Ryan Pyle Blog: Foreign Policy Magazine - Golf Obsession in China

Hello.

Dan Washburn and I recently had a lovely slide show in Foreign Policy Magazine. You can find it online HERE.

LINK: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/24/chinas_golf_obsession

Shanghai-based writer Dan Washburn and photographer Ryan Pyle teamed up earlier this year for a Financial Times Weekend Magazine cover story about Mission Hills Hainan. For more information about the development of golf in China, visit Washburn's Par for China site.

By: Dan Washburn

The future of golf has shifted to a most unlikely place: China, where statistically 0 percent of the population plays, where up until the mid-1980s the sport was banned by the communists for being too bourgeois, and where the construction of new courses is still technically illegal. It has been said about China, however, that while nothing is allowed there, everything is possible. So even during its supposed moratorium on golf course construction, China has managed to emerge as the only country in the world in the midst of a "golf boom": Hundreds, some say thousands, of courses are expected to open in the next several years.

The epicenter of this growth is China's tropical island province of Hainan, not long ago a lawless place with an economy built largely on smuggling, prostitution, and unchecked property speculation. Beijing is now determined to transform Hainan into a tourist paradise, with golf expected to play a major role (so much so that many joke Hainan is now a "special golf development zone" where mainland restrictions don't apply). While between 100 and 300 courses are expected to be built here, the most mysterious project -- and by far the most audacious -- is the latest offering from Hong Kong's Mission Hills Group, already owners of a 12-course resort in southern China's Guangdong province. Its Hainan club, when completed, will be the world's largest, with some 22 courses covering an area nearly 1.5 times the size of Manhattan. But the highly secretive Mission Hills development, a behemoth undertaking that displaced thousands of villagers, is also the most controversial, so controversial that it required a code name: Project 791.

With the central government guaranteeing a "top international tourism destination" by 2020, Hainan's destiny appears predetermined. No one disputes the poor province's many infrastructure needs, but the prospect of another decade of furious growth has some on the island concerned for its already fragile ecology and centuries-old ways of rural life.

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Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Ryan Pyle Blog: Corruption & Construction

Hello,

Today I wanted to address infrastructure spending. With all this stimulus money being tossed around, much of it earmarked for infrastructure and construction, I thought we should stop for a minute and take note that the collective world is throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at perhaps the doggiest industry on the planet.

A recent article in Fortune Magazine (02/16/2009) reported that, according to Transparency International, a non-governmental organization, the construction industry is the most corrupt industry in the world. An example of this comes from Halliburton, who recently forked out US$599 million in fines to the US Government to settle charges concerning construction related bribes in Nigeria. Wasn't former Vice President of the United States Dick Cheany the former CEO of Halliburton prior to his eight years in public office?

While the Fortune Magazine article focuses on the anti-corruption measures by construction company Fluror, I thought it might be interesting, in this space, to take a look at how all that tax payer stimulus money will be spent. After bailing out the banks the next biggest expenditure in the United States is likely to be construction, whether it be building roads, expressways, bridges, schools, and factories. Does it not raise any flags within the government that the construction industry is such a mess? Now perhaps in the United States there are more regulations and transparency in the bidding process for government contracts, but there is certainly going to be a lot of back dealing; and perhaps that is acceptable because of the great rush everyone is in to repair the economy and put people back to work, but maybe not.

While I don't have much direct experience in the United States on these issues I can promise you that China's US$600 billion stimulus package is going to go pear shaped in the early stages. In an earlier blog I mentioned that much of the benefactors of the stimulus money will be construction companies and firms dealing with natural resources, both industries are essentially government owned. So basically the government wrote a US$600 billion cheque to itself. Fair enough, the government manages over 50% of the Chinese economy either directly or indirectly; and at the end of the day communist leaders have no interest in transparency and no tolerance for criticism, so they don't really worry too much about what ordinary people think about these types of investments in the country. In the end the expenditure will help things, disproportionately to owners of cement and construction companies but that money will trickle down to the service economy as well. Transparent, no. Effective, that has yet to be seen.

But I worry. While the Chinese government knows how to mobilize and move people better than any government on earth, there is no doubt that the money will be used quickly and short-term construction jobs will keep migrant workers happy for a year or two, but how is that sustainable? When that money runs out will there be another stimulus package introduced? If the government fears political stability so much, and keeping migrant workers and University graduates busy, perhaps they should just call the stimulus packages "Political Stability Stimulus"; which is all it really is. Expect more money thrown at the problem in the coming months.

Furthermore, my guess is that Transparency International doesn't have very many nice things to say about the construction industry in China, and it should bother people that there could be so much potential for wasted money. In the United States ordinary people rise up and complain all the time about how "my tax dollars are being wasted". Well Chinese workers pay tax, and so do Chinese companies and so do joint venture multinational corporations; but where are the people in China asking, "are my tax dollars being wasted?". Or what about "are my middle class tax dollars being used to pacify the masses and keep the current corrupt leadership in place?" Interesting questions, no answers and no dialog.

This is what the emerging middle class should be bringing to the table, and in the future they will hopefully demand more transparency and some form of independent rule of law in China. My guess is the government already knows that and doesn't care much for making changes in the great name of "political stability and economic growth". And while stability and economic growth is important it doesn't mean that tax payers should just sit back and watch money be thrown at corrupt industries to solve short term problems.

The next 6 months should be very interesting. Many online bloggers in China were quick to point out that a significant portion of the money donated to rebuild Sichuan after it's devastating earthquake was misused, my guess is the same will be done for this stimulus package. But even if caught with a hand in the cookie jar, don't expect any government officials to be jailed. For those who are keeping score, economic growth once again trumps rule of law, anti-corruption measures and political reform.

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Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Ryan Pyle Blog: The Ziping Dam and The Quake

Hello,

With all the news about China's Ziping Dam potentially causing the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province on May 12th, I thought I would jump in with a quick comment. Above is a series of photographs I actually shot at the Ziping Dam near Dujiangyang just days after the quake struck.

When the earthquake struck many in Dujiangyang fled the city fearing that the dam would burst and flood the town, in the days that followed the officials in charge significantly reduced the amount of water held in the reservoir as there were aparent cracks. I have shots of some workers actually making repairs to the dam. Scary stuff.

Apparently half of all the dams in the world are in China, and I'm just guessing they are all of varying quality. The epicenter of the May 12th quake, which killed over 80,000 people, is said to be just 3km or so from the site of the of the Ziping Dam Reservoir. I've traveled far and wide in Sichuan and I can tell you that there are dams everywhere and construction is continuing on several projects larger than the Ziping Dam. More difficulties in the future?

It's been my experience that a lot of Chinese officials in small remote areas are big fans of dam construction because they require massive amounts of steel and concrete, business that local officials usually have their fingers in. While it's true that dams offer clean energy, it's apparent that larger projects have serious environmental consequences; not to mention all the people who have to relocate do to the reservoir. Below are links to the articles that have sparked all the chat.

SHARON LaFRANIERE for the New York Times wrote the following article: CLICK HERE

EVAN OSNOS for the New Yorker blogged about an interview he did in 2006 where a geological engineer he met with in Chengdu indicated a growing fear of too many dams on Sichuan's rivers: CLICK HERE for his blog.

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Cheers,

Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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