Ben Simpfendorfer: Ben Simpfendorfer on China and the Arab World
[Ben Simpfendorfer works as Chief Economist of China for a major world bank. Previously, he was the Senior China Economist for JPMorgan Chase. Living in Hong Kong for nearly a decade, he wrote about financial matters for an audience of global investors. He began his career in the Middle East, living in Amman, Beirut, and Damascus. (Courtesy, Ben Simpfendorfer)].
Ben Simpfendorfer’s area of expertise—the interaction between the Chinese and Arab worlds—is rare perhaps because it is so brutally difficult to acquire. But in studying Chinese and Arabic, Simpfendorfer has earned the ability to comment intelligently on the relationship between these two great cultures and its pivotal importance to the rest of the world, as he done in his timely new book “The New Silk Road.” He is energetic and thoughtful in his research and vigilant against what should be called cable-channel alarmism. He lived in Beirut and Damascus in the nineteen-nineties and is now chief China Economist for the Royal Bank of Scotland based in Hong Kong.
What is the size of the Arab population in China and how has it changed over the years?
The Chinese government doesn’t release figures. But an estimated 200,000 Arab nationals visit a single Chinese coastal city called Yiwu each year. (The city boasts the world’s largest wholesale consumer goods market.) To put the figure into perspective, the United States received 680,000 Arab visitors last year. So we’re talking about sizeable numbers. The number of arrivals started to accelerate after 2001 as relations between the Arab world and the West deteriorated. It’s been a one-way trajectory ever since. Fewer live in China itself, but I’ve met everyone from Egyptian journalists working in Guangzhou to Palestinians studying at Beijing University. It’s a tight community.
Is this the first time they’ve come in large numbers or is there an ancient precedent?
Arabs have been visiting China since at least 600 CE. The majority arrived along the Silk Road, one of the world’s historic trade routes. However, trade along the Silk Road dried up after the sixteen-hundreds, in part because the ruling Ming Dynasty turned inwards and attempted to assimilate Arab traders with the local population. (Their descendents are still living in China). And arrivals along the Silk Road soon turned into a trickle. This is what makes today’s events so remarkable. I mean, the sheer number of Arabs travelling to China is something we haven’t seen for over four hundred years. And, for the romantics of the world, the resurrection of the Silk Road is a more attractive side of globalization than is the inexorable spread of box-like Wal-Marts or Carrefours.
Why are they coming?
The Arabs are hungry for “Made in China” goods.
Read entire article at New Yorker
Ben Simpfendorfer’s area of expertise—the interaction between the Chinese and Arab worlds—is rare perhaps because it is so brutally difficult to acquire. But in studying Chinese and Arabic, Simpfendorfer has earned the ability to comment intelligently on the relationship between these two great cultures and its pivotal importance to the rest of the world, as he done in his timely new book “The New Silk Road.” He is energetic and thoughtful in his research and vigilant against what should be called cable-channel alarmism. He lived in Beirut and Damascus in the nineteen-nineties and is now chief China Economist for the Royal Bank of Scotland based in Hong Kong.
What is the size of the Arab population in China and how has it changed over the years?
The Chinese government doesn’t release figures. But an estimated 200,000 Arab nationals visit a single Chinese coastal city called Yiwu each year. (The city boasts the world’s largest wholesale consumer goods market.) To put the figure into perspective, the United States received 680,000 Arab visitors last year. So we’re talking about sizeable numbers. The number of arrivals started to accelerate after 2001 as relations between the Arab world and the West deteriorated. It’s been a one-way trajectory ever since. Fewer live in China itself, but I’ve met everyone from Egyptian journalists working in Guangzhou to Palestinians studying at Beijing University. It’s a tight community.
Is this the first time they’ve come in large numbers or is there an ancient precedent?
Arabs have been visiting China since at least 600 CE. The majority arrived along the Silk Road, one of the world’s historic trade routes. However, trade along the Silk Road dried up after the sixteen-hundreds, in part because the ruling Ming Dynasty turned inwards and attempted to assimilate Arab traders with the local population. (Their descendents are still living in China). And arrivals along the Silk Road soon turned into a trickle. This is what makes today’s events so remarkable. I mean, the sheer number of Arabs travelling to China is something we haven’t seen for over four hundred years. And, for the romantics of the world, the resurrection of the Silk Road is a more attractive side of globalization than is the inexorable spread of box-like Wal-Marts or Carrefours.
Why are they coming?
The Arabs are hungry for “Made in China” goods.