Name: 中国の製造業が勝つ理由 (Why Chinese Manufacturing Wins)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T08:03:13.000Z
Duration: 11 min 4 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

様態の副詞

At the end of the first millennium, around
1000 AD, China was definitively the most powerful

More than a third of the world lived within
its borders, it's technology was the most

advanced in existence, and its economy accounted
for an astronomical 50% of the worlds GDP.

The west paled in comparison to China, but
eventually, Europe arose from its dark ages,

the importance of China diminished, and the
west came to rule the world.

Today that is still largely the case, but
China is rising again.

In 1978 China had a GDP of only $200 billion,
only about 4% of the world's GDP, but nowadays

that GDP has risen to $11 trillion and accounts
for 15% of all economic activity in the world.

This economic renaissance of the last 40 years
is largely thanks to one industry—manufacturing.

We've come to accept that China is the world's
factory, but it wasn't always this way.

In the early 20th century goods were often
just produced right near where they were sold.

America made American goods, Europe made European
goods.

It wasn't until cheap, worldwide shipping
became available that the production side

of a company could be relocated to the other
side of the world, but why did China win?

How did this country become the manufacturing
giant it is today?

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping took power in the People's
Republic of China.

He quickly visited Bangkok, Singapore, and
other flourishing Asian cities and was convinced

that, in order to succeed, China needed to
open itself up to the outside world, at least

He gave people control of their farms, privatized
businesses, and, most importantly, allowed

foreign investment in the country for the
first time in decades.

He opened up four special economic zones with
tax incentives and exemption from the oversight

that the rest of the country saw on its investments
and trade activity.

These four zones were essentially the free
market portions of China, but none was more

successful than this one—Shenzhen in the
Guangdong Province so I went there to see

Before its designation as a special economic
zone in 1980, Shenzhen was a tiny town with

about 30,000 inhabitants but today that's
grown to nearly 18 million people.

That means its size rivals that of New York
and London.

It's believed that Shenzhen might have been
the single fastest growing city in human history.

Every other Special Economic Zone was an established
area before its designation, but Shenzhen

made sense as a spot where China could embrace
the west as it lay just north of the border

of Hong Kong—what was at the time a British
territory.

Today Shenzhen is the electronics manufacturing
capital of the world.

“Shenzhen as a city is really known for
two things.

One is manufacturing capabilities especially
for consumer electronics products and second,

its gravitation for talents or human resources
especially on the product development or research

Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, Canon—they
all manufacture products here in Shenzhen.

In fact, 90% of the world's electronics
are made at least in part in this city.

Everything just costs less in China so labor
costs less too.

Where a factory in the United States might
pay upwards of $10-15 an hour, a Chinese laborer

would happily accept $3 or $4 an hour in Shenzhen.

When I was there I withdrew the equivalent
of $80 from the ATM upon arrival and left

A 30 minute taxi ride cost about $7 US dollars.

A full meal at a local place was about $3.

But China isn't cheap entirely naturally.

China has artificially depressed the value
of their currency.

Up until 2005, the Chinese government just
said that the exchange rate was 8.27 yuan

They then went a few years allowing it to
increase in value within a margin, but in

2008 they pegged its value again to make Chinese
exports more attractive during the financial

Nowadays, the government just picks a exchange
rate daily and lets the currency fluctuate

This just makes it so western companies can
buy more for less.

China also doesn't charge taxes on exports
while the US doesn't charge taxes on imports.

The US doesn't even charge customs fees
for some products like tablet PC's so some

products can make it all the way from their
factory in China to stores in the US completely

When I was in Shenzhen I visited a company
called Anker.

They make all sorts of consumer electronics
but chances are if you have something from

them, it's one of their portable batteries.

I asked their CEO why so many electronics
companies are now based in Shenzhen.

“So the advantage is that, you know, we're
close to the supply chain so everything is

Right, so, instead of like, you know, you
do a mock up and you see it two weeks later

here you send design to mockup and you receive
it, like, three days later.”

In Shenzhen there are markets where you can
buy every part imaginable, there are factories

ready to build prototypes in a matter of days,
there are engineers ready to work at the drop

Development just happens faster in Shenzhen.

A US company might use the same factories
as one based in Shenzhen but the geographical

In addition, word travels fast in Shenzhen.

A few years ago Anker was first-to-market
with a technology called PowerIQ that allows

The engineers from Anker told me that a big
reason they were able to go to market before

the western companies was because they heard
about it first thanks to their proximity to

Shenzhen just produces things better and faster,
but a product isn't just a physical item.

“Honestly being in Shenzhen for this company
is an advantage for the supply chain that

we can develop good products with a competitive
price but for the brand its also a kind of

What Shenzhen can't build as well is brands.

Certain companies like Anker have been able
to to an extent thanks to smart PR and marketing,

but some other companies just don't bother.

Lucrative western consumers want familiar
and approachable feeling brands but cultural

differences and geographic distance often
make China based companies just seem different.

All across Shenzhen I saw these boxes filled
with rentable portable chargers and as it

turns out, it was an Anker product but the
Chinese designed product didn't really succeed

“Talking about AnkerBox, the product is
initially designed for the western market,

however, actually, our trial in Seattle wasn't
that successful so we realized that, first

of all, that US people actually, when they
go to a bar they actually really go there

drinking instead of looking at their phones.

Well if you walk into a bar in China you'll
find that actually, like 20 tables of people

standing around looking at their phones.”