Doing Our Homework

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Thomas L. Friedman: "When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me: 'Finish your dinner -- people in China are starving.' I, by contrast, find myself wanting to say to my daughters: 'Finish your homework -- people in China and India are starving for your job.' That thought struck me in a visit to Dalian, a port city in northeastern China. It is not just impressive for a Chinese city. With its wide boulevards, beautiful green spaces and nexus of universities, technical colleges and a massive software park, Dalian would stand out in Silicon Valley.

G.E., Microsoft, Dell, SAP, H.P., Sony and Accenture, are setting up back-room operations here for Asian companies and software R.& D. centers. Because of Japan's long colonization of this area in the first half of the 20th century, Dalian has a pool of people who know Japanese. And because of its proximity to Japan and its abundance of Internet bandwidth, and parks and golf courses that attract knowledge workers, Dalian has become the Bangalore of China. (starting salary: $90 a month).

"We have 22 universities and colleges with over 200,000 students in Dalian," the city's mayor, Xia Deren, told me. More than half graduate with engineering or science degrees, and even those who don't are directed to spend a year studying Japanese or English and computer science. "