‘China’s Bihar’ outdoes Lalu

LANZHOU: Travelling in northwestern China this week, I felt actress Hema Malini’s cheeks, and I can state with authority that they’re as soft as silk.

Okay, perhaps that needs explaining. You remember when Lalu Prasad Yadav once promised that under his watch, Bihar’s roads would be made as soft as Hema Malini’s cheeks? Well, since then much water has flowed down the Ganga, but from all accounts, those roads haven’t quite benefited from the Botox treatment he promised.

Nevertheless, that distinction has been well and truly achieved in large parts of the “Bihar of China” — as Gansu province in the country’s northwest has been branded on account of its poor ranking on the development index.

On the 70-km drive from the Zhongchuan airport into Lanzhou, the capital, in preparation for a push further into the Tibet Autonomous Region, one couldn’t but marvel at the excellence of the infrastructure, of which the smoothness of the roads was only the most sensory manifestation.

Hotels in this frontier town in the back of beyond boast of services and facilities that would qualify them for several stars even in more bustling cities. That level of infrastructural efficiency is passé for urban China, but why invest in a desolate, arid, sparsely populated province with a per-capita GDP that’s about a tenth of the national average?

It’s part of a planned initiative on the part of Beijing to direct investments to the country’s poorer areas in the west and northwest in order to bridge the widening income disparity between them and the booming eastern coastal region.  These efforts include tax holidays for investors, transport subsidies, and the large investments in fixed assets that China is renowned for – roads, airports and hotels... Bihar-esque though it is, Gansu does have a few things going for it. A section of the famed Silk Route ran through it; and it is today China’s potato-growing region, and is, like much of the western region, rich in minerals.

Gansu also has a number of scenic tourist attractions, including some breathtaking grassland landscapes and the Mogao grottoes of Donhuang – about 500 caves with Buddhist art that dates back to the 4th century. It is in this context that those smooth-as-silk roads acquire significance. Beijing is betting that they will be the lifeline that will lift developmental and tourist activity into western China and lend some shine to it.

Then again, as one heads deeper into Tibetan territory, some of the warts begin to show. The Chinese preoccupation with excess — the biggest, brightest and longest — are still visible, but without perhaps adequate application of mind to the matching need for quality of human service and attention to detail, particularly in the hospitality industry.

For now, the Chinese, who want to attract Indian investments — and tourists — into these regions are looking to make up for their limitations on these counts, including an inadequate number of English-speaking staff, with touching enthusiasm and an endearing earnestness.  But it could be a while before droves of Indian tourists and investors begin caressing Hema Malini’s cheeks...