The straight-line distance is 2,478 kilometers
If it is "far" in terms of development, then it is not a little bit
Seriously, let's develop our own , stop comparing with Japan, it is not the same level at all!
This is true. But that's only part of the truth. Judging from many indicators, the gap between China and Japan is still very wide. In many aspects, it is not only very far but also very difficult for China to catch up with Japan. Huh.
Among my economist colleagues, there is even a tendency to look down upon China and Japan. For a while, there was a joke circulating in Beijing that in the future there would only be three economists in the world, one who understands the U.S. economy, one who understands the European economy, and one who understands the Chinese economy. As for Japan, the answer was a contemptuous smile: Japan, haha, Japan can just ignore it! This is nonsense.
China is rising rapidly. This is true. But that's only part of the truth. Judging from many indicators, the gap between China and Japan is still very wide. In many aspects, it is not only very far but also very difficult for China to catch up with Japan. The gap between China and Japan and the real situation in China are worthy of warning to the Chinese people, and they can no longer fall into the illusion of self-deception and self-deception.
Let’s look at the basic data first. China has a land area of ??9.6 million square kilometers and a population of 1.3 billion. Japan has a land area of ??378,000 square kilometers and a population of 130 million. China's land area is 25 times that of Japan, and its population is 10 times that of Japan. In terms of territory and population, China is indeed a big China, and Japan is indeed a small Japan.
However, the economic aggregates of the two countries have dropped. In 2003, according to the World Bank's 2004 "Global Development Indicators" statistics, China's GDP was 11,689.8 billion yuan, or 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars, ranking seventh in the world. Japan's GDP is as high as 4.3 trillion US dollars, ranking second in the world. Small Japan is three times the size of Big China. There is inevitably an element of error in the comparison of economic aggregates converted by exchange rates. However, when calculated using purchasing power parity or real price comparison, most statistical results show that the economic aggregate between China and Japan is still 1-2 times different.
China’s rise in recent years has not been slow. However, in the first 4/1st century after the war, Japan easily became the second most developed country in the world. As for China, despite experiencing the fastest growth in history over the past 20 years or so, its total GDP still ranks sixth or seventh in the world, and according to many indicators, it is impossible to enter the ranks of developed countries.
Japan’s economic strength is reflected both domestically and overseas. China has prided itself on introducing a lot of foreign investment in recent years, but Japan is the world's largest creditor country. By the end of 2000, Japan's total overseas assets reached 3.2 trillion US dollars, equivalent to 2.3 times China's total GDP in 2003. Its total overseas manufacturing sales were more than 1.3 trillion US dollars, which is the same as China's GDP. Quite (Tang Chunfeng, 2001). Such a powerful invisible "overseas Japan" is enough to put to shame the Chinese companies that have become more ambitious, shouting slogans, and taking steps to "go global" after 20 years of opening up!
Comparison of economic structure: In 1999, the ratio of Japan's three industrial structures was 2:36:62, which is already an obvious "post-industrial society". In 1975, the employment ratio in Japan's tertiary industry exceeded 50 for the first time, marking that Japan had gradually entered the "post-industrialization" era centered on the service industry as early as the 1970s. In contrast, in 2003, China's three industrial structures were 14.7:53:32.3. China has not even completed the transition from a pre-industrial society to an industrialized society.
According to the definition of industrialization by the National Bureau of Statistics, a sign that a country has fully achieved industrialization: first, the agricultural output value is below 15, which China has just crossed; second, the agricultural employment is below 20, China It is still as high as 50%, which can be said to be far from the standard; thirdly, the proportion of urban population must be above 60%. China currently only has about 40%, which is still far away.
What is the level of urbanization in Japan? In 1950, Japan's urban population accounted for 38% of the total population, roughly the same as China today, and most Japanese today live in cities.
In 2003, the growth of China's heavy industry exceeded that of light industry by 4 percentage points, and investment in heavy industry began to enter a period of prosperity. The whole country is delighted that China's economy has entered the "heavy chemical industry" stage. However, few Chinese people know that as early as 1955, Japan entered the advanced processing stage of heavy chemical industry and transitioned to a capital- and technology-intensive economy. Looking at the industrial structure alone, China is only roughly equivalent to Japan's level 40 years ago.
China's current growth momentum mainly comes from the traction of the "world factory". According to the author's calculations, China's industrial growth contributed as much as 63% to GDP in 2003. However, in terms of total manufacturing volume, Japan's total manufacturing volume in 2003 was US$911.1 billion and China's was US$382.5 billion. Japan is 2.4 times that of China. Obviously, China is far from being called the "world's factory", but Japan is a veritable international manufacturing center.
According to past catching-up speed, China still has at least several decades to go before it can catch up with Japan on the road to becoming the "world's factory", and it will become increasingly difficult in the future. Energy issues , environmental issues, labor issues, and market issues will all trouble China.
Japan’s per capita resources are also very poor, but the Japanese know how to maximize their strengths and avoid weaknesses through excellent processing. From 1955 to 1975, Japan experienced its fastest growth. Japan’s manufacturing output value increased from 81.4% to 96.0%, while mining dropped from 10.1% to 0.62%. Electricity, gas, Basic industries such as water supply dropped from 7.74% to 3.38%. China is also a country that does not have abundant resources per capita, but its economic growth still relies largely on selling resources at low prices. As evidenced by 2000, China's resource-based industries accounted for 54.5% of all industries. Among them, industries using agricultural products as raw materials accounted for 62.0% of light industry, and mining and raw material industries accounted for 50.5% of heavy industry.
China is now beginning to pay attention to the quality of economic growth. In this regard, Japan is much more advanced than China. In terms of the GDP generated by the use of unit energy per kilogram of oil equivalent, China's GDP is about 0.7 US dollars, which is not only lower than developed countries, but also lower than many developing countries such as India. The GDP generated by the same energy use in Japan The GDP is as high as 10.5 US dollars, the highest in the world, which is about 15 times that of China.
With the same resources and energy, the Japanese actually created an output value that is 15 times higher than that of China? Chinese people also like to talk about "Laozi" and "the unity of nature and man", but how can the Chinese cherish nature as much as the Japanese? !
China is entering a new round of golden growth period. However, in 2004, when economic growth first took off, total GDP accounted for just 4% of the world's total, oil consumption ranked second in the world, power generation consumption accounted for 13% of global consumption, and steel consumption accounted for 27% of global consumption. Cement consumption accounts for 40% of the world's total, and coal consumption accounts for 31% of the world's total. Therefore, people all over the world are worried about whether China's long-term growth will lead to global resource shortages. "Will China starve the world to death?"
In fact, China should learn from Japan humbly, and cherish resources and use them efficiently like Japan does. China is currently entering into an upsurge of painstakingly formulating various "energy strategies" and "resource strategies." In fact, in the most simple way, China should look inward and tap into its potential like Japan, so that China's energy and resources can basically be used at present. Maintaining the same level has supported China's economy to increase several times.
China’s large number of laborers is a major advantage for China in the global division of labor. However, China cannot utilize its labor efficiently, which greatly offsets this advantage.
Therefore, in the same period of rapid growth, from 1960 to 1975, Japan's labor productivity grew at an average annual rate of 11.07%; from 1980 to 2000, China's labor productivity grew at an average annual rate of only 5.19%, with an average annual growth rate of US$ 2.59%. The comparison of labor productivity indicators fully shows that China's rapid growth relies on the human sea tactic, while Japan relies on the improvement of labor efficiency.
In addition to relying on crowd tactics, China's growth also relies on massive investment, but what about the quality of investment? It is said that Japan has serious bad debts, but in the process of going from rapid growth to economic recession, the bad debt rate of Japanese banks was only 5%, while the bad loan rate of China's four major commercial banks in 2000 was as high as 28.78%. For example, Taking into account the 1.4 trillion yuan of non-performing assets acquired by the four major state-owned asset management companies, the non-performing loan rate is nearly 45%. Obviously, compared with Japan, China's investment efficiency and effectiveness have drastically improved.
Ramp; D (research and development) expenditure as a proportion of GDP is a set of internationally accepted important indicators used to measure the scale of a country's scientific and technological activities and the intensity of its scientific and technological investment, and reflects the country's scientific and technological investment intensity to a certain extent. economic growth potential and sustainable development capabilities. In 2000, China spent 89.6 billion yuan on this indicator, accounting for 1 percentage point of GDP for the first time in history. For the same indicator, Japan's was 3.12 in 2000, which was not only much higher than China, but also higher than the United States' 2.65, Germany's 2.37, France's 2.17, and the United Kingdom's 1.87. It ranked first in the world. Top of the list.
In fact, since 1990, Japan’s expenditure as a proportion of GDP has always been the first in the world. what does that mean? This means that this country has an unyielding determination to rejuvenate the country through science and technology, and it also inadvertently reveals the secret of this country's prosperity, which is that science and technology are the basis and technology is leading. Of course, this indicator also shows that "Little Japan" is not a short-sighted nation as some Chinese people imagine. On the contrary, the Japanese nation is a far-sighted nation - only a far-sighted nation can give up anything. Spend big money investing in your future.
In contrast, China's enterprises, the country, and even ordinary citizens all seem so eager for quick success and disappointing. The Chinese prefer to shout slogans of "rejuvenating the country through science and technology" or scold the Japanese online, but they are not willing to spend time to learn scientific knowledge.
In terms of patented inventions: In 1995, China’s number of patent applications accounted for only 1.45% of the world’s total, and its approvals accounted for 0.48% of the world’s total. Japan’s patent applications accounted for 13.48% of the world’s total. , the number of approvals accounts for 15. 3% of the world's total. The survey results recently released by the Korea Development Bank show that if converted using South Korea as the benchmark (100), China is 76.5 and Japan is 110.5.
One number that Chinese people must always remember is: the number of Japanese people who have won the Nobel Prize has reached 12, and the number of Chinese people is still 0. A great man said it well: "China should make greater contributions to mankind." However, doing it is much harder than saying it!
At the enterprise level, the construction of the technological innovation system of Chinese enterprises is still in its infancy. The proportion of R&D expenditures in sales revenue of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises is usually less than 1%, while Japanese enterprises have already established a complete technological innovation system. , the general level of R&D expenses of enterprises is above 5-10.
There are very few research talents in Chinese companies, and they are constantly being lost to foreign companies. And per 10,000 working people, Japan has the highest number of researchers in the world. In 2000, it was 109. 3 people, higher than the 73. 8 people in the United States, 60. 3 people in France, 59. 6 people in Germany and 54. 8 people in the United Kingdom.
China regards entering the Fortune Global 500 as an elusive goal for enterprise development. In 1994, Japan had as many entrepreneurs in the Fortune Global 500 as the United States, and occupied all the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places. Among the top ten, more than half were Japanese companies.
Since the 1990s, the world has been badmouthing Japan. However, in 2003, there were 12 Japanese companies, and most of them were monopolistic state-owned enterprises. The top one was PetroChina, ranked 69th.
Do you dare to imagine when China will become the country with the largest number of Fortune 500 companies? Do you dare to imagine a Chinese company occupying the top spot among the Fortune 500 companies and taking all the top four places? Such a day may come one day. However, our neighbors did it as early as the 1990s. Should any honest Chinese, a Chinese entrepreneur with global ambitions, show any respect for this? !
No matter how good the economy is, it is useless if it cannot improve people’s lives. Let’s compare the living standards of the people again. In 2003, China's per capita income exceeded US$1,000 for the first time, approaching US$1,080; Japan's per capita income was US$33,077, 31 times that of China. Taking GDP per capita as income alone, China is only equivalent to Japan's level in 1966.
The Engel coefficient of household consumption (that is, the proportion of household food consumption expenditures in total household consumption expenditures) is an indicator that reflects living standards. In 2002, Japan's Engel coefficient was 22. 3%, while China's current urban ratio is 37. 1 and the rural ratio is 45. 6. In other words, the current living expenses of the Chinese are mainly on eating, but Japan spends its main expenses on other aspects besides food. China is on survival consumption, and Japan is on development consumption.
However, the saddest thing is that the living standard of the Chinese is only equivalent to that of Japan in the 1960s, and their consumption expenditure is only enough for food and drink. They often feel that they are very rich, and often behave lavishly (such as Some people advocate that the Olympics should be held in a big way), but the Japanese, whose living standards are among the highest in the world, often cry out for poverty in the world, and practice strict frugality everywhere, often being surprisingly "stingy"! Who is stupider than whom? Who is really stupid?
Housing: In 2003, the per capita living area of ??urban residents in China was 18 square meters, while in Japan it was 25 square meters. Japan's extremely small land area is 1.4 times that of China.
People’s lives depend not only on per capita income, but also on income gaps. In 2000, China's Gini coefficient was 0. 414, which has reached the international warning level. China is recognized as one of the countries with the most unfair income distribution in the world. On the contrary, and what many people don't expect, although Japan is a capitalist country, it is one of the countries with the fairest income distribution in the world. The Gini coefficient is 0.285, which is comparable to any of the fairest periods in Chinese history.
Unemployment rate indicator: According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of my country, as of the end of June 2003, the registered urban unemployment rate nationwide was 4.2, and the number of unemployed people was 7.95 million, an increase of 0.0% from the end of last year. . 2 and 250,000 people. But this data omits too much. Scholars estimate that China's current urban unemployment rate, including registered unemployment, laid-off workers and other types of unemployment, totals about 8 to 10 (Wang Mengkui, 2003).
Chinese media often report that Japan has been experiencing economic difficulties and high unemployment rates in recent years. It seems that the Japanese can no longer survive. In fact, Japan's unemployment rate was only 5. 5% at its highest. In 2003, as the economy rebounded, the average unemployment rate quickly fell back to 5.3.
Education: Chinese people have always believed that they value education the most, and have repeatedly emphasized that "no matter how hard it is, we can't suffer for our children, and no matter how poor we are, we can't afford education." It is true that Chinese parents do everything for their children. However, due to the lack of national education funds and the defects of the general education system, among the Chinese today, the adult literacy rate is only 81.5, and the number of illiterate and semi-illiterate people accounts for more than 15% of the population. , a difference of 8.5% from the minimum limit of educational modernization; the gross enrollment rate of universities is 5%, a difference of 25% from the minimum limit of educational modernization of 30%.
In contrast, Japan lives up to its reputation of attaching great importance to education. Japan has already reached 100% of primary education and 100% of junior high school education; the gross university enrollment rate is 40.3, and the proportion of university-educated people in the total population is as high as 48%; the adult literacy rate is nearly 100%.
How far is the education gap between China and Japan? It is estimated that China's primary education is approximately equivalent to Japan's level in 1900, 100 years behind; secondary education is approximately equivalent to Japan's level in 1910, 90 years behind; and higher education is approximately equivalent to Japan's level in 1920, 80 years behind.
One of the important reasons is that China’s education funding is only equivalent to Japan’s level around 1920.
Let’s look at the informatization indicators closely related to people’s intellectual development: By the end of 2003, the number of Internet users in China was close to 80 million, and a huge “E-country” was born. However, the Internet penetration rate in China is very low. Only 6. 2%.
Japan’s population is much smaller than that of China, but during the same period, the number of people using the Internet reached 77.3 million, and the penetration rate exceeded 60%. Almost all Japanese between the ages of 14 and 75 have access to the Internet.
In addition, Japan's network is more developed, broadband communication costs are low and speed is fast. The proportion of broadband Internet fees to each household's income is only 0.8, ranking first in the world. However, China's network speed is slow and service is poor, and the use of broadband network is in its infancy. Shenzhen, which is at the forefront of the country, has only exceeded 30% of residential broadband penetration, while the average local level across the country is quite low.
China’s personal computer penetration rate is 27% and mobile phone penetration rate is 30%; Japan’s personal computer penetration rate is 36% and mobile phone penetration rate is 69%. The difference between the two is also obvious.
Some people may have said that Japan is only strong in economy, technology, and material, but its civilization has nothing to boast about. The topic of civilization is a big one, and I dare not make a comparison here, but I can get a glimpse of it through some social indicators that Chinese people are very concerned about.
As we all know, from the perspective of social credit and national quality, Japanese people are generally considered to be serious in work, efficient, punctual, creditworthy, and polite; Japanese companies are also known for their emphasis on credit and excellent product quality. World; In the streets and alleys of Japan, you can’t see garbage. Whether you walk to a crowded subway or a crowded shopping mall, the ground is as clean as new, and you can’t see graffiti on the walls of the subway; Japan People rarely smoke or eat snacks in public places, and they don’t have the habit of spitting or throwing away garbage; Japanese people abide by traffic rules. Whether it is bustling Tokyo, Osaka, or ancient Kyoto, you can’t see them on the streets. As a traffic policeman, cars and people move strictly according to the traffic light instructions and are meticulous.
Looking back at my country, an "ancient civilization", what is the situation like? If we say, it is because the Chinese people are not materially civilized enough. The Chinese are probably the nation that emphasizes "objective reasons" the most in the world. However, let me ask you, the current income level of Chinese people is equivalent to that of Japan in 1960, but the civility and politeness are far behind. It is also not as good as the 1950s when the per capita income level was several times different, let alone the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. Is the elegance and confucianism of the Chinese people really "knowing etiquette through practicality"?
Enterprise credit: As mentioned earlier, the bad and bad debt records of China's commercial banks are unparalleled in the world, which shows that the credit records of Chinese enterprises are very poor. In addition, corporate defaults are rare in the world. According to statistics, in 2001, my country's state-owned enterprises owed each other more than 1.6 trillion yuan in payment, and the scale of the counterfeiting economy reached more than 127 billion yuan. As a result, the country lost more than 25 billion yuan in tax revenue every year. According to a survey by relevant departments, in 2001, more than 650 products of 283 well-known companies nationwide were infringed and counterfeited by counterfeit products. In the first half of the year, the national industrial and commercial administration system investigated and dealt with 5,338 various types of contract fraud and other illegal and criminal cases, an increase from the same period of the previous year. 61 (Hou Yunchun, 2002). What does this mean? It shows that Chinese enterprises' deception and abduction are seriously eroding this country's market economy.
In recent years, a new phenomenon has been added, which is the increasing trend of companies arrears of wages to migrant workers. According to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the current wage arrears for Chinese migrant workers is estimated to be around 100 billion yuan, of which the construction industry accounts for more than 70%.
In some places, the contractor owed money to the migrant workers, and the builder owed the contractor money. In the end, it was discovered that it was the local government that owed the builder money. According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, arrears in project payments by governments across the country account for more than a quarter of all arrears in project payments.
Credit is costing China’s young market economy. Chinese scholars are now finally beginning to understand that the solution to credit problems is not enough to rely on external legal supervision and internal corporate governance structures, but also depends on people's culture and even beliefs. However, China's traditional cultural resources have been almost destroyed. To build cultural resources, the Chinese people don't know where to start. However, Japan is a successful case of using traditional cultural resources to complete modernization transformation. The Japanese actually transformed the loyalty of samurai to their masters into the loyalty of corporate employees to the company, thus establishing the industrial and commercial credit of the whole society.
Divorce rate: Unexpectedly by the Chinese, in 2001, the divorce rate in Japan, a "post-modern society", was only 0. 23%, the lowest among Asian countries. However, Chinese society, which has traditionally focused on the family, has gone from bad to worse: in 1980, China's divorce rate rose from 4.75 to 13 in 1997, an increase of 8.25 percentage points. Among them, the divorce rate in Shanghai has increased 20 times in the past 20 years, making the world wonder: What's wrong with the Chinese? The family is the cell of society, and marriage encompasses the sacred relationship between the sexes. What will the increasing lack of stable family life in China bring to the Chinese people? Is it more irresponsible, more pursuit of selfish desires, or more freedom of mind and more liberation of personality?
Corruption: You may not like Japan, but you must admit the fact that Japan is still one of the more clean countries in the world. On March 25 this year, "Transparency International", a well-known international anti-corruption non-governmental organization, released the "2004 Global Anti-Corruption Annual Report", which assessed the corruption situation in various regions of the world. Among 133 countries and regions, China's Corruption Perception Index score is 3.4 points, tied for 66th with Sri Lanka and Syria, but Japan is among the top 30 most corrupt countries.
China is now shifting from the pursuit of GDP to the "scientific concept of development." However, China has already paid too much. By the end of 2000, China's forest area was only 1.58 billion hectares, and its forest coverage rate was only 16.55%, which is only equivalent to 61.3% of the world's forest coverage rate. The country's per capita forest area was 0.128 hectares, which was only equivalent to The world's per capita average is 0.6 hectares of 21.3. Japan’s domestic forest coverage rate is nearly 64%, making it one of the countries with the highest forest coverage rate in the world.
The ancient country full of green trees, beautiful scenery and full of poetry, which nourished Li Bai and Du Fu, has now become a vague dream of the Chinese people! The land increasingly polluted by industry, the dying country with more than 1/3 desertification, the stagnant Yellow River, the Yangtze River transformed into the Yellow River, and the long dust blowing across Beijing in spring are like the sigh of Mother Earth of China, but also like The most severe warning in the world. China can no longer bear the burden and is overwhelmed.
Drying along with the earth are the Chinese souls. Even more deserted than the desert is the Chinese soul.
Why did the Japanese still maintain the beauty of their country during the process of economic take-off? Why did the Japanese not let GDP blind their minds? Why did the Japanese embark on the path of scientific development concept half a century earlier than the Chinese? Should Chinese people put aside their "noble" status and study and learn seriously?
China’s average life expectancy is relatively high. According to statistics in 2000, the average life expectancy of men and women was 69.63 years and 73.33 years respectively. In the eyes of the Chinese, the Japanese are the most labor-intensive country in the world, with extremely high work pressure. However, what you would never expect is that Japan is the country with the longest life expectancy in the world. In 2003, the average life expectancy of Japanese women was 85.33 years old and that of men was 78.33 years old, both setting world records. The average life expectancy of Japanese men and women has ranked first in the world for four consecutive years, while the life expectancy of women has ranked first since 1985.
Obviously, although the Chinese emphasize "people-oriented", they do not live as long as the Japanese.
What kind of country is Japan? In the eyes of many people, it seems to be a barbaric country, a country that never knows when to admit its mistakes, a country with high life pressure and unhappy citizens. Comparing statistical data, we find that Japan is a country with an advanced economy, affluent people, and A country that has a fair society, good governance, excellent education, stable families, beautiful environment, high life expectancy, is far-sighted, and has made significant contributions to the world. For China to reach the current level of economic development as Japan, it may still take decades of hard work in many aspects, and in some aspects it may even take hundreds of years of hard work.
Japan is by no means an idle country, and it is by no means the country with the "illusion" that China and Japan are on the verge of decline. Rather, it is a country that is outstanding in many aspects and worthy of careful reference and study by the Chinese people. And China is not a country that has risen and is about to surpass this great neighbor in the "illusion". China is just a country that has just recovered its strength, has a great future, and needs to redouble its efforts in all aspects.
Perhaps, in the eyes of some Chinese angry youth friends, they have never been ashamed to associate with the Japanese, let alone learn from the Japanese. The Japanese are just enemies. Even so, please remember one sentence: the best revenge for your enemy is to "live better than him", rather than making the other person's life worse at any cost.
To live a better life than others, it is not enough to have full enthusiasm and slogans that break the sky. What is more needed is hard work, real wisdom and down-to-earth actions. .