The emergence of China may be the single most important event in Australia’s economic history. In coming years, China’s influence will shape Australia’s wealth but also how and where we live. It will make us rich relative to much of the developed world but also raise social issues, particularly of fairness. As such, understanding China better through travel is crucial to determining how some of these issues may play out. For these reasons, James White travelled to China and had a closer look into its current economic environment, the impact of the large monetary and fiscal stimulus programs, the near-term outlook for growth and the nuances of Chinese commodity demand. The journey through central China, meanwhile, provided an insight into the country’s domestic economy. In particular, the city of Wuhan in central China did much to change the way White thinks of the country.
