"China ... No.1 economy ... in 20 years" (#145; Topic B)

The cover story in the 6/5/06 issue of Barron's, headlined "Last Laugh" with a subtitle of "Time to buy commodities?", is an interview with Jim Rogers, a one-time co-founder (with George Soros) of a widely successful hedge fund that notched "a return exceeding 4,000% over the remainder of the [70s] decade." His other claims to fame (duly acknowledged in Guiness records) include a 3-year 116-nation 152,000-mile trip in a 2-seat Mercedes. Hey, a fellow Mercedes owner is worth a listen. According to Rogers, "China is now the No. 1 consumer of copper, steel and iron ore, and No. 2 in the use of oil and energy products." No argument there. "Rogers thinks the price boom will soon spread to 'soft commodities' (like cotton, sugar, coffee and wool), rubber, lumber and -- perhaps most telling -- grain oilseed." Since his premise [that people in China are entitled to improve their living standard] is sound, I have no argument with those observations either. More interesting is Rogers's plan to sell his $15 million home in New York and move to Shanghai or Singapore (the latter is generally considered a bastion of overseas Chinese wealth). Hey, while I cannot match Rogers in practically all areas, in at least one I am slightly ahead of him -- our father left us (my siblings and I) a small house in Shanghai, and I bought a small condo when was in Shanghai as an Asian Development Bank consultant in early 90s. Rogers's 3-year daughter is being taught Mandarin by her nanny because "China will become the No. 1 economy in the world in 20 years or so, and that knowledge of Mandarin will be indispensable for any child of today." Well said. Rogers, let's hope that, one day, we'll meet in Shanghai and allow me to introduce our 5-year-old granddaughter, who is also learning Mandarin.