As Prosperity Spreads Into China's Interior, So Do Growing Pains
Nanchang Becomes a Business Hub --
And a Place for Gambling, Other Vices
A Year's Wages Gone in a Night
NANCHANG, China -- For decades, this city tucked amid the rural hills of central China was a place its inhabitants wanted to escape. These days, Nanchang is a city poised on the edge of possibility.
The economy is roaring ahead, as investors and speculators plow money into real estate and businesses in hopes that Nanchang will be among China's next boomtowns. Bakeries displaying elaborately iced cakes and sports shops selling $5 basketballs stay open long past dark, ready to sell to a late-night customer. Many residents are betting on a miraculous turn of fortune -- literally. From peasants playing for penny stakes to bored housewives gathering for mah-jongg games in the ubiquitous teahouses to hardcore addicts waging thousands of dollars at a time, the city is gripped in a gambling craze.
Like the mild breezes that blow here all year round, the winds of capitalism are finally gusting through the capital of Jiangxi province, sandwiched between two wealthier neighbors, Guangdong and Jiangsu. For years, that proximity was a curse for Nanchang, whose small and midsize state-run factories couldn't compete with the nimble private companies springing up in the economically progressive provinces next door. Now, rising labor and land costs on the coast are pushing investors inland. Nanchang, with its lower costs and nexus of transport lines tying the coast to the interior, is becoming a destination of choice.
It is a dynamic playing across other smaller cities in China's hinterland. Offering new reservoirs of low-price land and labor, they allow China to keep its economic edge and continue attracting foreign investment. As these places start to reap the benefits of the market, private businesses and consumers prosper, providing new and potentially vast markets for foreign and domestic companies to sell their products. Spreading the wealth from the coast to the interior is crucial for social stability, even as widening income disparities stoke growing numbers of protests.
The changes that have come to Nanchang are generating new opportunities for the city's residents to get rich. But they are also creating unprecedented social freedoms and a Wild West atmosphere beyond the watchful eyes of central authorities. "People can do what they didn't dare do in the past," says Wang Mingmei of the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences.
* * *
Taxi driver Yue Liang usually works the airport lines, but this afternoon, he is ferrying a friend, an airport worker who describes himself as a gambling addict, in search of his latest fix. The traditional vice, though banned by the Communist government, has made a huge comeback across the country following more than two decades of market overhauls. China's newly wealthy are rich enough to gamble; the rest gamble in hopes of getting rich.
To elude government crackdowns, Nanchang's big-stakes games move from place to place, so the airport worker, who declined to be identified, inquires for directions on his cellphone as Mr. Yue's taxi winds its way out of the city. Their taxi finally stops at a village an hour outside of town, unremarkable except for the men stationed as lookouts along the road and the shiny cars parked in front, transport for gamblers from the city.
A handful of farmers huddle in front of a cement house, betting small-denomination notes in a round of mah-jongg, a popular Chinese game using numbered tiles. The real action lies behind the village, on the edge of an unplowed field. There, about 100 people cram around a card table, where a woman in an orange faux-leather-and-fur jacket shakes a pair of dice in a glass jar. She slams the jar on the table, waits for the dancing dice to settle, then shouts out the results, which determine winning and losing bets placed on "pai jiu," or domino tiles. After each round, her companion rakes in the piles of 100 yuan ($12) notes placed around the table, and distributes money to the winners.
The airport worker wriggles his way to the front of the crowd and placed 500 yuan on a tile. He wins, doubling his money, and bets another 300 yuan. The group watches, silent and intense, some chewing on sugar-cane stalks or peanuts hawked by villagers, others standing on benches in the back to see. A murmur runs through the crowd when someone wins big.
Mr. Yue takes out his wallet and carefully counts out 10 100-yuan notes, betting them all at once. He loses. Grim-faced, he plays some more, finally breaking even. He peels himself away from the table. A while back, Mr. Yue says, he visited a gambling site in the mountains with his friend and suffered a loss of 20,000 yuan in one night, more than a year's earnings.
"My wife didn't talk to me for six months," he says. "I have to stay away from this, it's too dangerous. You work so hard to earn money, and then, it's gone." The airport worker shakes his head. "I can't get out," he says. "I have to pay back my debts" from past gambling losses.
In recent months, China has launched a national crackdown on gambling, netting tens of thousands of offenders. Mr. Yue says gambling continues unabated in Nanchang; some time after their trek to the village gambling site, he says, his friend from the airport lost his home, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, to his habit.
* * *
Growing up in Nanchang, Chen Niandai itched to leave. "It was backward compared to other places," he says. Despite his restlessness, Mr. Chen bet his future on the city -- and he is reaping the rewards today. The 42-year-old entrepreneur is chairman of Huiren Group, a traditional Chinese medicine company he says generated operating revenue of 2.17 billion yuan in 2003, and in the past few years, has been growing at more than 30% annually. He drives a BMW when his chauffeur isn't transporting him around, and lives with his family in a custom-built two-story house.
Things weren't always so good. The private sector is the fastest-growing part of China's economy, but for years, Nanchang appeared to have little interest in nurturing any private businesses. Some of the Chinese Communist Party's first revolutionaries originated in Jiangxi, and their conservative, factional thinking continued to color the bureaucracy long after the party had embraced capitalism. Running a business in Nanchang was an uphill struggle for Mr. Chen, who with his brother had set up Huiren in 1992 on the foundations of a flagging honey venture began by their father.
"We had to borrow money a bit at a time, and upgrade our facilities, bit by bit," he recalls. "It was very difficult to get good talent and good technology, because Nanchang was so backward, no one wanted to come here and work for us."
In 2001, Beijing appointed two new leaders -- both, fresh from stints overseeing prosperous coastal cities -- to take over the reins of the Jiangxi and Nanchang governments, respectively. The new leaders invested in highways, power plants and other infrastructure, and offered preferential tax policies to investors. Their market-minded approach, coupled with the migration of investors from the coast to the interior that began around 1996, have transformed Nanchang's investment climate.
Eating lunch in a private room of a swanky local restaurant, Mr. Chen says such changes have helped to power his company to faster growth. "The government's service for businesses has improved. We can ship our products to other places on the highways, and managers and technicians are willing to come here now," he says.
Mr. Chen says he himself now prefers to stay in Nanchang. Instead of vacationing in other provinces or abroad during holidays, he says, "I like to stay at home and do some thinking. The lifestyle here is so much better than before."
* * *
Outside investors are finding Nanchang attractive, too, both as an investment destination and a burgeoning consumer market. Just consider:
? The number of businessmen from Wenzhou, a coastal town known for its extraordinary entrepreneurship and a bellwether for investment trends, has tripled from five years ago, to 30,000. They have collectively invested more than 10 billion yuan in the city, including in electronics, garments and real estate, says Wenzhou's chamber of commerce in Nanchang.
? When it began marketing cars in Nanchang in 1997, FAW-Volkswagen only sold 100 Jetta automobiles. In 2004, three local outlets of the company, a joint venture between the German auto maker and Changchun-based First Automobile Works, sold more than 2,000 vehicles, says a company executive, Che Chihua. Coming next: a DaimlerChrysler dealership selling Mercedes-Benz cars.
? Last year, Nanchang's economy grew 17% over 2003, against the national growth rate of 9.5%; investments in factories, real estate and other fixed assets surged nearly 50%, double the national rate.
? As Nanchang's economy has boomed, so has its population, which has jumped by more than 50% over the past five years, to 4.6 million as of the end of 2004. Disposable per-capita urban income rose 12% to 8,744 yuan last year, while that for rural residents -- who tend to live on the outskirts of the city -- surged 22% to 3,414 yuan.
Wu Zhenhan, head of the Wenzhou chamber in Nanchang, is opening up a lumber market to cater to the growing demand for wood floorboards and other wood materials amid a property boom in the city. "Wenzhou people come here because they see there is development," he says. "Land, labor, resources are all cheaper. In Wenzhou, we don't even have any more workers left; everyone is a boss."
* * *
The arrival of market overhauls and prosperity is relaxing social mores in Nanchang, creating darker demands than for foreign-brand automobiles. Along with gambling, prostitution and drug use have spread all over China, but the problem is often more pronounced in dead-end towns, where there is a lack of anything else to do, and in new boomtowns, where there is an excess of money and social freedom.
In Nanchang, the double vices of prostitution and drug use have found residence, on and off, in a windowless building on the sprawling grounds of the city's only five-star hotel. The building housed the No. 1 Disco Plaza -- once reputedly Jiangxi's largest and a playground for head-waggling youths high on ecstasy -- until police shut it down in 2001, along with the province's other discos, in a drug crackdown.
Last year, several private businessmen opened a sauna in the same building. The Riverbank Club offers above-board foot massages for about $10, but its main services appear to be of a different nature. A huge painting of an artist's rendition of Lena and the swan -- the story of the Greek god Zeus's rape of a beautiful woman -- greets customers entering the club; other erotic paintings of half-naked women decorate the walls along the stairs. Upstairs, women in low-cut evening gowns glide soundlessly through the carpeted hallways before being swallowed up behind heavy, closing doors.
Inside each room are a massage bench and shower head, a king-size bed and television. Business, says a club employee, is "really good," with 40 to 50 customers seeking what he delicately calls "services beyond a massage," each night, at a cost of about $80 each. The two dozen women who work at the club come mostly from China's rust-belt provinces in the Northeast, he says, and they are "all very pretty." Asked outright if the club offers sexual services, a club manager says: "I can't answer that question. You know what China's like."
A door opens, disgorging a man, stumbling as he tries to place a call on his cellular phone. His friend comes out, they confer, then stagger back into their room. Silence falls once again in the hall, like in a mausoleum.
* * *
Such temptations are testing marriages, contributing to a surge in Nanchang's divorce rate. Meanwhile, young singles are working longer hours at high-stress jobs, making it more difficult for them to meet people and date.
The lives and dreams of some of these lonely hearts are categorized in a stack of binders at the Destiny Marriage Introduction Center: Never-Married Men; Never-Married Women; Divorced Men; Divorced Women; Widowers. The center, set back from a side street in a bare office, claims 10,000 members, but this evening, there is only the man sitting behind the desk. Teacher Yang says the center offers "guaranteed service" for a one-time membership fee of $36, about half a month's income for the average Nanchang local.
"We will continue to introduce you to people until you get married," he says. "What are you looking for?"
I am already married, but I am visiting someone in Nanchang who is divorced, with a 9-year-old son and unemployed. The man isn't really looking to get remarried, but I say I will mention the service to him. Mr. Yang reels off his standard line: "We unite 80 or 90 successful couples a year. People use us because they can meet a wider circle of people. We get your background information and you tell us what type of person you want to meet. You can meet here at the office or outside."
The phone rings, and Mr. Yang answers it. Someone is calling him about a business deal. As he discusses an investment opportunity, he distractedly hands over several binders for me to look through. A growing number of the center's applicants are divorcees: thirty- and fortysomethings making monthly salaries of $100 or $200; men seeking women without children, women seeking men with an apartment.
Off the phone, Mr. Yang grows notably more animated talking about a line of health products and cosmetics that he sells on the side. "Our products are available in Beijing," he says. "Have you heard of them?" He sounds disappointed to hear that I haven't, but that doesn't stop him from launching into a detailed explanation of the goods. As I head out the door, he calls out, almost an afterthought: "Have your friend call me, if he wants to meet someone. We provide service for every type of person."
中国内陆地区饱尝成长的烦恼
几十年来，中国内陆城市南昌的居民们一直都希望能离开这个群山环抱的地方、到外面的精彩世界去闯荡一番。如今，这个城市终于让人们看到了希望之光。
南昌的经济正在迅猛发展，无论是投资者、还是投机者都期待著南昌加入中国新一轮城市繁荣的大潮，大量的资金投入到了南昌的房地产和其他产业中。入夜很深了，精美的面包房以及出售5美元/个篮球的体育用品店里依然灯火通明，守候晚间前来购物的消费者。许多当地人都梦想著一夜致富。从农民几分钱输赢的小打小闹，到在遍地都是的茶馆中打麻将的家庭主妇，以及一次输赢几千美元的豪赌，南昌陷入了赌博的狂潮中。
就像终年吹拂这里的微风一样，资本主义之风终于也吹到了位于富裕的广东和江苏省之间的江西省省会。多年来，这种狭缝间的地缘位置使南昌非常尴尬，当地的中小型国营工厂根本无法同经济发达的邻省崛起的、机制灵活的私有企业竞争。如今，沿海地区劳动力和土地成本的上升使得投资者开始转向内地。南昌凭借较低的成本和联系沿海到内地的便捷交通线，开始成为目的地之一。
中国内地的其他中小城市也正在成为经济增长的动力。这些提供低价土地资源和劳动力大军的城市使得中国保持了经济优势，并继续吸引外资。随著这些地方开始从市场中获益，私有企业和消费者变得更为富裕，就会给国内外公司带来更为巨大的市场，销售它们的产品。财富从沿海向内地扩散对社会稳定至关重要，目前收入差距的扩大引发了越来越多的示威活动。
南昌的改变不仅为当地居民创造了致富新机会，也带来了前所未有的社会自由以及类似当年美国西部开发时期的躁动。江西省社科院(Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences)研究员王明美说，人们现在能做以前不敢做的事情了。
***
出租车司机岳良（音）一般都在机场附近揽活，但今天下午他要送一位自称嗜赌如命的、在机场工作的的朋友寻找最新的赌场。尽管政府禁赌，但在中国改革开放的20多年间，这种传统的恶习还是死灰复燃。已经富裕起来的人有足够的钱去赌；还没富起来的希望藉此致富。
为了逃避政府的打击，南昌的大赌局不断更换地点，因此在岳良的出租车上，这位不愿透露姓名的朋友不断地用手机询问路线。车最终停在了离南昌一小时路程的一个村庄外。除了在村口望风的几个男人，以及赌徒从南昌城里带过来的几辆崭新轿车外，这个地方毫不起眼。
几个农民围坐在一栋水泥房子前，玩著小额输赢的麻将。真正的赌局在村后的一片荒田边：约有100来人围在一张牌桌前，一位身穿橙色人造皮夹克的妇女摇晃著玻璃罐中的两枚骰子。她将罐子扣在桌子上，等骰子停下来后大声报出结果，以此决定押“牌九”的输赢。每轮过后，她的同伴都会将一堆面额人民币100元（合12美元）的钞票拢到一起，分给赢家。
岳良那位在机场工作的朋友挤到众人前，押上了人民币500元。他赢了，钱增加了一倍，接著他又押上300元。一群人默不作声地、紧张地盯著牌桌，有人嚼著村民兜售的甘蔗和花生，有人站在后面的板凳上看。有人大赢一笔时，人群就会发出一阵躁动。
岳良掏出钱包，从里面仔细地点出了10张人民币100元的钞票，一次全部押上。输了。他铁青著脸继续押，终于捞回了本钱。他好不容易才让自己离开赌桌。过了一会，岳良说，他和朋友到过山里的一个赌场，一晚上就输了两万，比他一年的收入还多。
他说：“我老婆有半年没理我，我不得不远离赌博，太危险了。钱本来就很难挣，突然间就这样打了水漂。”在机场工作的那位朋友摇了摇头，说：“我不能停手，我要偿还过去的赌债。”
这几个月来，中国在全国范围内开展了打击赌博的行动，抓获了数以万计的赌徒。但据岳良说，南昌的赌博活动并未降温，就在他们从南昌近郊的村庄回来后不久，那位朋友就因为赌博输掉了价值好几万美元的房子。
***
在南昌长大的陈年代以前希望离开。他说，南昌同其他地方相比太落后了。但尽管他心中愤愤不平，还是把未来寄托在这座城市上，现在也正在获得回报。这位42岁的企业家是中药企业汇仁集团(Huiren Group)的董事长，据他说，2003年该公司的运营收入达到了人民币21.7亿元，这几年的年增长率都超过了30%。他有一辆宝马(BMW)车，司机不在就自己开。他同家人住在一个专门修建的两层楼房中。
事情并不总是一帆风顺。民营企业是中国经济发展最快的组成部分，但多年来，南昌对培养民营经济似乎缺乏兴趣。中国共产党的第一次武装起义就在江西爆发，而本地人的保守思想和小农意识在中国走向市场经济的今天仍没有多大改变。在南昌经营企业对陈年代是个巨大的挑战。1992年，他和兄弟在父亲创办的濒临倒闭的蜂蜜企业基础之上成立了汇仁集团。
陈年代回忆道：“我们不得不一点一点借钱，慢慢升级设备。优秀人才和先进技术都非常难得，因为南昌非常落后，没有人愿意来工作。”
2001年，中国政府任命了两位来自沿海发达地区的新领导人分别掌管江西和南昌。新官上任，他们投资建设了公路、发电厂和其他基础设施，向投资者提供税收优惠政策。他们重视市场的做法，与1996年开始的外来投资者一起逐渐改变了南昌的投资氛围。
在装修豪华的一个当地饭店的包间中吃午餐时，陈年代称，这些变化推动他的企业加速发展。他说：“政府对企业的服务有了改善。现在我们可以通过高速公路将产品运往其他地区，管理人员和技术人员也愿意来了。”
陈年代说，自己现在更愿生活在南昌，不愿到其它省市或国外度假。“宁愿呆在家里，思考一些问题。这里的生活方式比以前好了很多。”
***
外地的投资者也发现了南昌的魅力：不但是一个投资目的地，也是一个蓬勃发展的消费市场。只要想想：
-五年来温州商人增加了两倍，目前在南昌寻找致富机会的温州商人已经有足足3万人了。温州人以非凡的企业家精神和引领投资趋势而著称，据南昌的温州商会介绍，温州人在南昌的投资总额已经超过了人民币100亿元，涉及电子、服装和房地产等行业。
-1997年，一汽大众(FAW-Volkswagen)首次来到南昌，当年只卖出了100辆捷达(Jetta)。但在2004年，一汽大众在南昌已经有了三个销售网点，汽车销量超过了2,000辆，一汽大众管理人士车持华（音译）介绍。紧接著，戴姆勒克莱斯勒(DaimlerChrysler)的经销商也将驻足南昌，销售梅塞德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)。
-去年，南昌市经济较前一年增长17%，远远高于全国经济增长9.5%的表现；工厂、房地产和其他固定资产投资激增近50%──是全国增长水平的两倍。
-随著经济的发展，南昌市的人口也在迅速增加。最近5年当地人口激增50%以上，截至2004年年底，达到460万。城市居民人均可支配收入去年增长12%，至8,744元；农村居民可支配收入增长22%，至3,414元。
南昌市温州商会会长吴振汗正在筹办一个木材市场，满足房地产市场升温带来的对木地板和其他木材的需求。他说，温州人之所以到南昌来，是因为看到这里有发展的机会。土地、劳动力、资源都很便宜。温州几乎已经找不到可以雇请的工人了，每个人都是老板。
***
市场的发展和经济的繁荣正在悄悄改变南昌人的社会观念，也催生了外国名牌汽车之外的晦暗需求。赌博、卖淫和吸毒在中国已经很常见，但在偏远落后的小城镇和经济刚刚崛起的城市都更加严重：偏远地方的人们没别的事儿可做；刚富起来的城里人口袋很鼓，社会环境也更加宽松。
在南昌，卖淫和吸毒找到了藏身地，南昌唯一的五星级酒店院里一座没有窗户的违章建筑。这里曾有号称江西省最大的迪斯科广场，是吸食摇头丸之后的年轻男女逍遥的场所。2001年，警方在打击贩毒的一次行动中查封了包括这里的几个迪斯科舞厅。
去年，几位私营商人在这里开了一家桑拿房。河岸俱乐部(Riverbank Club)在这里公开提供足疗按摩服务，每次收费大约10美元。但它的主要服务项目似乎另有乾坤。俱乐部入口处，巨幅绘画《Lena与天鹅》闯入眼帘──描绘的是希腊神话中的天神宙斯(Zeus)变身为天鹅，强奸美女Lena的故事。拾梯而上，各种半裸美女的色情绘画比比皆是。楼上，身穿低胸晚礼服的女人在走廊地毯上悄然穿行，直到被一扇扇厚重紧闭的大门吞噬。
每一扇门背后，都有一张按摩椅、一个沐浴喷头、一张大尺寸双人床和一台电视。俱乐部一名雇员说，这里的生意“非常好”。每天晚上，都有大约四、五十名客人要求──他委婉地表示──“按摩之外的服务”，费用大约是80美元。在这里工作的20名女人中，大部分都来自东北老工业基地。他说，他们“都非常可爱”。当被直接问到俱乐部是否提供性服务时，经理说，“我不能回答这个问题。你了解中国。”
有一扇门突然打开，走出来一个嘟嘟囔囔的男人，正在用手机拨电话。他的朋友也走了出来，两人商量了一下，又摇摇摆摆地进了房间。走廊里再度沉寂下来，像一座死气沉沉的坟墓。
***
种种欲望在升腾，在考验婚姻。南昌的离婚率陡然上升。但同时，年轻的单身男女在超负荷的压力下工作，很难有机会相遇相知。
这些孤寂的心灵，他们的生活和梦想，都在婚介中心Destiny Marriage Introduction Center被清清楚楚地分门别类：未婚男性、未婚女性、离异男性、离异女性、丧偶人士。这个婚介中心开在一条偏僻的小街上，中心号称有一万名会员，但今晚只有一个男人──杨老师──守在这间简陋的办公室里。他介绍说，婚介中心提供“有保障的服务”，一次性入会费36美元，差不多是普通南昌人半个月的工资。
“我们会不断为你介绍对象，直到你结婚，”他说，“你想找什么样的？”
我已经结婚了，来南昌是看朋友。他离了婚，自己带著一个9岁的儿子，还失了业。他看上去并不想再婚，不过我说我会跟他提到这家婚姻介绍所。杨老师开始老调重弹：“我们每年撮合八、九十对。你把背景材料给我们，说说你想结识哪类人。地点嘛，在这儿或者别的地方都行。”
电话响了，杨老师去接。对方跟他谈起一桩生意，他一边聊著，一边不太在意地递给我一份材料。申请入会的人当中离异人士越来越多：月入一、两百美元，三、四十岁；男性要求女方不带小孩，女性要求对方有房。
放下电话，杨老师明显变得热情起来，兴致勃勃地说起他代销的一系列健康护理产品和化妆品。
“我们的产品都卖到了北京，”他说，“你听说过吗？”见我说没有，他看起来很失望，但并没有打消他向我细致介绍产品的热情。
我迈步出门，他在身后喊道（几乎是事后突然想起）：“让你朋友给我们打电话，只要他想认识一些人。我们这儿各种类型的人都有。”
