Our fourth lecture was about the evolution of China’s economy. Historically China had one of the strongest economies in the world until the 19th century. Between 1860 and 1940 China experienced a period of stagnation. During this time the government went through many different phases. After the 1949 “Liberation,” the economy was still very unstable. However, after a few decades, they began to reform and open up. China is now seen as the “World’s Factory” because it openly welcomed foreign investments for the purpose of bringing in more capital. Most of China’s exports go to the United States so there is a large trade imbalance. China invests the extra capital back into American treasury holding, thereby forming a symbiotic relationship between the two countries. It is interesting to me that two countries which seem so different politically can form such an interdependent relationship.
One thing that Claudia spoke of which I had been observing the past two weeks was in regards to employment. Because there are so many people in China, it is a common practice to employ two people to do the job that needs only one person to fill. For instance, in the hotel we are staying in, there are people whose job it is to stand at the door and open and close it for guests. One of the buildings even has four people who stand together to do this! Also, I have seen people who simply have a broom and sweep water or dirt into the sewage drain, a job that you would never see occupied by a person in the United States. I think this can be a good way to help more people find employment, but the detriment to this method lies in the fact that those people will be paid less because the money has to be distributed further. I believe this represents a clear difference between the United States and China both in the demographics of the country and also the structure of the governments.
We toured Hanvon today, the last company we were scheduled to visit. Hanvon specializes in pattern recognition technology. They sell products which employ technologies such as handwriting, speech and face recognition. They even provide Chinese character recognition, both with scanning print and direct handwriting. Some products can read back the Chinese character that is entered as well. Hanvon’s face recognition system has been employed in business to grant access for special personnel to enter limited access rooms. It has also been used at ATMs, as a means to make certain the correct person is withdrawing money, and also by police to investigate fraudulent transactions at ATMs. Hanvon seems to be at the leading edge of pattern recognition technologies and is continuing to develop into a global industry.
We toured Hanvon today, the last company we were scheduled to visit. Hanvon specializes in pattern recognition technology. They sell products which employ technologies such as handwriting, speech and face recognition. They even provide Chinese character recognition, both with scanning print and direct handwriting. Some products can read back the Chinese character that is entered as well. Hanvon’s face recognition system has been employed in business to grant access for special personnel to enter limited access rooms. It has also been used at ATMs, as a means to make certain the correct person is withdrawing money, and also by police to investigate fraudulent transactions at ATMs. Hanvon seems to be at the leading edge of pattern recognition technologies and is continuing to develop into a global industry.