This is a historic moment of change.
Tony Blair is a uniquely interesting person to write on this subject. He is the former prime minister of Britain—the first Western country to make significant contact with China, but unfortunately not in a good way, with the Opium Wars of the mid 1800s. And it is Britain which will host the next Olympics in 2012.
The Olympic Games are a wonderful means of communication:
These Games have given people a glimpse of modern China in a way that no amount of political speeches could do.
And Mr. Blair liked what he saw. It struck him in an emotional way that his previous contacts with China had not. Here is how he described a recent meeting with "some of the younger Chinese entrepreneurs":
Above all, there was a confidence, an optimism, a lack of the cynical, and a presence of the spirit of get up and go, that reminded me greatly of the U.S. at its best and any country on its way forward.
That is a better description of the entrepreneurial spirit than anything I have written on this blog. Thank you, Mr. Blair.
I, too, saw some of this entrepreneurship in China (example).
