ROA 3 - The Cost of Growth

I preface this post by saying that the tone shall be different versus the previous ROAs. There won't be any translation mix-ups with a bag lady or infatuations with over-eaters. No, this post shall be more serious and grown up; but don't worry, Mr. Fucking Randy has more stories that will fulfill your immature fixes.

The Orient is a crazy-fucking place. There are millions upon millions of people left, right and centre doing things at warp speed. A dense population usually leads to significant societal, industrial and infrastructure-related problems; in turn, this leads to solutions, many of which are influential and clever. Learning about these solutions was, without a doubt, one of the most interesting parts of my adventure.

For example, North America is still very dependent on plastic cards and cheques as payment. These types of methods are becoming extinct in the Orient. I mentioned 'cheques' to someone while on my trip and they laughed at me.

"Who the fuck uses cheques nowadays?" they shouted.

I was shocked; apparently, cheques really aren't a thing anymore because it just takes way too much time to process. And when you are in a highly dense, competitive area, time is even more valuable, which means that non-value added efforts (i.e. processing a cheque) gets pushed out faster in favour of new and innovative methods. (FYI North America still values cheques, and most people are just becoming familiar with depositing a cheque via mobile deposit: this practice would be laughed at in the Orient.)

I was at a busy Chinese restaurant with someone during my first week and was looking to snag the bill and pay for the meal (Mr. Fucking Randy is a gentlemen and always pays). But before I could even flag the waitress down, my friend had already paid for the entire meal.

"WTF?" I asked.

"I paid via WeChat. No worries, Randy," said my friend.

WeChat is huge in the Orient, just like WhatsApp or Line. It's also a verified payment system in most of the Orient, so the practice of using debit/credit is getting fazed out. Mobile payment is one of the fastest, most convenient payment methods in the Orient, to the point that it is rare for a company NOT to accept it. As soon as a customer pays, the vendor receives a notification, authenticating the payment, and an e-invoice is sent to both parties as reference. When I think of it that way, it does make a mobile cheque deposit seem ridiculous.

"Isn't this (mobile payment) a bit dangerous?" I asked my friend.

"Yes, it is," he replied. "But no more dangerous than someone stealing your wallet or your credit card, or your identity."

I could see his point. To me, mobile deposits seem dangerous, mostly because I don't use it. But, stealing a wallet or forging fraudulent cheques could easily be as damaging.

Another incredible solution I heard about was bridge building. China's expanding infrastructure has caused immense increased competition in construction. People want things built better, faster and stronger than ever before. A local told me that a construction company was able to lay down 40kms of highway in one year. That's 40kms, not 4kms. How are they able to do this?

With growth, comes competition. Increased competition leads to innovation and knowledge. Here's an example of insane construction innovation:

This bridge builder eliminates the need for cranes, and instead builds bridges as it drives forward. Absolutely insane.

But there is a cost to all of this, a cost that I didn't think about at first because I was still in awe of the innovations. Economic growth is so damn important in the Orient, to the point that it essentially takes precedence over all other factors. The environment, for example, becomes second fiddle to economic growth, and poor air quality was very evident during my travels. I'm not saying that air quality was poor everywhere I went, but I could definitely tell that the air was denser. After a day of travelling, it wasn't uncommon for Mr. Fucking Randy to have a stuffy nose that needed cleaning. The use of cheap plastics (i.e. for containers, fast food, storage, etc.) is also common because it's the most affordable, but has potentially the worst effect on the environment. Everyone knows this, but continues to use plastics because switching is more costly, and at the end of the day, earning more is the most important.

High growth and competition has also had a significant impact on quality of life. The motive to be better, faster stronger puts people to work, but it also adds stress. This puts a premium on leisure time, and there is definitely less relaxation to go around.

"It's a tough cycle," said a local. "You need to remain competitive, so you work harder. But working harder usually means going out and drumming up more business. This costs money; accommodations, dinners, drinks, KTV, smokes and gifts - it's a lot. And you think you're doing all this stuff right and then some other hot shot schmoozer comes in and does what you do but with twice the bank roll. So that means you gotta double your bank roll. How many people are able to double their bank roll?

"On top of that, image is a big thing in the Orient, so everybody spends; cars, purses, clothes, you name it. It's the norm here. So, you work hard at your job to make more, but that means you gotta spend more to make it. It takes a toll on you."

I nodded, taking in all this information. We chatted some more about life in the Orient and how it compares to life in the Great White North. A lot of words were exchanged, but the local summed up the differences in one sweet line:

"In the Orient, it's hard to tell who's poor. In Canada, it's hard to tell who's rich."

Wise words, local.