China spreads from the highest point on the planet (Mount Everest) to the second lowest (Moonlight Lake); from the coldest place on earth (Siberia), across the world’s third largest desert (the Gobi), to the Tropical island of Hainan. Let’s face it, even St Ouen is not that different to the rest of Jersey.

China has 14,000 miles of land borders and over 9,000 miles of coast to protect. Unlike even the United States, those borders are shared with 14 other countries, including two global powers (Russia and India) and some of the most volatile states in the world (such as Afghanistan and Pakistan). The most trouble we get from our neighbours is a few French pensioners crossing the Esplanade with helium balloons.

China’s government is responsible for the welfare of a fifth of the world’s population: that’s all the people in the United States, South America and Europe combined. Jersey wouldn’t even register as a hamlet in China. That ocean of people spans both the appropriately named billionaire Li Kashing and the millions fighting for survival on less than US$1/day. As we debate matters in the States, China always makes me think of Einstein’s comment that whatever problems we may have with mathematics, we can rest assured that his were far worse.

It is almost meaningless to talk about ‘Life in China,’ but in order to give my fellow Jerriais a flavour of life three decades down Deng Xiaoping’s road of ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,’ let me share with you a few of the most common themes I have tuned into on the streets of China’s third largest city (Tianjin).

The universal response to any question in China is “there are too many of us.” The most notable consequence of that conviction is the ‘Birth Control Policy,’ which has restricted city couples to one child since 1979. The aim of achieving a natural growth rate (births added, deaths deducted) of less than 1% per year was reached in 1999 and the population is due to peak at 1.48 billion, lower and earlier than the target of 1.6 billion in 2050. For now, China has one more person to provide for every 4 seconds. Kind of puts Jersey’s population debate into perspective, doesn’t it?

The transition to a free market has brought soaring prices and shrinking state provision. When a business goes bust in Jersey, we expect the States to provide for us; China does not have the funds to do that and so each child effectively bears the social security burden for at least 6 adults. In Jersey, we rightly litigate against any discrimination based on gender or disability, but in mid-industrialised China a handicapped child leaves the rest of the family vulnerable. So to see building-high posters of Para-Olympians in Beijing last September showed a phenomenal shift in attitudes that would have been unthinkable even a month earlier.

We expect the widest range of extra-curricular activities for our children in Jersey, but in China fears for the rest of the family’s well-being mean that children are under such pressure to get the best academic grades that there is little room for sport, music or play. Pre-GCSE children in modern China will commonly get to school at 7:30 in the morning and be doing homework until midnight. Creative thinking or exploring your individuality are luxuries most cannot afford. Since Chinese children are also growing up without siblings, they also have almost no chance to develop social or general life skills.

On the other hand, there has never been a better time to Chinese. Salaries are rising by at least 8% per year, you are now allowed to buy your own property, cars and white goods are ever more affordable, and most people have a mobile phone where their parents had to wait at least a decade to get a landline. The Internet and satellite television, China’s acceptance into the World Trade Organisation, and the hosting of the Olympic Games have made the ordinary Chinese feel like a valuable part of the world community. Even people from the tiny island of Jersey come to visit them. National pride and optimism are at an all-time high.

What has struck me most during my time in China has been the pace of change. Improvements that would take 10 years or more in Jersey happen with months in China. If we think our pace of life and the challenges we face are tough, let me take you by the hand and walk you through the streets of Tianjin: I’ll show you something that’ll make you change your mind.

• To pose your questions, or to share your views and experiences of China with other people in Jersey, sign up at http://www.jerseychina.com. To contact Tim Nash, email tim@jerseychina.com or call 077 007 CHINA (24462).