Anecdotal insights can provide interesting alternative points of view regarding trade with and business in China, and understanding China’s political system. The following statements of well-known people about Chinese development history are all broadly connected to this topic.
Despite that these trade and business quotes about China are double checked, no guarantee can be given that they are all cited correctly since a few are attributed to different persons. However, we chose them because they offer some good insight or interesting opinion worth reading and quotes help understanding China’s political system as well as its culture and economy.
Many people have commented on China’s rapid development – as here in Shanghai.
Business Quotes about China
“I think the rise of China is inevitable, because China has moved from a low-cost producer, at low levels of technology, to higher levels of technology, and because it’s very competitive, even in some high-tech products they offer at very competitive rates – much lower than their competitors.“
– Najib Razak (Current Prime Minister of Malaysia)
“In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears – and that is our problem.”
– Thomas L. Friedman (New York Times Journalist, won the Pulitzer Prize three times)
“My job is making money, helping other people make money. I am spending money, trying to make sure more people get rich, because you cannot spend a lot of money, right? So my job is spending money, helping others. This is a headache.“
– Jack Ma (Founder and CEO of Alibaba)
“If GE’s strategy of investment in China is wrong, it represents a loss of a billion dollars, perhaps a couple of billion dollars. If it is right, it is the future of this company for the next century.“
– Jack Welch (CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001)
“You know, without China there is no Wal-Mart and without Wal-Mart there is no middle class and lower class prosperity in the United States.“
– Arthur Laffer (American Economist, famous for the Laffer curve)
Economics Quotes about China
“A lot of people, including business leaders, think the future belongs to China. Globalization is not a zero-sum game, but we need to hone our skills to stay in play.“
– Jon Meacham (Executive Editor and Executive Vice President at Random House)
“In China, when you’re one in a million, there are 1300 people just like you.”
– Bill Gates (Microsoft Co-Founder, former CEO)
“China is a great manufacturing center, but it’s actually mostly an assembly plant. So it assembles parts and components, high technology that comes from the surrounding industrial – more advanced industrial centers – Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, Europe – and it basically assembles them.”
– Noam Chomsky (Philosopher, Historian, Cognitive Scientist, “the father of modern linguistics”)
“Basically all the world’s computer parts come from the same supply chain that runs from Korea, down through coastal China, over to Taiwan, and down to Malaysia.“
– Thomas L. Friedman (New York Times Journalist, won the Pulitzer Prize three times)
History Quotes about China
“Reform is China’s second revolution.“
– Deng Xiaoping (Chairman oft the Central Advisory Comission of the Communist Party of China 1981-1987)
“China’s history is marked by thousands of years of world-changing innovations: from the compass and gunpowder to acupuncture and the printing press. No one should be surprised that China has re-emerged as an economic superpower.“
– Gary Locke (US-American Ambassador in China from 2011-2014)
“China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.”
– Napoléon Bonaparte (French Military and Political Leader)
“When I was growing up, my parents told me, ‘Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving.’ I tell my daughters, ‘Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job.’“
– Thomas L. Friedman (New York Times Journalist, won the Pulitzer Prize three times)
“More than 90% of Chinese believe themselves to be Han. Of course, such a vast population is derived from countless different races, but because China has enjoyed such a long and continuous history as a polity, there has been thousands of years of mixing, melding and assimilation.“
– Martin Jacques (The Times Journalist)
“Hong Kong is a wonderful, mixed-up town where you’ve got great food and adventure. First and foremost, it’s a great place to experience China in a relatively accessible way.“
– Anthony Bourdain (American Chef, Author, and Television Personality)
China is less well known for its landscapes although they still make up a large part of country.
Politics Quotes about China
“To survive, China had to open up to the West. It could not survive otherwise. This was after many millions have died of hunger in a country that was like North Korea is today. Once we became part of global competition, we had to agree to some rules. It’s painful, but we had to. Otherwise there was no way to survive.”
– Ai Weiwei (Chinese Contemporary Artist and Activist)
“Friends from the press, China needs to learn more about the world, and the world also needs to learn more about China. I hope you will continue to make more efforts and contributions to deepening the mutual understanding between China and the countries of the world.“
– Xi Jinping (Current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of China)
“Some foreigners with full bellies and nothing better to do engage in finger-pointing at us. First, China does not export revolution; second, it does not export famine and poverty; and third, it does not mess around with you. So what else is there to say?“
– Xi Jinping (Current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of China)
“The political restructuring we pursue in China is aimed at advancing the self-improvement and development of the socialist political system. We will continue to expand people’s democracy and build a socialist country under the rule of law in keeping with China’s national conditions.“
– Hu Jintao (General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 2002-2012 and President of China from 2003-2013)
“China has been committed to the independent foreign policy of peace and has developed friendship and cooperation with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.“
– Hu Jintao (General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 2002-2012 and President of China from 2003-2013)
“The rise of China as a new power is another great challenge for the US. Our failure to properly handle Germany and Japan earlier in the 20th century cost us and the world dearly. We must not make this same mistake with China.“
– Steve Forbes (Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine)
