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ORIENTAL RUG ZINE
REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES
IN CHINESE RUG PRODUCTION
Paul Gertmenian
This is a welcome change but it makes rug buying a much more complex matter. Under the old order I would fly to Tianjin, stay in a wonderful Hyatt,
go to the warehouses and leisurely select goods sent by perhaps twenty factories. I would soon be back on a plane returning home often in less than one week. Today when I go to China I am met by my agent and go on a
whilewind tour of perhaps twenty factories, covering close to 2,000 miles. We rise early in the morning, drive several hundred miles, visit as many as
three factories, spend the night in rather modest hotels and repeat the process over and over again. This hectic schedule is intensified by driving conditions in the countryside that can only be experienced to be believed.
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A rug warehouse in Tsing Tao shortly after trade opened with China.
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Along with this change in the way rugs are purchased is the change in the product itself. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s China began producing 160, 200, 230, and 300 line rugs in
designs that were classically Persian. Many of these rugs were produced with anything from silk outlining to a high percentage of the entire rug in silk. These rugs quickly became competitive with fine rugs from
India, Pakistan and Iran. Soon production of Kilims, Soumaks, Needlepoints , Aubussons and Tapestries followed. Finally in the last decade rugs featuring vegtal dyes and tea washed
rugs have become available, competing favorably in design, quality and price with the highly popular rugs being produced in Turkey, Pakistan and India. In place of “take-it-or-leave-it,” our Chinese hosts now seem to have a
what-can-we-do-for-you attitude.
It would seem that while some of the old businesses and factories will not survive, China will continue to be a major producer of hand made carpets.
While its economic development far out-strips that of other rug producing countries, its vast population insures that there will be rug weavers in the foreseeable future.
The development of China as a nation in the past quarter century is a more remarkable story than the development of its rug industry. There are no
soldiers lining the walkway from the plane to the immigration booth as one enters China today. Airports are modern, U.S. Airlines are welcome, immigration and customs offer no different experience than that of entering a
European country. One is besieged by a horde of taxi drivers and tour guides in the airport. Clothing is colorful and diverse and stores are loaded with consumer goods, especially electronic gadgets. The streets are filled with
automobiles of all makes and the billboards advertise consumer goods rather than political slogans. Toll roads now connect major cities, buildings are being erected at a dizzying pace, pollution is almost unbearable in major cities
and the traffic jams match those of what we experience in our urban centers here.
China’s Gross National Product is growing faster than that of any major country, and its total GDP is projected to surpass that of the US before 2025AD. When you dine in any of the many up-scale restaurants readily
available in the cities, you sit amidst young, bright Chinese capitalists chatting away on their cellular phones. Beijing today seems closer to New York or London than it does to the Beijing of twenty-five years ago.
When you venture into the countryside the contrast between now and then is not as sharp. There is less construction, less modernization, less prosperity,
while much of the old bureaucratic spirit still prevails. In the past decade China has begun to see a mass exodus of its population from rural areas,
overcrowding its cities. Many rural youth see little opportunity to share in the growing prosperity if they stay in the country.
The state corporations have been put on notice that they must make a profit. The state will no longer guarantee their existence regardless of their
efficiency. However if this policy were to be carried out vigorously, unemployment would overwhelm the country and possibly lead to political unrest and chaos.
The most resourceful and better educated Chinese will flourish under this new system. They will create businesses that are profitable and their economic
power and well being will increase. But what will happen to those unable to adjust to the new capitalism? From both an educational and psychological standpoint they are not prepared to benefit from the new entrepreneurial
spirit. Although not widely publicized, Chinese friends have told me of incidents where the rage of those by-passed by the new prosperity has been vented at those who are making it. How this disparity is worked out in the
years ahead is probably the single most important issue facing China.
One final observation. One of my impressions of China that has not changed through the years is the sense that China is committed to develop as a world
power and stand on an equal footing with the United States. China will never be a subservient nation, nor will it allow the United States to dictate either its internal or foreign policy.
There is a great deal of good will toward the U.S. and a deep respect for what the American economy has accomplished, but in no way does China believe
this economic superiority justifies America’s right to instruct it on human rights or on its relationship with Taiwan. The genuine and deep anger felt
over the bombing of their Embassy in Belgrade was rooted in the conviction that such a mistake would never have happened had the Embassy been Russian or French or British.
China has gone it alone and could do so again, but it prefers being in relationship with the United States. Up to now American leadership has understood this, trying to emphasize its concerns over human rights and
respect for intellectual property without resorting to threats. The desire of some politicians to realize political gain by “twisting the dragon’s tail” will hopefully remain a dormant motif in American policy. For reasons far more
important than continued trade in rugs, my hope is that these two great powers will find a way to co-exist and even more to co-operate. Peace in the Third Millenium will depend on whether or not this hope is realized.
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