The 2008 Emergence of The Magic Dragon

I was born and raised part of my youth in an immigrant neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio.

Both sets of my grandparents immigrated to America from Europe in the 1920s.

By the time I was born in 1959, my relatives had deep suspicions about Japan, China and Korea. We were also right in the midst of the Cold War and many thought the Soviets were plotting with China to take over the US.

I remember my father telling me that if our dog kept digging holes in the yard that she would wide up digging her way to China.

One of the trends in the 2008 BrandVenture Trendcast is titled “The Chinese Revolution.” It talks about how the Chinese economy is driving global change.

Depending upon your cultural roots, the 2008 Summer Olympics are like China’s Debutante Ball, Bar Mitzvah, First Communion and Coming Out Party all wrapped in one.

Get a load of these stats:

• 1,350,000,000 people in China vs. 301,0000 in US

• China contributed more to global growth than the US…First time another country has done so since the 1930s

• China passed US as the world’s largest consumer in four of the five basic food, energy and industrial commodities

• China now ranks third globally in ad spending behind US and Japan

• 450 Starbucks in China…coffee now equal to tea!

Even if you do not subscribe to it, the current issue of National Geographic is a must read.

The issue is titled “China. Inside The Dragon.”

As we tell our clients constantly, while the economics of the market are important, cultural dynamics are really what drives business.

Here is some of what is reported in the National Geographic issue:

• China has the world’s largest number of Internet users – 220 million surpassing Web surfers in the US

• Authorities have added 171 new pop culture phrases to China’s national language registry

• 31% of Chinese 16 or older say they are religious, four times the official estimate a decade ago

• Cell phones in China have grown from 87 million in 2000 to 432 million today

• 32% of Chinese say the Internet broadens their sex life compared with 11% in the US

When I turned 12 years old, my father was transferred to Georgia to take over the management of a manufacturing plant.

Coming to Georgia from Cleveland was like moving into another country.

One of the things I remember my father telling me about on my first visit down to house hunt was this thing called Kudzu… this vine that was brought over to the US from China.

He told me that it grew faster than any plant in the US and it was taking over the Southern landscape. Most of all, no one had really figured out how to even kill it.

China is radically transforming.

For three decades of peace, the Chinese economy has grown at an average annual rate of nearly 10% and more people have been lifted out of poverty than in any other country, at any other time in human history.

The Kudzu that is driving the radical transformation is called Individuality.

Two of the cultural changes we cite in the BrandVenture Trendcast presentation illustrate just how much individuality is fueling the change.

One involves “Flash Competition” in which kids, teens and 20-somethings are taking popular music videos and adding new voice and music and then using their mobile phones to launch them on YouTube and similar sites.

The second involves both Mobile Phones and Ring Tones. Mobile Numbers are hot and communicate a lot about a person…many pay money to get rid of the unlikely “13s” and instead, get phone numbers that include the magic “8’s”. And over 40% of the Chinese change their ring-tones to be different and distinctive every week.

The US right now is going through an interesting presidential campaign.

Regardless of whether you listen to Hillary, Obama or McCain, the US seems to be hung up on defining “common ground” and “shared responsibility.”

Maybe we can learn some lessons just by observing how the hard-earned grass-roots entrepreneurial Chinese Dollar (Yuan) is radically changing the economic and cultural landscape of 1.3 billion people…and the entire world around them.