We swim in a sea of words about transformation, but you have to find out what's real and what's not

Officials and corporate executives talk about transition a lot. But what do they mean?

They've talked about building a new model for the economy, abandoning the previous export-led growth. They've talked about raising the quality of almost everything, based on innovations and new technologies. They've talked about the importance of "talent", a vague definition of the kind of people who are better educated, more creative in doing things, and perhaps more capable in managing business ventures.

Yet on an everyday basis, as it is in any society, you don't directly see how a grand theoretical model works. You don't see innovations popping up in great numbers - you just live within one or two of them, such as the mobile Internet, like everyone else. And those new things don't turn many people around you into scientists. You don't hear people appointing themselves as talent.

What does transition mean at the society level? What is changing and what hasn't changed, according to ordinary Chinese people? One way to find out, based on my recent experience, is to take a few crosstown Uber rides.

That seems easy in Beijing because it's already part of the city's taxi culture that driver and passenger, though strangers, like to converse with each other and sometimes share each other's personal stories. But you do need a crosstown ride because it allows for a longer conversation.

For a sociological education, Uber is a better institution than the traditional taxi companies because its drivers come from all parts of the country and have much more diverse backgrounds. Most drivers with traditional taxi companies are from suburban areas of Beijing.

The other day, on one ride, my driver's "official job" was as a supply agent of construction materials. He works for Uber to make extra money when business is slack. ("It's been difficult the whole year," he said.) That's especially so when the festival season is coming and construction sites tend to shut down early to allow migrant workers a longer holiday with their families.

"Why is business so hard?" I asked.

He smiled: "You know why. Thanks first of all to President Xi. Before anti-corruption, making sales was easy - you threw an expensive banquet for the state-owned company executives you're dealing with, with some cash gifts and depending on their personal propensity, some extra entertainment, and you became friends and business was done.

"No longer now."

I could tell he was not complaining. "They are truly scared, I can tell you. They don't want to take the risk. They know their good days are gone."

What transition is this? I thought. The old system virtually required a competition in bribery - with the largest offering of personal gains to officials and their business partners. Based on a widespread practice of this kind, the economy would of course be filled with low-quality services and products, and result in great hazards and a waste of resources.

Along with the anti-corruption campaign has come a transition to a new system, one imposed by fear, in which the competition for bribery is outlawed.

"So how do you plan your future business? Is there any way to raise the quality of your supplies?" I asked.

"I can't do anything. Look, it's just steel and cement. They have the same standards and are served by logistics companies with more or less the same abilities. I just manage to get by, hoping that my son - he is going to college in Beijing - can do something different."

See? What an economy's transition means to a businessman's family is a transition from an old generation, along with its old skill set, to a would-be new generation, with new skills. Will this work out? At this point, my driver could only say "maybe".

On my second Uber ride, I got a different picture. The driver was a young man who had come to Beijing with his elder brother, who has invested in an office furniture factory in a town on Beijing's outskirts. "Our business has been OK, although we have heard lots of people say it's getting harder and harder."

"Why?"

"We have the best value and best possible functionality. Our clients are all large foreign companies along the East Third Ring Road. The large state-owned companies love our products. But they say they cannot buy from us now because their bosses don't want to look so avant-garde to higher level inspectors."

So state-owned enterprises haven't really changed, I thought. They don't chase value. Their officials just want to pretend to be good in order to keep their own jobs. Small wonder that SOE reform can be so difficult.

But the young man has his problem too. "Our parents always want us to move home. They're getting old and they need more care."

"Move them to Beijing then," I suggested.

"But what for? For air quality like this?"

The author is editor-at-large of China Daily. Contact the writer at edzhang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 12/11/2015 page13)