The First Green Shoots…

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Lao Tzu

This week, the first week of the New Year, I find myself enjoying the pleasantly clean atmosphere of the Milo Cafe. In the last week, I have popped into the Hey!!! Cyber once or twice, but such was the stink from the ever-present smokers that I have, apart from those occasions, kept to the notion of paying a little extra for some half-decent air. As far as I can tell, the smoking ban has had hardly any effect whatsoever and I have seen not a single iteration of the stricture being enforced in Dongguan. Such is China and attitudes to law here, very much a pick and choose situation, both from the point of view of the citizens and from the enforcement agencies themselves.
Having said that, the voluntary move to such swanky places as the Milo has proven pleasant. It is an oddly dark place with multiple small rooms and cubicles giving it an almost baroque ambience. The seats are deep and sumptuous, each supplied with at least one extra cushion, books line the walls and the choice of background is piano sonatas by the likes of Chopin, Bach and Mozart. All in all, a far more conducive atmosphere to settle down, ruminate and attempt to stew happily in some creative juices.
The Milo itself is one of the multiple cafés to be found on the edge of the local square. Already a pleasantly green space, it was previously just mostly an open meadow. In the last year or so though, the local government have been busily planting more and more trees. At this rate, by the time I next return it will be a veritable jungle. This is an aspect of modern China that should be both recognised and applauded. During Mao’s time the government basically completely wrecked the environment. In particular, during the ill-fated ‘Great Leap Forward’ (1958-63) the government’s policy not only led to the needless deaths of millions, mostly by starvation, but to a complete decimation of forests across the land as trees were ripped up to sacrifice as fuel for the furnaces in a doomed, and rather ludicrously laughable, attempt to produce steel for construction sites. The steel thus produced was of such low quality as to be as good as useless. By the time they realised their error ,the damage to the environment and people’s assets (pots, pans, tools and utensils, basically anything metal was being smelted) was enormous.

Similarly disastrous attitudes to the environment prevailed during much of the subsequent 50 years. Much of the economic advantage that China gained in the latter part of that period was very much at the expense of massive environmental damage. From Mao, through Deng Xiao Ping and all the way up to and including Jiang Zemin, the reckless damage to China’s Eco-system was very, very low on the list of priorities. China as a country still suffers much from the catastrophes inflicted on it during those years. The rivers are still very suspect, the air filthy, industrial practices still very dubious but, after so much wanton vandalism and reckless wrecking of the environment, it has to be admitted that since Xi Jinping came to power there has been a fundamental change in attitudes.

Part of that sea change has been an attempt to plant huge numbers of trees and to reforest large areas of China. The aim is to attempt to undo at least some of the damage of the past and to end up with more than 20% of the country covered by forest. This is a noble ambition indeed, and one that looks to be on the point of success. Each year here there is a national tree planting day when thousands upon thousands of trees are planted by politicians, dignitaries, celebrities and even school children.

Another very positive development has been the encouraging of the development of electric vehicles and a government willing not only to subsidise the industry but also help the consumers make the transition. This is in complete contrast to the UK where the zeitgeist seems to have taken a completely opposite turn with the government there reducing their role both in industry and as far as subsidising the consumer is concerned. This seems, given the now parlous state of the air, particularly in London, to be about as short sighted a policy as one could imagine. A good day in a Chinese city is still far worse than a bad day in London but… the Chinese are addressing the problem with their usual energy and, bit by bit, the pollution levels are coming down. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the total opposite pertains in the UK.
One company that has made great strides in this area is BYD (Build Your Dreams). Originally a maker of batteries for mobile phones, they have branched out into auto manufacture and become World leaders, alongside the American company Tesla, in the production of electric vehicles. Tesla’s vehicles, it must be admitted, have far more cache but are also incredibly expensive. The range, perhaps the most critical problem remaining for electric vehicles, on the BYDs is now almost as good as Tesla’s but their models cost a fraction of the price. Given their access to the Chinese market, perhaps the biggest in the World for electric vehicles, it certainly is a company to look out for in the future. The famous financial wizard, the almost legendary sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, seems to think so. He has literally invested billions into this company over the last few years. Given Mr. Buffett’s incredible track record in investment over the last five decades, far be it from me to argue that this is not a very wise move indeed.

There has also been quite astounding work done in the North of the country. Nicknamed “the Great Green Wall”, the Chinese have planted a huge ecological barrier that first halted, and then reversed, the encroachment of the Gobi desert. The man-made arboreal barrier now covers more than 500,000 square kilometres. The government looks forward to a time when the forest will stretch nearly 5,000 kilometres from Xinjiang province in the West to Heilongjiang province in the East. The sheer scale of such a project is impressive indeed. In these pages I have oft criticised those in charge in Beijing, but on this particularly occasion I happily doff my cap to them and utter a sincere ‘well done!’.

Back in the Milo I ponder the implications of these matters to what now sounds like Bach. China’s cities at this moment in time are not the most pleasant places to be. This week in Dongguan there has been hardly a breath of air and with temperatures in the mid to high twenties the steady build up of air pollution has been noticeable but...over the years I have come to this part of the world the improvement is quite clear. If the reforestation goes on at its current pace and the Chinese government are successful in converting the drivers here over to the joys of electric transportation, the future could be bright indeed.