, The Hidden). are 46 industry enterprises operating 435 establishments
and employing 855,782 workers with a payroll of US$22.3
Roads and Highways billion (IBISWorld, Road & Highway).
E-commerce is central to the Chinese government’s Postal and Express Delivery
efforts to shift the economy away from export-led
growth towards consumer spending. On any given day China has the world’s largest express delivery sector,
more than 84 million tons of freight are transported accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s total
across the nation’s massive highway network, roughly delivery volume. Growth of express delivery services
80 percent of the national total. Those who drive the has created jobs, with the number of employees in the
trucks face skyrocketing fuel costs, tolls, truck loans, sector up 130 percent by November 2017 from January
falling rates, arbitrary fines and declining orders. Those 2014, according to the China Federation of Logistics
frustrations spilled over into protests in June 2018 when and Purchasing. The country plans to extend the courier
drivers mounted strikes in at least a dozen places across network and improve computerized systems, services,
the nation, including the megacities of Shanghai and and international connections by 2020. The target annual
Chongqing as well as Anhui, Hunan, Henan, Shandong revenue of the courier sector will be 800 billion yuan at
and Shaanxi provinces. The strikes were scattered, but that time (Xinhua, China’s Express).
they were organized and different from the industrial
action workers have staged over the last few decades. China’s express delivery firms dispatched about
The sizeable network of truck drivers is highly mobile 40 billion parcels in 2018, up 28 percent compared
and well connected via supportive, tight-knit Internet to the previous year. The State Post Bureau said total
communities. They move and communicate on the road business was expected to have reached 976 billion yuan
across the country, unlike like workers in traditional (US$150.21 billion) over the year, 32 percent higher than
factories. China introduced the Labor Contract Law in 2016. Infrastructure had also been improved, with 1,000
2008, improving worker protections through compulsory storage and delivery centers built in 2017, some using
formal employment contracts. But the percentage of new technology such as unmanned warehouses, drones
workers covered by formal contracts has dropped from and driverless vehicles. China’s postal and courier services
42.8 percent in 2009 to just 35.1 percent in 2016 as the have been under increasing pressure as consumers turn
264
