A diplomatic word on airports in the People’s Republic of China: a few are not up to world class standards just yet (ok, maybe more than a few). Some of this is understandable. China has 1.35 billion people. The country’s demographic chart looks like a Space Shuttle contrail. And then there’s China’s economy. Average annual GDP growth from 1980 to 2010 was 15.8%. Kung Pao chicken isn’t that hot. Big Trouble in Big China The point is that China, more so than any other robust, industrialised nation-state, has to confront some odious infrastructure imbroglios. You can imagine the discussions over at the Politburo. Do we invest in the Three Gorges Dam or expand the Port of Shanghai? Build the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge or invest in the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (aka the largest artificial forest in the world)? Expand Beijing’s underground or build a high-speed railway from Xining to Lhasa? The answer, time and again, has been “Yes!” and “Yes!”. Let’s do it all, in other words. The chickens have home to roost on that score, however. China is just too big and too vast to get it all done yesterday, let alone today. And this is where the country’s […]