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July 09, 2004
Blood for Oil
7/6/2004 10:06:53 PM | Dongying, Shandong Province, China
Currently in Dongying in Shangdong province at the house of my er4-da4-ye5 (er4 is Chinese for 2, da4-ye5 refers to him being my uncle on my father's side - he's the 2nd oldest of my dad's brothers). He's an official in the municipal government, of some seniority but a relatively modest - though comfortable - income. Dongying is a city of approximately 300,000 people, which makes it a relatively small city for China. In a country where an overwhelming majority of the money is still concentrated in large urban centers, Dongying is the exception: a wealthy home to China's second largest oil reserves.
The difference between Dongying and Binzhou is the difference between night and day. Incidentally, the nighttime is when that difference becomes obvious to the casual visitor. It is then that Dongying's wide, uncrowded avenues ignite up with their densely-spaced designer streetlamps - creating a golden crescendo of light that leads up to a main city square which houses the courthouse, the Party headquarters and Dongying City Hall, a massive 20-ish story structure that really shines at night. These summer nights, the square is filled with people - dancing, singing and the occasional lovers making out (PDA is still frowned on in Chinese society - most couples do it off on one of the more secluded paths that lead out from the square):
The main 'gate' to the square, and the path of lights that lead to it.
People gather at the square - the town courthouse is in the background.
Couples dancing in another part of the square to the backdrop of the government offices.
Electronic gates in front of the offices, supposedly to keep out protestors.
To one side of the square, a path leads to a bustling night market. To another, there is a path to the river, with a well-lit walkway along the banks on one side and luxury 2-story houses on the other side.
Luxury houses line one side of the extremely scenic river path.
All of this development is funded primarily by the Shengli oil field. According to my uncle, oil revenues equal approximately 50 billion RMB, or about 12-13 billion USD (The fixed exchanged rate with the US Dollar means that the RMB is currently undervalued. Good currency buying tip - it will not be this undervalued for very much longer.) About 10 billion RMB goes to the federal and provincial government, 3 billion RMB to the city government and 10 billion RMB is cost. The rest is reaped by the citizens of the city, albeit in accordance with a rather inequal distribution structure. And because Chinese save a lot, this wealth has resulted in investment companies that are offsprings of Dongying's oil. These have borne Dongying's new breed of millionaires (in USD). I will write more about my experience being 'guested around' by them in my next entry. For some reason or another, being a Harvard graduate means one gets to do these things (or at least my uncle seems to think so).
Posted by rxu at July 9, 2004 11:33 PM