China’s Inclusive Growth

By+Lan+Xinzhen

Nowadays， numerous orange bicycles can be seen on the streets and lanes of many Chinese cities. These are intelligent sharing bicycles made available by Mobike. The lock snaps open after a user scans the QR code affi xed to the bike with a smartphone app. When the user has pedaled to their destination and locked the bicycle， payment is deducted automatically by the app. Of course， before scanning a QR code， users fi rst need to register， put down a 299-yuan （$44） deposit and fund the account with a certain amount of money. The usage fee is 0.5 yuan for up to half an hour or 1 yuan for one ride. The company sometimes offers free-of-charge bike use.

Thanks to its convenience， Mobikes bicycle-sharing system has seen a sharp increase of registered users since it was launched in April 2016. Mobikes statistics show that， by June 2017， it had acquired over 100 million registered users and deployed more than 5 million bicycles in over 130 cities at home and abroad. The number of rides daily had surpassed 20 million.

A striking contrast to the wild popularity of the sharing bicycles is another traffi c project called Batie， which is a total failure. Batie is an elevated bus which moves on tracks like the subway. Each of its four raised compartments is 22 meters long， 7.8 meters wide and 4.8 meters tall. Carrying 300 passengers， the electrically powered， environmentally friendly bus can glide over vehicles no higher than 2 meters. According to Batie Technology Development Co.， while the bus is similar in function to a subway train， its construction costs less than one fi fth of the price of a subway.

When the design was unveiled， it attracted a lot of attention. Time magazine chose it as one of the 50 best inventions in 2010.

However， after the trial run took place in Qinhuangdao of north Chinas Hebei Province on August 2， 2016， the atmosphere changed drastically. Once favored by many people， the Batie was revealed to be incompatible with current urban traffic conditions. The trial bus stood 4.8 meters tall， but overpasses， pedestrian bridges and lamp poles in Chinese cities are mostly lower than 4.8 meters. If Batie were to run on city streets， all the traffi c facilities would have to be altered， which is impossible. Besides， if the bus was packed with passengers， the overall weight might exceed 100 tons， which would cause road surfaces to collapse. The renovation of current streets and roads to accommodate such a weight is also impossible. As a result， the Batie project was stopped and the test tracks in Qinhuangdao removed.

The funds for the Batie experiment came from Huayingkailai Assets Management Corp. The company raised a total of 9.1 billion yuan （$1.34 billion） for the project. This is regarded as illegal fundraising， and its now known that 4.8 billion yuan （$706 million） cant be repaid. On July 2， 32 suspects from Huayingkailai Assets Management Corp. were detained on criminal charges.

Mobike and Batie actually have a lot in common： The purpose of both is to provide convenient transport， and as novel things， they enjoyed a measure of tolerance from society and government. Although they have contrary outcomes， these two cases refl ect the nature of Chinas economy.

Inclusiveness is a big feature of Chinas current economic growth. The Chinese Government carries on with the development concept of innovation， coordination， openness， sharing and environmental friendliness. Its development strategy fully displays inclusiveness. Policies promote tolerance， and economic mechanisms ensure it. New industries， models and formats keep cropping up， such as e-commerce， mobile payments and shared bicycles. The Chinese Government adopts a tolerant and prudent regulatory approach， which helps to promote the sound development of these new things. While becoming new driving forces of Chinas economic growth， these new businesses help to make peoples lives more convenient and also contribute a lot of job opportunities. Of course， innovation can also bring problems. For example， the parking of shared bicycles is testing local authorities urban management capabilities.

The key to inclusive growth is sharing， and the core is fairness. The purpose of inclusive growth is to help ordinary people share the benefi ts of economic and social progress and to provide the public with equal access to development opportunities. The Chinese Government is attempting to create a more fl exible market environment to promote inclusive growth of the economy， where people can put unprecedented ideas into practice and benefi t from these innovations.

The examples of Mobike and Batie reveal that not all new ideas are accepted by the market and the government. Baties case shows that inclusive growth must obey the law and relevant regulations. Most new ideas are not covered by current laws， so if the bottom line of the law is breached in the process of experimentation， punishment will follow.

China has always tried to show its confi dence in inclusive growth and its faith in reform， while at the same time trying to seek inclusive growth in opening wider to the outside world. Its hoped that more stories like Mobike will appear in the inclusive environment.

Meanwhile， the government should also take immediate actions to tackle emerging problems and provide guidance on enterprises innovation activities to ensure the sound development of emerging industries.