I
n China, the dragon is a powerful, yet benevolent symbol.
It carries the hopes and desires of the people into the
heavens and brings back divine blessings. It bears no
resemblance to the monsters we are familiar with from
Western mythology. The “Red Dragon” reflects the nature of
a country that could hardly be more different. In ancient
Chinese myths and legends, earth, air and water dragons
lived throughout the land – in the vast expanses of the
Gobi Desert in the West, across the Himalayas and along
the rivers and coastline of the East.
Room for growth
The country’s sheer size alone gives it a position of power.
Covering an area of 9.6 million square kilometres, making it
almost as big as Europe with 10.2 million square kilometres,
China has a population of 1.3 billion – around 560 million more
than Europe. The difference in population density between
rural and urban areas is enormous. In the lowlands of Northern
China, hundreds of millions of people live in the densely
populated cities. By contrast, large areas of the countryside,
including the sweeping mountain ranges of the West, the
Transhimalaya and the Gobi Desert, are virtually uninhabited.
Self-assured and visionary
In recent years, an impressive dynamic has emerged from
the political interaction between the socialist value system
and the free market economy with neo-liberal characteristics.
With an expected decline in economic growth from a previous
average of ten per cent to 7.8 per cent in the first half of 2012,
the voices of caution are becoming louder, though significant
change is unlikely. China has established itself as one of the
world’s key growth markets in recent years. The impetus for
the rise of the “Red Dragon” lies in its self-assuredness,
which stems from its history as an ancient civilization dating
back around 5,000 years. The country’s vision and global
self-image is reflected in its plans for its very first manned
space station in 2020.
Photos: Svend Erik Hansen / gettyimages