James Fallows: 'China Makes, The World Takes'

Fresh Air from WHYY, October 30, 2007 · Journalist James Fallows, a 25-year veteran of The Atlantic Monthly, is living in China and writing about it. He joins Dave Davies to discuss his recent article "China Makes, The World Takes" — and the booming Chinese factories that are its subject.

"I was prepared for the skyline of Shanghai and its 240-mph Maglev train to the airport," he writes in the introductory paragraphs of that article, "and for the nonstop construction, dust, and bustle of Beijing. Every account of modern China mentions them.

"But I had no concept of the sweep of what has become the world's manufacturing center: the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province (the old Canton region), just north of Hong Kong. That one province might have a manufacturing workforce larger than America's."

Young China series

From PRI's The World

China’s young generation is like none that has come before in the People's Republic. It’s grown up riding the wave of China’s growing prosperity, of hi-tech advances and of globalization. And this generation includes more “only children” than anyplace else on earth, probably anytime in human history. About 100 million of them have been born since the Communist government enacted a one-child policy, 27 years ago. That’s compared to compared to about 20 million only children, of all ages, in the United States. This new generation is starting to come of age – and as it does, it’s changing China. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports on this new generation in a seven-part series.

Listen here

The World airs each weeknight at 7 p.m. on KCUR

China's Question: Who Will Follow Hu?

Morning Edition, October 15, 2007 · China's ruling Communist Party on Monday begins a national congress that is expected to give President Hu Jintao a final, five-year term.

The question facing the congress is who will follow Hu? For the first time since the communists came to power, China's leader has no heir apparent.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15276525