The possible emergence of China as an advanced knowledge economy poses some very interesting development opportunities for other nations. The paper to be presented will overview the central research question of whethe...The possible emergence of China as an advanced knowledge economy poses some very interesting development opportunities for other nations. The paper to be presented will overview the central research question of whether (and how) it is possible to "flatten" the divides between advanced and less developed regions of a vast and populous country using knowledge policy as a tool. In particular, we examine whether developing learning communities is an effective means of bridging knowledge gaps and their consequent differences in growth and development. This is the notion of a flat world -one which can be transformed into one level playing field. We select the case of China because the lessons from China, with her long history and geo-political complexities, apply to many aspiring communities in the developing world. We posit that it is over-simplistic to consider that a China at her zenith, having invented printing, gunpowder and football (to pick a random few), closed her borders with the Great Wall (itself an engineering marvel) and languished until she was surprised by European powers which established colonies along her coast. Indeed, several scholars have suggested, it was Deng's reforms that reversed this sad state. We take a contrary view that it was not an open or closed border that saw China decline but the lack of learning and benchmarking which led it so.展开更多
文摘The possible emergence of China as an advanced knowledge economy poses some very interesting development opportunities for other nations. The paper to be presented will overview the central research question of whether (and how) it is possible to "flatten" the divides between advanced and less developed regions of a vast and populous country using knowledge policy as a tool. In particular, we examine whether developing learning communities is an effective means of bridging knowledge gaps and their consequent differences in growth and development. This is the notion of a flat world -one which can be transformed into one level playing field. We select the case of China because the lessons from China, with her long history and geo-political complexities, apply to many aspiring communities in the developing world. We posit that it is over-simplistic to consider that a China at her zenith, having invented printing, gunpowder and football (to pick a random few), closed her borders with the Great Wall (itself an engineering marvel) and languished until she was surprised by European powers which established colonies along her coast. Indeed, several scholars have suggested, it was Deng's reforms that reversed this sad state. We take a contrary view that it was not an open or closed border that saw China decline but the lack of learning and benchmarking which led it so.
