Building things and breaking things in China (Summer School World Tour)
Planet Money
- Published
- July 15, 2026
- Duration
- 38:41
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jul 22, 2026
Discusses China’s turbocharged growth may have made it rich, but now it has to deal with rich country problems…
Summary
China’s turbocharged growth may have made it rich, but now it has to deal with rich country problems. High-speed trains that connect every town. Gleaming new bridges and skyscrapers. An apartment (or two) for every family. No country on Earth has seen the kind of economic growth that China has over the last 50 years. China has become the factory to the wo…
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Show notes
China’s turbocharged growth may have made it rich, but now it has to deal with rich country problems. High-speed trains that connect every town. Gleaming new bridges and skyscrapers. An apartment (or two) for every family. No country on Earth has seen the kind of economic growth that China has over the last 50 years. China has become the factory to the world, a grand experiment in central government planning mixed with personal ambition. It was all enabled by what our guide for today calls, an e