Palm Beach to Palm Springs

I blogged once about “Dakao vs Dalat”.

Today, it’s about Palm Beach to Palm Springs.

Mirror image of each other, and located on the opposite side of the country: palm trees, professional golf and private resorts.

Places exclusive.

Unlike Dakao where even after a relief bridge was finished, traffic and flooding still present a nightmare for commuters of District 1 Saigon.

It boils down to the definition of happiness.

What makes you happy. How much can you live on in old age? Where do you want to live out your golden years.

The Japanese were about to build a colony in Dalat for their retirees, then canceled the  plan.

They had a good run in the 80’s. Now, it’s China’s turn.

Chinese students have graduated en mass from foreign universities. They have learned to harness technology way beyond the fax, which was “hot” back in those Tiananmen Square days (remember Dan Rather, reporting from Beijing).

Out of many, the one. By sheer numbers, China’s 1.3 billion will give rise to a few notable and top achievers (a Yale bio professor already made his commute back and forth to Mainland lab, where acres of species are in cage for him to experiment). The rest already acted out their entrepreneurial instinct by investing in apartment blocks in Arizona and California, which BTW, are holding fire sales and rents are up because of high foreclosure rates in those places.

Between harnessing technology and harnessing human drive to get rich (is glorious), China is poised for the 21st century: solar panels, electric vehicles and batteries, oil exploration and rare minerals exploitation. Gone are the days when you think of China as a country which exports only greasy foods and cheap goods. There exists a huge middle-class  who needs housing like they saw on TV: Newport Beach, or Palm Beach. It must be hard back then (60’s) to be sidelined during the Space race.

After all, it’s the Chinese who first invented fireworks.

Having missed out most of the 20th century, their leaders vowed not to repeat history.

This time, it will be either Palm Beach or Palm Springs and not Palmdale, as their version of the Chinese dream. Already, those Bentley in Beijing certainly proves the point.