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Comment la Chine est devenue imbattable ? — Transcript

by Matthieu Stefani - Génération Do It Yourself · 14,578 words · 2,311 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:03China is a threat. It is a dangerous,
0:05closed, opaque bloc, a dictatorship, an
0:08enemy. It scares us and that's it. When
0:12we talk about it, we talk about control
0:13, surveillance, unsanitary factories,
0:15and docile workers. And yet, it is
0:18everywhere in our clothes, in our cars,
0:20on our smartphones, in our debates. But
0:22deep down, do we really know this
0:24country? Today's China has nothing in
0:26common with the one it was 20 years ago
0:27. So at the beginning, we set out to
0:29find an answer about a country that has
0:31grown so fast and so strongly in such a
0:33short time. And what that says about
0:35its way of doing business. We thought
0:37we were filming a country, but in fact,
0:39we filmed a system with very clear
0:41rules of the game and players who play
0:43their game faster than anywhere else,
0:45without ever looking back. We are truly
0:59in another world. The first two days, I
1:09was really, really sorry for the
1:10anglicism, but Lost in Translation.
1:12It's a cliché, but that's really what
1:14I felt. It's
1:18water, not normally safe either. It's
1:21mouthwash.
1:21Stop mouthwashing.
1:26Okay, that's fine. Spiders,
1:33there are drones everywhere. Like, you
1:35want delivery drones, we don't know
1:37what they're doing. At first, I see one
1:39, then we look up. You say, "Oh [ __ ],
1:40there's a second one! There's a third
1:41one. There was
1:42one that was actually loaded. It went
1:43between the two buildings.
1:50I feel like I'm in Blade Runner. It's
1:53just my thing. You stumble upon it by
1:55chance and it's everywhere all the time
1:57.
1:57This is the second one in 2 minutes.
2:01I thought the package would go straight
2:03to the person, you know, a bit naively.
2:05But no, in fact it's at a collection
2:07point. You receive it
2:09and you have your little package. There
2:11you go. What's
2:13even more surprising is that it goes
2:14completely unnoticed here.
2:16The thing comes to drop off a package.
2:18The
2:19Chinese people who live here are going
2:22about their business. Of course, that's
2:25normal. And so, we go to Dobot. It's a
2:30manufacturer of articulated arms, a bit
2:32like how they're taking over robots
2:35here. We go with a French entrepreneur
2:39named Stéphane Bobot and his partner
2:41Serge. In France, between 2017 and 2025
2:53, the robot density per 10,000 workers
2:56increased from 150 to 180. So it has
2:59progressed very little. In China, the
3:02number of robots has gone from 200 to
3:04almost 500 for 10,000 employees, which
3:06is absolutely monstrous. The robot does
3:12the dishes. There you have it. So,
3:13these are the first ones, we are really
3:15in the first tests. He trains it to do
3:17manual gestures. Here, you have the
3:19lines of code that are done live. A
3:21camera that films and then, so on,
3:23machine learning. These are a
3:24bit like microsurgery techniques.
3:27We are in a kind of super capital of
3:30hardware and really the heart of
3:32innovation. Everything that is most
3:34modern in robotics and technology is
3:36really here. And we realize that.
3:38But what is so special about this city
3:40of Shenzhen? We ask the question to
3:42Jeru, CEO of Dobot.
3:44How old were you when you started your
3:45company?
3:4828. Why was Shenzen the best place to
3:50start this type of company? First of
3:55all, the employees here are very
3:56talented. Secondly, there are a lot of
4:01venture capital funds. There is also a
4:06very reliable supply chain. Finally, it
4:09is an ideal location for ensuring
4:11international connections. It is
4:13located very close to Hong Kong. When
4:15you told me that you wanted to come and
4:16try to understand, I found that to be a
4:18really constructive approach because,
4:20as you can see, there are often a lot
4:22of preconceived ideas. That is what is
4:25important, to understand why it works,
4:28why all these brands succeed in
4:30innovating and expanding globally. For
4:34me, there are four major elements of
4:36success for business success stories in
4:39China. The first factor is research.
4:45What is quite interesting in a very
4:47large number of Chinese companies now,
4:49when you arrive in their exhibition
4:51hall, They always highlight the number
4:53of patents they have.
4:54Yeah. Walls like that of patent
4:57certificates to show their ability to
5:00innovate, to file patents
5:03and show that they are no longer in a
5:06mode of innovation.
5:08All the players in robotics that we
5:10spoke to told us that there is a
5:11generation of young Chinese people
5:13arriving who are top-notch in this area
5:15. So it also says a lot about this
5:18country that it no longer necessarily
5:20needs to look for talent abroad to
5:22support this growth and that it is
5:24capable of training its own talent.
5:26This place used to be
5:29the factory of the world, but that is
5:31over. These are the brains of the world
5:33. They are ahead of the curve in many
5:35areas of technology. In fact, they are
5:38far ahead. By the greatest of
5:48coincidences, Benoît Lemignant, who
5:50has just launched his gigafactory of
5:52batteries for electric vehicles in
5:53Dunkirk, had just arrived in Shenzen
5:55that very morning.
5:58However, there is still a major
5:59difference in At the initial management
6:01level, one of the Chinese government's
6:03great strengths, and I think we
6:05underestimate this too much, is that
6:06it's an engineering club.
6:09Yeah. My name is Allii. I've been a
6:12journalist and researcher for about
6:14thirty years, specializing in economic
6:16warfare issues. Starting in 1976, a
6:19number of researchers first studied all
6:22the economic intelligence systems that
6:24existed in the world. They went to see
6:27how things were going in the United
6:29States, they went to Great Britain, and
6:31so on. One of the countries that opened
6:34its doors the most was France. 25 years
6:38ago, we had this somewhat naive
6:40approach of imagining that factories
6:42were low-added value and that we had to
6:44outsource everything. And there were
6:48big bosses in large industries who had
6:50this concept of weakness, of the
6:53factory sense, saying to themselves:"
6:55No, we are too smart, we don't need to
6:58touch the factory and so we are going
7:00to subcontract massively to China
7:03because we have the knowledge and
7:05ultimately manufacturing has little
7:07added value "; and that was a mistake,
7:10uh, to imagine that by getting rid of
7:13our industrial tool, we would keep
7:15control of the knowledge. And Europe
7:19didn't see the big picture.
7:24China ordered two Airbus 320s
7:27but they only flew one. What did they
7:29do with the other one? It was
7:30completely in a garage to study each
7:33part in the smallest detail. A320,
7:36Boeing 77, is that it? B77. Yeah. Well,
7:40here we are in a C919.
7:42These are Chinese planes. I think the
7:44certification is in progress but the
7:46European Aviation Authority says it
7:47will take between 5 and 6 years to
7:49certify. Which won't be before 2030 But
7:52we can also wonder if this is not a way
7:54for the European authorities to gain
7:56time so as not to let a direct
7:57competitor enter Europe too soon behind
7:59the bus. At one point, it suited us to
8:04say that we were going to subcontract
8:06these low-value jobs, but at the same
8:08time, they had the intelligence to say,
8:10" OK, we're going to do it, but we also
8:12want to understand what we're making.
8:15So, we're going to set up John Ventures
8:17and gradually, they integrated
8:18knowledge. "
8:20Here in China, if you're French and you
8:22want to launch your product here, there
8:23are several rules to follow. The first
8:27is that the factories absolutely have
8:29to be located in China. The other rule
8:32is that you absolutely have to set up a
8:34company with Chinese people. So it's a
8:36John Venture and obviously the Chinese
8:38have to be the majority shareholder in
8:39this company. It's a mistake we made,
8:42not with a gun in our mouths. We're the
8:46ones who went to China. We're the ones
8:49who got caught up in it ourselves. They
8:52thought it was worth it to give them
8:54the latest technologies and continue to
8:56have access to the Chinese market.
8:59Until the Chinese said," Stop! "" You
9:01will stay in China, which has one
9:03condition: you provide us with the
9:05latest technologies. And there,
9:07obviously, they had put their finger in
9:09the key so much that they could only
9:11continue to offer their strategy. But
9:14by getting rid of the industrial tool,
9:16we let this know-how go and that suited
9:18us. In the end, they brought us
9:20everything on a plate until they ended
9:22up only putting our brand on a product
9:24100%developed and manufactured in Asia.
9:27That was our mistake.
9:30I looked on Dipsic, I said to him, "
9:32Tell me a bit about Shenzen." Then he
9:34said to me, "Shenzen was a fishing town
9:36of 30,000 inhabitants. A large town
9:39after all. My villages, well, it's
9:42China, but now I'm thinking," Wait, I
9:44was born in a fishing town of 30,000
9:47inhabitants. In fact, I was born in
9:48Cherbourg in Normandy. Well, when you
9:51look there, we are at the foot of a
9:52building, the tallest tower in the city
9:54. And I think to myself, Cherbourg
9:56hasn't actually changed that much. You
9:59see, with 1 million inhabitants, it has
10:01become the hardware capital of the
10:02world, of technology in the world. In
10:06fact, it's crazy, you know, to realize
10:08how fast everything goes here. It's
10:11incredible. You've
10:12seen Shenzen, it was a small port at
10:14the time when I went there. 80 15 is
10:29currently being seen, it's a fairly
10:30widespread service in China. When the
10:31driver of the vehicle is too
10:33underweight, he can't drive, he calls a
10:35service. The guy comes with his little
10:37electric bike, we can see him there,
10:39he's going to load it in the trunk,
10:41take the wheel and take his client home
10:43. The huge inord
10:49What is very disturbing is that this
10:51city is ultra-modern. So you find all
10:53the codes, the buildings, the
10:54structures, the cars, and at the same
10:56time there is no Western code. There is
10:58not one person who speaks English.
11:00Speak English.
11:03Okay.
11:04There is no app that you use that works
11:06the same. So, we downloaded all the
11:08Chinese apps. All these Chinese apps
11:09are not translated into English for the
11:10most part. Uh uh tig tigolouima
11:15uh show him the address right
11:17but it makes me cry that Axel like
11:19yes
11:20speaks Chinese but doesn't speak
11:21Chinese you know he converses but in
11:22reality
11:23I struggle
11:24he doesn't understand what Axel is
11:25saying and Axel doesn't understand what
11:27the guy is saying but everyone says
11:29their own thing in Chinese there you go
11:30but from X it seems like they
11:31understand
11:32but seriously
11:33it works. I think you've all seen
11:39exoskeletons on Instagram. You see,
11:41it's super impressive. So these are
11:43structures that we wear ourselves and
11:45that allow us to increase human
11:47strength tenfold. Here, we have the
11:49chance to go to Hyperchell. It's a
11:51Chinese company that created an
11:52exoskeleton. We must be the first
11:54French people to try this exoskeleton.
11:56And there, we really feel the startup
11:58vibe but hardware there, the creation,
12:00you know. Here, we are Yeah. Garage, we
12:03are in the RED team, they buy all the
12:04stuff from the competition. And what's
12:06funny is still the competition, he
12:07talks about Unit, he talks about the
12:08Chinese competition. So we are in the
12:10heart of the reactor.
12:12I spoke with an engineer there who
12:14works in robotics, he told me that they
12:15had bought, you know, the Unitri dog to
12:17completely dismantle it.
12:19For us, we say that it's industrial
12:20espionage, they don't have the right to
12:22do it. No, no, but in fact here it's
12:24normal, we do reverse engineering but I
12:26couldn't invent you in France. For 20
12:29or 30 years, the Chinese have copied us
12:32everywhere. That's our perception of
12:34things. But maybe in the end, it's a
12:36question of perspective. We asked Igor
12:37Duc, an entrepreneur in Hong Kong for
12:3920 years.
12:40Regarding copying from a cultural point
12:42of view, I think this one is important.
12:45They say that if I steal your watch,
12:47for example, then I have your watch and
12:49you don't have it anymore, so I've
12:50really stolen it. Conversely, if I
12:52steal an idea from you, I have it but
12:54you still do too,
12:54so I haven't stolen it; I've
12:56borrowed it. So why is it that the
12:58Chinese often draw strong inspiration
13:00from each other, they don't feel like
13:02they're stealing anything? I feel like
13:06I'm being
13:06put on a harness a bit. Do you know
13:08what I mean? That I'm going to lose the
13:09climb. It's kind of the same temptation
13:11. It lifts your legs. It lifts your leg
13:14. Look, you try to use as little muscle
13:19as possible. You'll see how it lifts.
13:23But who is it for? When can it be used?
13:27It's for anyone who wants to move
13:29around with less effort. We designed it
13:31for hiking, but it's also very useful
13:33for long walks in the city and for
13:35everyday activities.
13:371 2 3
13:49Little by little, well, you try, you're
13:51not up to it, you're not up to it, and
13:52then there comes a time when you manage
13:53to do like the other guy, you've copied
13:54him perfectly. And they've been doing
13:56that for years. There are lots of
13:58countries that do it, there are lots of
13:59people who do it, and everyone does it.
14:00Except that something happened there.
14:02They went beyond copying today. Today,
14:03they're innovating with talent. And so
14:06we can't say that the Gs are copycats
14:08because from the moment they created
14:10themselves in all categories, obviously
14:13automotive, AI, weapons, medicine,
14:15robotics, so
14:17robotics, they do things that don't
14:18exist elsewhere. Well, I mean, there's
14:20no robotics like that
14:21and they're creative, they file patents
14:23. There's
14:24DJI who is there, there's Hyper Shark
14:26who is below and there they are doing
14:28their tests to test electric lawnmowers
14:30. Testing
14:31lawnmowers. So the guys are in R&D in
14:33the garden of the square. So they have
14:36all their carts, they have the
14:37computers and they really arrive with
14:38all their equipment to test. In fact,
14:40when you go to the Silicone Valet for
14:42real, you think crazy things like this
14:43are going to happen and nothing happens
14:45. What we could imagine from the
14:46Silicone Valet, is a bit what we see
14:47here. Like, you're in a place where
14:49there's a guy running around with an
14:51exoskeleton on one side, and there are
14:53guys testing robot lawnmowers on the
14:54other side. And that's kind of what you
14:57imagine when you think of silicone oil.
15:01What they're
15:01saying is, "I don't know anything about
15:03it, I just know that this industry is
15:05strategic, so I'm going to create an
15:07arena in this vertical." I'm going to
15:10shower it with subsidies and throw a
15:11bunch of entrepreneurs into the arena
15:13and kill each other. I'm creating such
15:16intense competition domestically that I
15:18know that whoever comes out of the
15:20fight the winner
15:22internationally is going to eat
15:23everyone else.
15:23China is even more capitalist than the
15:25United States. They encourage
15:27competition. Well, you know, the
15:28automobile industry we were talking
15:30about, there are over a hundred brands.
15:32There are
15:33more car brands in China than in the
15:35rest of the world.
15:36Oh yeah, that's crazy. So in fact, it's
15:38an extremely open, extremely dynamic
15:40market.
15:42When I hear that, I think of the
15:43Chinese Communist Party, the People's
15:45Republic of China. But what is the
15:47relationship between money and success
15:49in China?
15:50When we wish someone a happy new year,
15:52we say "fat" means "I hope you become
15:54prosperous"
15:55and culturally, prosperity is also
15:56something extremely important to the
15:58Chinese. In fact, in the Western world,
16:00we tend to think that we need to
16:01protect IP
16:02and that it will help innovation. For
16:04China, it's competition that creates
16:06innovation. If you look at the LLMs in
16:09Valley today, you have 20,000 people
16:11working on LLMs. In China, you have 1
16:13million people working on LMs. So it's
16:15this extreme competition that creates
16:17ultra-innovative entrepreneurs.
16:19To do this, what are we going to do?
16:20We'll have many people compete, for
16:22example. We're going to create an arena
16:23. Let's say stick to the
16:24electrification of cars, well go for it
16:27. And then you'll see 100 manufacturers
16:28join in. It will be carnage, but in the
16:31end you'll have 1, 2, 3, 5 who are
16:32strong. Why is the license plate green?
16:35Because it's an electric car unlike the
16:37blue license plates that you can see
16:38here.
16:39Yeah. which are only for combustion
16:41cars, so non-electric cars. To get a
16:43combustion car, so a blue license plate
16:45, you have to register for a lottery.
16:48It's a quota so you have very, very
16:49little chance of getting a license
16:51plate and it's really expensive.
16:52Whereas green cars don't cost much, if
16:54anything. And then there's no quota. In
16:57most cities, there's no quota. So in
16:59Shanzen typically, there are twice,
17:00three times, four times as many cars
17:02with dimetric plates that are green and
17:04that are electric. By the way, as you
17:05can see, there's not a sound in the
17:06street. We're in front of an XP
17:18dealership, which is a fairly
17:19well-known electric car manufacturer
17:21here in China. Xpen's reputation is for
17:24making very high-end cars at very
17:26competitive, very affordable prices. So
17:29, we wanted to see for ourselves if
17:30that was the case and check the prices
17:32too.
17:36219,000
17:392 km
17:41€ 26,000. What car can you get for
17:43€ 26,000?
17:45The electric Renault 5 R5. Is that it?
17:48Yeah.
17:49The entry price is € 25,000.
17:50Generally, it costs between € 300 and
17:53€ 40,000.
17:54Well, for € 5,000 less, you get this.
17:56Then, it's only in green. If you had it
17:58in black, it's € 50,000.
18:00Listen, honestly, it's still a bit of a
18:02shock. We were expecting something
18:04pretty crazy, but in France, we don't
18:06even talk about the cost price of a
18:08vehicle of this type. Because this is a
18:10car that I'm buying tomorrow for my
18:13family, you see, for 5 or even double
18:15that in fact. You don't have a car
18:17that's that cool.
18:17In fact, what impressed you about
18:18Xiaomi is that of course the product is
18:20incredible, but it's underpriced.
18:22Electric cars, autonomous driving,
18:24these are technologies that used to be
18:26extremely expensive and are now
18:27extremely affordable. That's what's
18:29incredible. We still see some European
18:35cars here and we look at them and
18:36wonder: "Why are they buying these?" In
18:39fact, I think it's just for the status,
18:41for Lego, to show that you have a
18:43Mercedes, a Jaguar or, for example, a
18:44...We see a few Range Rovers, so
18:46they're really just luxury cars, but,
18:48uh, they're worth two, three, four
18:50times the price of what's here.
18:52If you asked a 20-year-old Chinese
18:54person what they wanted, they'd say a
18:56BMW or a Mercedes. Today, if you asked
18:58a 20-year-old Chinese person what kind
19:00of vehicle they wanted, they would tell
19:01you, "But I want an electric vehicle,
19:03and of course I want a Chinese brand
19:04because they are the best." That was
19:06never the case before. And once again,
19:10they are pragmatic, they don't even do
19:11it out of pride, they do it because
19:13they are the best vehicles. We are all
19:15being pushed to go electric. I love
19:17Renault, I love Peugeot and so on, but
19:19hey, there is nothing that comes close
19:20to everything we see here. In Europe,
19:23we have always been leaders. It's
19:24really the automotive industry, it's
19:27always been our thing. You see, the
19:29Americans have come to nudge us, the
19:30Japanese a little bit. Toyota is number
19:331 in the world, but it's here. America
19:37is subsidizing the deindustrialization
19:39of Europe on highly strategic
19:40technologies. Today, if you buy an
19:42electric vehicle, you're going to get
19:44it subsidized by taxpayers 'money, an
19:46electric vehicle that is largely
19:47produced in China. So you're
19:49subsidizing the deindustrialization of
19:51Europe. If things don't change in the
19:52coming months, we're just heading
19:53straight into the wall of
19:54deindustrialization and all that that
19:55means in terms of social solidarity.
19:57So we're talking about a Xiaomi phone
20:00brand. It's completely unbelievable.
20:03What do we say? How much is it there?
20:05What do we say? I'd say a little more
20:07expensive than XP anyway. I'd say uh
20:0935.
20:10Clem air conditioning. How much is it
20:11there? Go ahead. I'd
20:12say 35.
20:13Go ahead.
20:1425,000. I'm going for 27.
20:18Okay. Right there, we haven't even
20:19entered the store yet, you're going to
20:20be there for 45 minutes.
20:21Look. Look, look, look at the little
20:22screen there. Wow! Incredible! These
20:29are stores that sell cars
20:31and phones
20:33and hair dryers
20:35and refrigerators
20:36and external batteries for
20:37your phone.
20:40So I can have a computer, a car, a
20:41laptop and even dry my hair in the same
20:43store. A
20:45few weeks ago, I was in Dubai for work
20:47and, having just finished a meeting, I
20:48ordered an Uber. A DYD arrived, so I
20:50climbed inside, as it is always a
20:52pleasure to have a conversation with
20:53the different taxi drivers that you
20:54encounter there. So obviously, I don't
20:56tell the guy that I live in Chile, what
20:57do you think of your car? Why a BYD?
21:00Well, you see, it's a luxury model
21:02compared to the Tesla, which is a bit
21:04of a mid-range Chinese luxury car brand
21:06, the American Tesla brand, and then he
21:08talks to you about the size of the
21:10screen, the stuff, the functions, and
21:11so the perception has already changed.
21:15This car was launched a few months ago
21:17for pre-order. They sold 250,000 in 24
21:21hours, or I
21:28think it wasn't that long ago.
21:32The second element is the supply chain.
21:35You saw it when you were in the Nanhan
21:37district of Shenzen. You have the
21:41entire ecosystem of subcontractors and
21:44partners, so everything is available.
21:48When we understand electronic hardware,
21:49we are talking about an assembly of
21:51components. These components have to be
21:52sourced from all over the world. Here,
21:55they are available within a radius of 3
21:57km² in the heart of Shenzen in a
21:59district called Nuns.
22:0310%of the entire market. It's one
22:05building out of 10 buildings around
22:06there, because within
22:08a radius of less than 3 km, you can
22:09find all the suppliers you want for all
22:11the elements of the chain. And that's
22:13why it's going to be extremely
22:15complicated to do it in Europe because
22:17they have this supply chain ecosystem.
22:19So you don't have to wait 3 months to
22:21receive a component. It's delivered the
22:23same day.
22:23Nugette.
22:29It really is gadget heaven. There are
22:32quite a few places like this in
22:34Shenzhen, 5 floors high, with I think
22:36about 50 vendors per floor. And we can
22:39say that they favor short supply chains
22:41because everything sold here is made a
22:44few kilometers away.
22:47Oh, the Chinese stuff!
22:48Watch out!
22:50Oh my!
22:50The Chinese wall there.
22:52The Chinese wall.
22:58You know it's not that unpleasant. Not
23:00so good.
23:00It actually works.
23:03No, but I admit it, yes,
23:05you saw it's not bad.
23:06At first you say what the hell is this?
23:08But actually,
23:09no, it works.
23:14In 1990, China's merchandise exports
23:17were around 62 billion dollars. In 2023
23:21, we're talking about 3.41 trillion
23:25dollars. That's a
23:29lot. You go from 62 billion to 3.41
23:32trillion dollars. We arrive at Easy
23:41Factory, a silicone factory. Here, we
23:44are in the area, still between Shenzen
23:46and Hong Kong. We drove about an hour
23:49from Shenzen and it's really something
23:52else. I mean, as you just said Augustin
23:54, it's a bit more like how I imagined
23:56China. We are in a much poorer, older,
23:59less modern place. There you have it.
24:03There you have it, we are something
24:05very different. It's a symbol of wealth
24:12. That's
24:12true.
24:13Fish, it's wealth, it's fortune. Uh,
24:15one day, one of the fish died, it
24:17caused a cataclysm. Here, we arrived in
24:19the morning, there was a fish. Ah well,
24:20the Chinese, they think that the boss
24:21is going to fail. There's a fish that
24:23died. It's a dead fish, it's the boss's
24:25fortune that's gone. So, we pay close
24:27attention to it.
24:28You may feel it when you visit, but
24:29there are really only two categories of
24:31people. There are those who love it and
24:32those who hate it. What we call eggs
24:34here are white on the outside and
24:35yellow on the inside. First of all,
24:40you will see in the factory, generally
24:42speaking, the workers in red are the
24:44operators,
24:45the managers in black, and the team
24:47leaders in gray.
24:48There you have it. In fact, silicone is
24:51basically like that. It is the second
24:54most common material on Earth after
24:56oxygen.
24:56It is used in high-tech, aerospace, and
24:58armaments. But imagine, we buy 3,000
25:00tons of silicone per year. We are the
25:02world's largest maker of silicone
25:04kitchenware. Let me tell you the first
25:10shock, I think that we demonize the
25:12Made in China label a lot. No, let's
25:15talk about it, but maybe it's not
25:17politically correct at all, I don't
25:18know what. And today, you look at
25:20something, you turn it over, I say, "
25:21But in China." He says, "Ah, not good."
25:27We're going to have working conditions,
25:29hours, and so on, but I think we still
25:30have to be a little careful because you
25:32don't know if it's a mess, if you're a
25:34slob, if you're not, we're showing you
25:36the rates are improving here, we're
25:37continuing
25:39because often, you see, there are
25:40already a lot of preconceptions. There
25:42was a preconception about China. Yeah,
25:45China is cheap, it's good, that's over.
25:48I mean, that's not at all the discourse
25:50we have about China anymore. Not at all
25:51. We see it in terms of capacity. But
25:53what we need to do is come here to try
25:55to understand why this dynamic works,
25:57why they manage to make products that
26:00are a hit all over the world and that
26:02attract consumers. Because if it works,
26:05it's because the customer wants
26:06products, and quality products. They
26:09manage to make this premium that we
26:11have on these products accessible. We
26:16visited factories in Brazil, and are
26:19used to China, if you like. Do you
26:23think that these are exceptional
26:25conditions in China? Yes.
26:27What you offer?
26:28Yes.
26:28Yes.
26:29Yes. We are clearly above the rest in
26:32terms of conditions. It's true in China
26:35, as in all countries, there are
26:36companies that are really poor in terms
26:38of quality
26:39and HR quality too.
26:41Yeah.
26:41Yeah.
26:42OK. It's not a career plan to work in a
26:44factory so that they want to work more,
26:46earn more. It's simple. So, are we able
26:47to perform overtime hours that are
26:49indexed to the minimum wage? Yes or no?
26:51Western companies want to impose audits
26:53on Chinese factories. They say, "Yes,
26:56but you can't work more than 40 hours a
26:57week?" Okay, but it's not even a
27:00question of a job, it's that everyone
27:01is going to quit. You can't do that.
27:03The factory next door is going to make
27:05people work 60 hours. Employees will
27:07leave to go there, and we will tell you
27:09later: pay the ones working 40 hours
27:11the same salary and they will stay. But
27:13that is false, because if they work 40
27:15hours for the same pay, they will just
27:16work 20 hours elsewhere.
27:18You know what I'm saying? They're going
27:19to do it anyway. That's what I'm
27:20telling you. So in fact, it's
27:21completely false to think that they
27:23work too much. That's the way the
27:25culture is.
27:26We discussed it with our Chinese
27:27contacts, whom we talk to. Well, energy
27:28prices are the same. What's different?
27:31It's that instead of working 35 hours,
27:32the guys work 70 hours and are paid
27:33half as much. So that's a ratio of 4 on
27:35labor. It's simple
27:36in factories.
27:36Well, yeah,
27:38engineers in Shenzhen and Shanghai are
27:39more expensive in China. However,
27:41production labor is a completely
27:42different story.
27:43We only use the top floor of the
27:45dormitories there.
27:45OK.
27:46Uh, there are 80 people out of 300,
27:48which
27:49is a good thing. It means that because
27:51before, all the workers there were
27:52migrants who come from the center or
27:53the outlying provinces who stay there,
27:55who stay in the dormitories. That's
27:56very specific to the south of China.
27:58You'll find that in the north, if you
27:59go, there are no dorms. That's in the
28:00south that they do that. That's good. I
28:02live there. There, you can hear me. We
28:04saw a box in robotics. We spoke with
28:06engineers from this company who started
28:09work at 9am and were gone by 6pm. We
28:12were very surprised by these working
28:13hours, which were quite close to the
28:15notes that were finally written. You
28:17see Shanghai and Shenzen, I think
28:18that's the case. Hong Kong is the same,
28:20you know. Hong Kong doesn't work that
28:22much, but inside the factories, it is
28:24simple. In the factories, the guys live
28:26in the factory,
28:27they do 12-hour shifts. So, I know
28:29factories for our suppliers. The guys,
28:32they work 12-hour shifts, they have two
28:34shifts to do your 24-hour factory, you
28:35go to Europe, you have 24 or 5 shifts
28:37minimum. We
28:38talk about it almost every day with
28:40each person. You know, it's the speed
28:42of production, of design, between the
28:44time they think about making a product,
28:46they release a second one, etc. They
28:48are capable of producing and acting
28:50ultra-fast.
28:52But that's the reason why China is
28:54strong. I'll tell you why. Because here
28:56, it's a glass in a container. A
28:57container for a product that will cost
29:001 to 1.50 euros. To mold silicone, you
29:03need 60 kg per cent, and the glass here
29:06is 2 mm thick. How do you keep it from
29:09exploding? In fact, no one can do that.
29:12And the advantage of China is that you
29:13put the guys who make the tools and the
29:15guys who make the machines around the
29:17table and in a matter of weeks, you
29:19create the machine. What's crazy is
29:20that everything is linked, but since
29:22humans are already cheaper and the
29:23machines are cheaper, I mean a virtuous
29:25stopper.
29:26Exactly.
29:27You make a product tomorrow and you
29:29want to develop it. The machine doesn't
29:31exist. OK, so you have to do it by hand
29:32. It's very complicated and so on. To
29:34be realistic, between one and four
29:37weeks, they will design the machine for
29:39you; it requires creativity since the
29:41device does not exist. They're the
29:43first machine manufacturers. They're
29:45going to prototype it, develop it,
29:46they're going to manufacture it,
29:48they're going to deliver it four weeks
29:50later. You see in your production tool
29:52a machine that does a new step that
29:53didn't exist before.
29:55The real factory technique is there.
29:58The day we did that, we're good at it.
30:02That's what we do here.
30:04You saw the machines over there. When
30:06we press, we have a metal tool.
30:07Well, we're going to do it here. So
30:09here, we mill the metal.
30:10The fulling,
30:12when you say it's the core of the
30:14reactor, it's the most complicated
30:15expertise. Here, you have to be
30:18responsible, so you have to be an
30:19engineer in China, and in fact, all
30:21over the world, the challenge is for
30:23the Chinese to
30:25be able to work with robots in an
30:28extremely affordable way. For € 1,000
30:30or € 1,500, that's
30:32nothing, that's nothing at
30:33all. You can have a robotic arm in a
30:35factory. That's colossal productivity
30:38gains
30:41because we often think that our
30:42industry has moved, but in fact it has
30:44moved, but we didn't have a very broad
30:46spectrum of industries in France. Here,
30:50the Chinese make toys, Christmas lights
30:52, silicone baking molds, rockets, cars,
30:54everything. So in fact, the tools are
30:58there, they have expertise in tooling,
31:00and when the tools are good,
31:01manufacturing is actually easy. There's
31:09this quote from DPing that says, "Cross
31:11the river by feeling every stone." We
31:15Westerners have a goal, we say to
31:17ourselves, "Well, next year, we're
31:19going to make more than 20%of our
31:20turnover." That's not the case for them
31:22. We move along slowly, crossing the
31:25river and chatting of stones. And
31:27that's really the mentality of both
31:30politicians and Chinese engineers. Time
31:34is strategic, meaning that no matter
31:36what happens, we know where we're going
31:38, we're not there on a political level,
31:39sorry.
31:41Time is short, it's based a bit on us,
31:43it's what we call the yes now here.
31:46That is to say, you ask for anything.
31:48It's a yes by default, and what's more,
31:52it is now. And that's quite incredible.
31:55It means that even if they don't have
31:56the solution, they'll try, you know.
31:58They'll try tomorrow. I think it's very
32:00pragmatic when trying and so it goes
32:01faster.
32:02So doing business the Chinese way,
32:04surprisingly, I found a bit of an
32:06American side to it: go fast and break
32:08things. You launch a product as quickly
32:12as possible, even if it's not
32:14completely finished or only 70 or 75%
32:17finished, and then improve it and
32:19iterate.
32:21This is especially true when you have
32:22large companies. I think there are a
32:24lot of...So
32:26here we are having lunch in the factory
32:28cafeteria, so in the dining room, with
32:30all the workers working and we're
32:32queuing up, as JC says in Chinese.
32:47Before our initial public offering, we
32:50did indeed receive a sum of 100 million
32:53US dollars and subsequently we also
32:56collected a total of 400 million US
32:58dollars.
33:00The third is access to capital. There
33:05are colossal investments poured into
33:07Chenzen, investment funds. The
33:11government has set up a fund of 60
33:14billion MB dedicated to robotics and AI
33:17for companies in Shenzhen. All the
33:20successful companies I'm talking about
33:21are all in the IPO process. They're
33:23already listed or they're going to be
33:25listed in the next 12 months with crazy
33:27values. You know, you're at the top,
33:30they've just listed 3 billion, a
33:31company that wants 3 billion
33:33and has 400 employees, 400,
33:36and on
33:38the Deong stock market side, since
33:40December, they've tripled,
33:42yeah, they tripled the time before
33:44and then you ask him if he has anything
33:46, anyway, everything's fine, how's it
33:47going,
33:48our ball,
33:49our ball, ball.
33:51In fact, something happened during
33:53Covid: everything closed down, everyone
33:54looked at their own little territory
33:56and no one, no one really paid
33:57attention to what happened in China.
33:59And China, in fact, has increased
34:01internal investments by 10 to modernize
34:03everything, and so on. There has been
34:05such a radical change, if you will,
34:06that they see it, and I feel that they
34:08believe in it. They tell themselves: "
34:10That's it, we're regaining control
34:12globally, we are becoming innovative,
34:13we're becoming leaders."
34:16The company is in Hong Kong. We often
34:17make the misconception of thinking that
34:19it is because we are in Hong Kong, it
34:21is a tax evasion. You see, that is not
34:22the case at all. Why did we set up our
34:24headquarters in Hong Kong? Because it
34:27allows us the free movement of capital.
34:29In fact, there are many quotas on the
34:31exit of foreign capital. That is why
34:33Hong Kong will always remain Hong Kong
34:35because there is a basic system, there
34:37is a legal system in Hong Kong that is
34:38established. It is all in English,
34:41it is the same judicial system. There
34:43are free trade agreements. This is not
34:44the case in China.
34:45I have in mind a French player in the
34:47textile industry that everyone knows.
34:48They need their goods very quickly.
34:50Their supplier asks them for a bank
34:52guarantee of payment. This guarantee
34:53takes a month to arrive. In the
34:55meantime, they have to store it, which
34:57costs them their entire margin. They
34:59end up selling all the CAM they bought
35:00in China at a loss. With the
35:02traditional banking system, there are
35:03several issues. The first is that these
35:05are very large entities. The solutions
35:08are standardized and often do not suit
35:10the reality of entrepreneurs. It is not
35:13their main priority. A very simple
35:15example: to do international business,
35:16you need an account in the currency in
35:18which you make transactions. If you
35:21keep your account simple, as many
35:22people do, the account in euros, there
35:24are a lot of fees, you have no control
35:26over the rates that are applied, it is
35:27a big problem. However, there are now
35:30plenty of alternatives that allow you
35:32to open foreign currency accounts, to
35:35access negotiated exchange rates, and
35:37to use hedges that provide margin
35:39security and long-term visibility for
35:41your business. Just on the scale of
35:43BBAN First, we are talking about
35:45hundreds of millions of euros in
35:47savings per year due to these exchange
35:49fees. What I wanted to learn from Hong
35:56Kong was to understand where we were,
35:58where this micro-country was, but
35:59especially where it was in relation to
36:01China. And so also to understand its
36:04relationship, it really is the gateway
36:06to China and Asia. It is the business
36:08control tower. We are
36:11constantly told here that the new hype
36:13is Shenzhen, that Hong Kong is over.
36:17Nothing is happening anymore, given
36:18that it is aging and really in decline,
36:20so we are going to take a look and see
36:22for ourselves if this is true and if
36:24the new stronghold is really Shenzhen.
36:39The last time I came to Hong Kong, I
36:41was shocked by the price of a hotel in
36:43Hong Kong. I ended up paying for a
36:46small 9 m² room, but at an
36:48astronomical price. And in fact, I did
36:51some research and what I saw was that
36:53compared to the median price per square
36:55meter, at the time, New York was 10
36:57times higher than the average. Hong
36:59Kong was 23 times higher than the
37:01average. So I don't know what state it
37:03is in now, but from what I understand,
37:04the housing crisis is real in Hong Kong
37:06. To the point that they actually have
37:08cages, uh, beds, and like, they have
37:09little cages where you can just lie
37:11down and that's where you sleep.
37:23Today, when you go to China and cross
37:24the border, you feel like you're in the
37:26future, and when you come back to Hong
37:27Kong, you feel like you're going back
37:29in time. It was the opposite 5 or 6
37:31years ago. There's a bit of a heritage
37:32in Hong Kong. Yeah,
37:34which means they're less keen on
37:35innovation at all costs. That needs a
37:39lot of change, and none. I imagine that
37:42from an outside perspective, you've
37:44read that there have been political
37:46changes, even economic changes, with
37:48obviously a slightly more present grip
37:50than before. From an inside perspective
37:53, for me, from a family life in Hong
37:54Kong, there haven't been any major
37:55changes. In everyday life, it hasn't
37:57changed.
38:01Look, look, look there. You see? There
38:04are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
38:0712. I count about a dozen of them, and
38:09it's just one place among hundreds of
38:12others, actually. And I think it's
38:15really like the Anglosa, what we also
38:17saw in the United States last year: you
38:20have a wealth gap, a huge gap in wealth
38:22between the richest and the poorest.
38:24And you can see it visually, it's quite
38:27funny in the architecture.
38:31What has changed is that their goal—
38:33this is what they call GBS, which is
38:35the Greater Bay Area—is to have a
38:38center, a pole of attraction between
38:40Hong Kong, between the part that you've
38:42started to have very high-tech in
38:44Shenzhen, uh, and the more
38:46manufacturing, let's say traditional,
38:48part of Anganuan. So I get the
38:51impression that they want to strengthen
38:53all that, but I don't get the
38:54impression that they want to absorb or
38:56reduce or standardize. He is perfectly
39:01aware that he still needs to give Hong
39:04Kong some breathing space because
39:06otherwise banks, finance, etc., will
39:08pose a certain problem. Remember at one
39:11point, particularly in the Jacquma
39:14affair, he had banned a certain number
39:16of Chinese companies from being listed,
39:19let alone in the United States or
39:21Europe. He went back on that a bit,
39:24etc., because there is a continuum
39:26between Beijing, Hong Kong and the rest
39:28of the planet.
39:31I get the impression that the Chinese
39:33don't really care about what we do in
39:35France, what the Americans do in the
39:37United States, etc., etc. It's not
39:39their problem. So you have a kind of
39:42continuity, a civilization that sees
39:44itself as the center of the world, the
39:45middle country, that doesn't really
39:47care about what's happening elsewhere
39:48and that's to say that it doesn't
39:49really concern it. In fact, it's still
39:53a country that in the 14th or 15th
39:56century sank its own ships to stop
39:58looking outside. Can you imagine that
40:01in 15 they sank the ships of
40:02Christopher Columbus or Vasco da Gama
40:05because they said no, we have to stay
40:07among ourselves. But they know that the
40:10continuation of this extraordinary
40:12growth that China has experienced in
40:13recent years depends on the relations
40:15that the country will have with the
40:17market that surrounds it.
40:21The atmosphere of this city is
40:23Yeah, yeah. And on the side of Runner,
40:26it's still quite lively. It's warmer
40:29than Shenzen.
40:30Shenzen has no warmth and no life apart
40:33from technology and children, you know.
40:35Yeah. It's about the organic versus the
40:37digital, you see. It's a bit obvious, I
40:40think, between Hong Kong and Shenzhen,
40:42it's that in Shenzhen, there's a lot of
40:44technology but it's a bit dehumanized.
40:46It's the robots that take over a bit
40:48from humans. Whereas there's still a
40:50lot of technology here. You can feel
40:51that it's still a modern city but
40:53humans remain central. They're
40:55everywhere
40:56when there are humans, there's chaos.
40:58That's also what we like in the end.
41:18Still in this big B area, so for 2 or 3
41:20hours on the road, there's nothing but
41:22the city and I thought 5 minutes ago
41:24that maybe we were starting to get into
41:27the sticks, you know. Well, actually no
41:31, we still have an area with like lots
41:33of buildings but it's like, you know,
41:35the defense. You see, it's really quite
41:39shocking to see so many people because
41:41it's all inhabited, right?
41:48There, we understood, so to speak, what
41:49China was capable of. That Shanzen
41:51shows us very well. Now, we also want
41:53to see, uh, what imbalance it can
41:55create, what paradox it can create and
41:57to what extent all this is also
41:59potentially a bit ambivalent.
42:03There it is, there it is. 3 hours of
42:05driving, no building. Come on, a small
42:08little construction over there but with
42:11a few houses.
42:12Nothing moves. The Middle Kingdom is
42:15still perceived as a developing country
42:17that needs help. That in 2020, France
42:19paid 140 million euros to China as
42:21official development assistance for
42:232020. The world's second largest
42:25economy therefore receives financial
42:27aid from the seventh largest economy,
42:30the amount of which exceeds that which
42:32Paris grants to Burkina Faso or
42:34Cameroon, for example. That's crazy,
42:36right? In terms of GDP in absolute
42:41value. Uh, China is huge and it's the
42:43second largest colony in the world. But
42:46also what we see is that it's a country
42:48per capita, a very small country when
42:50you're at 13,000 dollars or something
42:53like that because it justifies helping
42:55around 100 million. You're going to see
42:59a restaurant. That's the one I saw.
43:05Let's go
43:07guys. Let's go to a restaurant. Guys,
43:10go ahead. Let's go to that empty one.
43:12The one where there's no one. That one
43:17on the right. Translated anyway, bamboo
43:36intestines, iron plate.
43:39No, and don't just take it like that,
43:41please. No, but I had this
43:44salad of cold raw fish skin,
43:47no,
43:48fish tattoo with marinated peppers.
43:51Okay, so we have fish skin, balls,
43:54intestines. What, scallops,
43:55we know scallops,
43:58scallops, talking about worms, worms,
44:02man, you're sick. not eating,
44:07in our case, no, beyond the
44:10architectural contrast, etc., well,
44:13here we get a lot of noise, you see,
44:17for example,
44:19look at the scooters there, they're not
44:20really electric. Here, you see, we were
44:22wondering a lot
44:23in the car why China is still broken in
44:25the development box countries. There's
44:27nothing like that. After a few
44:28kilometers,
44:29we understand a little better, why
44:32there is
44:33when I would like to see a difference
44:34between what we see here and what we
44:36see in the huge cities that we've built
44:37up until now.
44:40I can give more of a personal feeling,
44:41it's that my parents, when they were at
44:43the time, told me, "I didn't know what
44:45I was going to eat."
44:47So, today, it's certain that there is a
44:49generation that has experienced the
44:51Chinese economic boom and knows that
44:53it's thanks to the government and its
44:55policies, etc. Everything is not
44:57perfect, but they are all richer, who
44:59have a much more stable and prosperous
45:01life. That's a reality.
45:04They have surpassed us in many ways.
45:06But here, we are in an area you go
45:07around; we went for a run this morning.
45:10Well, it's the third world. That's it,
45:12you understand why this is a developing
45:13country. You understand why it's only $
45:1613,000 in GDP per capita. You only have
45:18an overview. Yes, they are much bigger
45:20than us in the country, much bigger
45:22than us in the army, in everything you
45:23want because they are 1.4 billion, so
45:25obviously, but we are smaller in many
45:27ways but we are stronger per capita. We
45:29must try to keep that, to maintain this
45:31competitiveness. Today, it is really
45:34essential for us to discover different
45:36regions of China. So not only the big
45:39cities, but also the small towns, the
45:41small villages. This place is very
45:44different. OK. Oh my! Oh my! We could
45:50have told him to do just a little bit
45:51like this. Do that.
45:57But you are sick.
45:59I don't feel well.
46:03First me because
46:08seriously, I'm a non-native for cameras
46:11. Your beginnings were fine, but then
46:21there was
46:23a revival,
46:24even in the middle of the countryside
46:26where we were yesterday, you see all
46:27this planning, it's very present. We
46:29were really in the middle of nowhere.
46:30Well, you pay with WCAT or Alipay.
46:33Here we use Alipay because there's no
46:35more cash. No more
46:38cash.
46:39OK,
46:40129
46:41Front asks me to authenticate payment.
46:43I understand them there. I am
46:55Where are we now, Augustin?
46:57We are kind of in the middle of the
46:59countryside and, all along the road
47:01there, for, I don't know, 6 hours of
47:02driving, every, I don't know, 4, 5 km,
47:04I would say, flashing like the same
47:06camera systems that we have in Chenzen,
47:08like a row of cameras and big flashes
47:10so that we can see you clearly. Shenen,
47:14I didn't really care, but now the fact
47:16of being flashed exactly where you are
47:18for hundreds of kilometers, it's a bit
47:19weird. There's something funny about it
47:22: in
47:22France, they flash you when you do
47:23something stupid, and here, they check
47:25to see if you did something stupid, you
47:27know.
47:27Oh yeah, that's it.
47:29You clearly didn't go off the radar. I
47:33can't believe for a second that the
47:35Chinese security services didn't take a
47:36look at what you did in China.
47:39You see, there's something, let's say,
47:41quite oppressive. Here, you're filmed
47:44everywhere, all the time. From the
47:47moment I think you're at least in the
47:48front of the car, there are flashes all
47:48the time, all the time, all the time,
47:49all the time. In the country, and more
47:52so in the city, there are cameras
47:53everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.
47:55We're not used to that, it's a bit
47:56oppressive. But they tell you, "But
47:59security here, well, if you literally
48:01leave a € 5,000 camera in the middle
48:03of a square, it won't move." It won't
48:06move. I think in Shenzen, on average,
48:08to find a phone, I heard that statistic
48:10.
48:13Then, it is a payard 4. Rules are
48:16needed if you wish. I think it's
48:18necessary to have rules if you want it
48:19to work. Too much freedom, freedom
48:21works in small countries. Yes, there
48:23are cameras everywhere, that's true.
48:25But at the same time, there's zero
48:26insecurity. Would you rather have
48:27cameras everywhere, that's a question.
48:30Being able to go out 24 hours a day and
48:32leave your children...I have a daughter
48:33who's 12 who takes the metro because
48:34you're calm or would you rather not
48:36have a camera? I don't want to make a
48:39comparison with France or another
48:40country and still be quite worried
48:42about what's going on. That's actually
48:45the real question. Well, yes, clearly,
48:46there is control, but I think for good
48:48reasons.
48:50So even though we are fully aware that
48:52certain topics should absolutely not be
48:53discussed, we still wanted to talk
48:55about surveillance and freedom with
48:56content creators who have tens of
48:58millions of views in China.
49:00We attach great importance to public
49:04safety. This tradition goes back into
49:07our history. So it's not just a modern
49:10invention. In our philosophies, for
49:14example Confucius, we always value
49:17harmony, social harmony, and order. I
49:21don't
49:22see them much anymore, except when I
49:23drive at night, sometimes their eyes
49:24flash, you know. But otherwise,
49:26honestly, it doesn't bother me because
49:27the cameras are already pointing the
49:29finger at us, but we all have a phone
49:30on us. So whether in China or in France
49:32, if someone wants to watch you,
49:34they're watching you. When you have
49:35nothing to reproach yourself for, when
49:37you live your life, doing no wrong,
49:39they don't care at all.
49:41On the contrary, it might protect you
49:42more than anything. Because if your car
49:44gets stolen, if your belongings get
49:46stolen, if you get attacked, in China,
49:48you can find the person 100%.
49:54Can I show you something crazy that I
49:55discovered or not? Look closely, look
49:57closely, look closely. 1 2 and it's not
50:02crazy. It gives us a preview of what we
50:04will see here. I think we did well to
50:07go to Yongo. There,
50:08it looks like a set. It's really
50:10Miasaki, the thing.
50:12Which we don't really expect. I mean,
50:14you don't see China as a real tourist
50:16destination. Honestly, since I've been
50:18here between Hong Kong, the
50:19surroundings of Hong Kong, and Shenzen,
50:21because you had me, I would love to
50:22show this to my children. And what I
50:24see here is honestly good, I'm coming
50:26back with the family. That way, I'll
50:54give you the information we have, how
50:56we're getting there, what time, and so
50:57on. Basically, we have a slot tonight
51:00to record as many images as possible.
51:04You see? So, we are at Guilin station
51:08headed to Chong Chchin, and we are
51:10asking ourselves many questions. To
51:12begin, we
51:16understand nothing of course, we don't
51:19know the codes; there is a language
51:21problem. There's
51:22no electronic foot, there's no QR code,
51:23there's no thing where you can scan
51:25your ticket. There's nothing, nothing,
51:26nothing. Zero. So, in fact, they took
51:28our picture twice. I think it only
51:30works for special recognition. We saw
51:32it, but I don't think I got a ticket.
51:36I'm not known to the Chinese, I didn't
51:38show my face or ass.
51:40Come on, I don't know where to go.
51:44Which car are we in, you know? 5th.
51:49It's
51:49a bit like the Harry Potter train here.
51:50They come with a little cart, they give
51:52out goodies. We have super
51:57yin grapes, they're grapes in bags, I
51:59think.
52:02How did China catch up on the huge
52:04delay it had in the rail network and
52:06high-speed trains? You had all stock,
52:10so the French, the Germans, Siemens, I
52:12don't know what you call it, Canada
52:13with Bombardier. That was the know-how
52:16of high-speed TGV and TR. Okay. In the
52:192000s. It didn't just acquire the
52:21know-how through calls for tender, to
52:23get all the details of the
52:24manufacturing secrets. What she also
52:28did was invite countless retired TGV
52:30drivers, who were invited for what
52:33could be described as a study holiday
52:35in exchange for an all-expenses-paid
52:38trip to China. They gave some advice to
52:42Chinese train drivers. Here's how they
52:45did it, how they operated the trains,
52:47how they implemented certain efficiency
52:48procedures, and so on. It's funny to
52:51see how far it goes. We're
52:56arriving in Chongqing in exactly 18
52:58minutes and we have Thomas, whom I've
53:00never met, who was put in touch with me
53:02. Thomas Rosri, I was put in touch with
53:04him today. I'm going to talk to him for
53:06the first time today. He's going to try
53:07to take us to see a drone show on the
53:09other side of town. It's crazy, but
53:11it's like that everywhere. It was the
53:13same in NZ, it's the same. It's really
53:16crazy.
53:17Yeah, totally. And I wonder if it's not
53:19a cultural thing in China. Have
53:28we ever seen a station this clean and
53:30especially this size? Look at the thing
53:34, it's endless. China has understood so
53:37well the importance of the image it
53:38projects on social networks that it has
53:40literally transformed Tong Cing, this
53:41uninteresting industrial city into a
53:43cyberpunk showcase that we see
53:44absolutely everywhere on social
53:45networks.
53:47There is also a fear of Chinese
53:49companies vis-à-vis foreign media
53:50because they don't know what I told you
53:52. Historically, all the media have come
53:55to
53:55destroy them.
53:56There you have it, to destroy them. So
53:58of course it's slow because they don't
53:59find it interesting, but if they do
54:01find it interesting, it's ultra-fast.
54:04So it's also because the Chinese are
54:05extremely pragmatic. There's
54:07a Chinese saying that says it's useless
54:09to explain the ocean to a frog that
54:11lives in a well, and so I think she
54:13wants this frog to get out of the well
54:15and discover the ocean, which is, so to
54:17speak, of which China is a part. We're
54:22discovering that among the TikToks that
54:24work in Chunchin, well, there's one
54:25that's like this, and everyone says, "
54:27Look, it feels like we're on the ground
54:29floor, etc., and in fact we're 40
54:31floors or 20 floors above the ground."
54:34But we thought we were going to arrive
54:36at something where you really go up and
54:38that the city, in fact, had a sub-city,
54:40you know.
54:41This little square on the ground floor,
54:43incredible, and look,
54:45Ah, it's really beautiful, huh? It's
54:47really
54:47beautiful in real life, it's really
54:49impressive. OK, we validate the
54:51reception of the thing.
54:52Many Chinese people say, "There are two
54:54types of foreigners, those who have
54:55come and those who have never come."
54:58So inevitably, those who have never
55:00come have a vision created by the media
55:03and Western social networks, and that's
55:05normal. The Western world is an open
55:09system but with very closed-minded
55:12people. Whereas the Eastern world in
55:14China is a closed system but people
55:16question many more things. Do you think
55:18that all Chinese people, when they see
55:20the news on China Daily, think it's 100
55:21%true? No, they've been questioning
55:23themselves for ever, in fact, they've
55:24always questioned themselves. You have
55:26a much more critical mind. Whereas in
55:27the Western world, you often watch the
55:29news and think that it's reality, and
55:31it's a very simplistic reality.
55:33Many foreigners or even Westerners,
55:35when they arrive in China, are amazed
55:37by this country because they realize
55:42the clear disconnect between reality
55:45and the media narrative. How many
55:53cities are there like that in China?
55:54Impossible.
55:55Yes, but in fact never the number of
55:58huge cities. So this
56:01behind were fields 10 years ago and
56:02this is the opera house. It was there,
56:05before only
56:05the opera.
56:14What the [ __ ] is this? Oh no, don't
56:36just take
56:46pictures
56:46of the kids, not much fireworks, you
56:49know? So, on the day of the night, we
56:57arrived, we were supposed to arrive 2
56:58hours later, there weren't supposed to
56:59be any funny shows, but what's going on
57:00? The scriptwriter of the documentary
57:03made it perfect for us, it was
57:06my idea,
57:09the flop. Oh, when we look at each
57:12other,
57:25we literally arrived 1 hour ago, we
57:27just did something, we
57:29arrived here and we thought, isn't this
57:31a bit off-the-wall, you know, isn't
57:32this the Instagram version of this city
57:34? Is it really like that? Did
57:37China invite you? Did China pay you to
57:39come here, and despite that, you're
57:41still a big influencer in France? Now,
57:43I think everything is done via social
57:44media. All these influencers are
57:46interested in coming here because China
57:48is another continent, it's a bit of a
57:49different world. So, there are a lot of
57:51people who came to discover this. I
57:53think it's through the internet,
57:54through social media, that it helps to
57:56show this new, somewhat sexy image, so
57:58to speak. What's interesting is that
58:04when you're there, you understand that
58:06it's a question of perspective, and
58:08once you've understood the authorized
58:10framework, you quickly realize that the
58:12Chinese have no limits in their use of
58:13social media. So, we're at the premises
58:17of BQ by Quickly,
58:19which is one of the leaders in live
58:22shopping. So, they have huge live
58:24shopping studios. By the way, just
58:27arriving here is incredibly impressive,
58:28and so we're going to visit the studios
58:30a bit and do a short interview with
58:32someone. They're leaders in
58:34international brands in particular.
58:36And here, I think we can see live
58:37streamers putting on makeup before
58:39going live.
58:39Oh, damn, that's right, it's crazy.
58:43Today, our live streaming studios are
58:46very different from when we started in
58:482019. And now, we operate two live
58:51streaming buildings in parallel. We
58:53have over 100 live streaming studios,
58:56and each one is custom-made for a
58:58different brand. You really have all
59:09the live streams at the same time, you
59:11have all the dogs, all the brands, and
59:14then the brands, several channels, you
59:16know, big French and American brands.
59:21What is the average length of a live
59:22stream? Generally,
59:24each day for each big brand, we
59:25broadcast 18 hours of live streaming on
59:27Douin with a rotation of three teams.
59:29Yes, that's right. 18. That's one and
59:33the same streamer. No, it's three teams
59:35. The live streamers, therefore, do
59:41shifts of 6 hours each and on average
59:43they are measured according to the
59:45amount they are expected to sell. They
59:48were to sell 100k to 200k RMB, so
59:5011,000 to 25,000 € worth of products.
59:536h figure, three 6h figures per day.
59:57It opened. It opened in 2019, you said,
1:00:00and then 2021 for Romomo. So it's very
1:00:03young. I mean, it's grown so fast.
1:00:06Yeah, but that's just the Chinese speed
1:00:08.
1:00:10We have a lot of dashboards in our
1:00:11company because we come from e-commerce
1:00:13. Could you explain that to me just in
1:00:16relation to the 75 and above? What
1:00:18exactly is it?
1:00:19So, the first one is the style where we
1:00:21can think of it as the appearance and
1:00:23then the second one is the capacity,
1:00:25the third one is your potential and
1:00:26then the traffic and also the
1:00:28engagement. So Timo, that's what you
1:00:31said, I have the mindset to buy
1:00:32something.
1:00:34So Billy Billy is the equivalent of
1:00:36YouTube. Ronchou is called Red Notes,
1:00:38it's the equivalent of Instagram. Do is
1:00:40the equivalent of TikTok, which is also
1:00:42the same app. All these apps are
1:00:44available abroad. So in France and
1:00:47elsewhere, except for DIN, the Chinese
1:00:49TikTok.
1:00:57Here, we're making cucumber for you.
1:00:58I'm stewing.
1:01:00I don't even know how to say that in
1:01:01French. That's because I don't think it
1:01:03exists
1:01:03without coagulating. So
1:01:05we are tasting it now, because we are
1:01:07certainly not here just
1:01:08to play around on the sidelines.
1:01:11Originally, Ching's broth was a dish
1:01:13for the poor, for people who lived on
1:01:15the rivers and had nothing to eat. They
1:01:17ate offal, so they just had a poor
1:01:19broth that they cooked their offal in
1:01:22and ate it. So it's become the cult
1:01:24dish of Ching. Here we have intestines,
1:01:27tripe, and what is it? They say it's
1:01:30stomach, but
1:01:32stomach is very good, it's chili
1:01:36with a bit of beef, well, it's
1:01:51not easy, huh? What's the matter? Well,
1:01:54I tried to get my jacket back at the
1:01:56hotel. And they told me, "We're not
1:02:00going to get rid of it in the end."
1:02:02Well, I don't know, I understood it in
1:02:04English,
1:02:05no, well, you know, it was 40 times,
1:02:08but no one speaks English, actually. In
1:02:10fact, what drives me crazy is that you
1:02:11say that here, we're in an ultra-tech
1:02:13country. And in terms of the industry,
1:02:15where we are with Lial and LM, well,
1:02:17there's nothing that allows you to
1:02:18translate, you know, easily like that.
1:02:21While it's easy, you know, in absolute
1:02:23terms, when you see everything we do
1:02:25with IRs in translation and so on.
1:02:27Your reality,
1:02:28even if you have a little latency, you
1:02:30see, you are ready to accept the
1:02:31latency. Deven Labs, with whom we are
1:02:34finally working on podcasting, is like
1:02:37a virtual agent that you call and it is
1:02:39able to retrieve information and
1:02:42resolve your issue. Typically, this is
1:02:45a use case where I think you could
1:02:46resolve your issue in 3,000 minutes. We
1:02:49are in a country where there are drone
1:02:51deliveries, flying taxis, and things
1:02:53like that. There is something as basic
1:02:55as trying to understand the other
1:02:57person's language.
1:02:58In my opinion, that's going to be
1:02:59expensive. We're almost there.
1:03:01Yeah. I think it will be before you
1:03:02enjoy your jacket. I'll
1:03:04ask Ele.
1:03:19We are at GP Batteries. So, maybe you
1:03:22don't know this brand well, but it is
1:03:24one of the largest battery
1:03:25manufacturers in the world. So, it
1:03:27makes all sorts of batteries,
1:03:28accumulators, and accumulators for
1:03:30electronic products. It's a very
1:03:32important player here in China.
1:03:37And what is the total number of
1:03:38employees at this site?
1:03:40Around 1,000.
1:03:41Oh yes, 1,000. In 2005, they opened
1:03:45their first Chinese production line,
1:03:47whereas before in '93, the production
1:03:50line was Japanese. So that's
1:03:52why they did that?
1:03:57OK.
1:03:58Even back then, we can see that there
1:03:59were a lot of restrictions imposed on
1:04:00China. We can see that this helped
1:04:02strengthen the country, which
1:04:04internalized certain key skills. We can
1:04:07see that this continues today and that
1:04:09China's allies or competitors in terms
1:04:11of trade are making the same mistakes
1:04:13as in the past.
1:04:16The barriers put up by the United
1:04:18States have only accelerated Chinese
1:04:20independence. They felt threatened and
1:04:24today they have only one obsession: to
1:04:25be independent. It's
1:04:27in their five-year plan for total
1:04:29autonomy.
1:04:30There you have it. In fact, the fact of
1:04:32having erected barriers did not make
1:04:34China give in at all. It made them say
1:04:38to themselves, well, we are in survival
1:04:41mode and we are going to be independent
1:04:44on all technological subjects, on
1:04:46chipsets, on the network, on all
1:04:48sectors. So it has only accelerated.
1:04:52This is the number of batteries that
1:04:54are being produced today. So here, for
1:04:56example, today, at 3 p.m. sharp, we are
1:04:59at 7 million batteries produced today
1:05:01in the factory.
1:05:03What is impressive is that in each
1:05:04factory that we have seen, we see
1:05:06incredible monitoring, you see. So
1:05:08generally, we are not allowed to film
1:05:09them. Here it is just the number of
1:05:11batteries. But for example, you have
1:05:14the incident rate in a factory, the
1:05:16opening rate. We have actually done
1:05:18several factories. We saw that the rate
1:05:20was around 97%in the year 98, 98, 99,
1:05:23and then over the last 3, 4, 5 years,
1:05:25it's been at 100%. It delivers, it runs
1:05:29100%of the time. That's
1:05:32why we call it a lights-out factory.
1:05:35How many lines like this do you have?
1:05:3744 in total.
1:05:41The factory has almost no light inside.
1:05:44Almost all robots. We don't have that
1:05:45in France. And even if we wanted to do
1:05:47it, we couldn't because it would take
1:05:4910 years to build the damn factory
1:05:50because you'd have machines here, they
1:05:52build the thing. Well, then we regulate
1:05:54it. It's a maximum light-out
1:05:56factory as they say here. We call it a
1:05:58dark factory. In fact, there are no
1:06:00humans operating these production lines
1:06:02. This is a production line and they
1:06:04are 100%automated and above all, in the
1:06:06dark, of course. Finally, if you work
1:06:08on it, why does she shine a light on it
1:06:09? I mean,
1:06:10before you even create anything, people
1:06:13set standards, rules, and sometimes
1:06:15national rules. Oh no, supranational B.
1:06:17Before you even start, you're
1:06:19discouraged. That brings me to the
1:06:23fourth key point of China's success,
1:06:26which is political commitment,
1:06:28political will. They have political
1:06:31will. They have taken sectors in which
1:06:34they want to be major global players
1:06:37and so they support the entire
1:06:39ecosystem.
1:06:40For me, doing business the Chinese way
1:06:42also ultimately means relying heavily
1:06:43on the state. And as soon as you're in
1:06:46a business that fits into the five-year
1:06:49plan, the famous Chinese five-year plan
1:06:51, well, you know that you can have the
1:06:53country's full support to set up a
1:06:54business and develop.
1:06:56Five-year plans are quite simple. Well,
1:06:59very clearly, it comes from the example
1:07:01of the Soviet big brother. The
1:07:04government believes that in 5 years we
1:07:07will obtain a certain technology in a
1:07:09certain economic sector and that all
1:07:12the companies concerned by this
1:07:14objective will come together and work
1:07:16together so that in 5 years the
1:07:18objectives will be achieved. The
1:07:22objective is not only in terms of
1:07:24quality but also in terms of quantity:
1:07:26to produce x number of cars, x number
1:07:29of planes, etc.
1:07:31In France, everything we have
1:07:32technologically, whether it's Airbus or
1:07:34nuclear power, was due to policies,
1:07:36first in the 70s under De Gaulle, who
1:07:38set up and supported an entire
1:07:40ecosystem. But in France, during the
1:07:44post-war reconstruction years, we had a
1:07:46plan, we even had a planning commission
1:07:48, but we completely subscribed to it,
1:07:51again with the idea that only companies
1:07:53would find the markets. Except that no,
1:07:56it doesn't work. If TGV existed, if
1:07:59Arian existed, if Airbus existed, it's
1:08:01because there were politicians who
1:08:03thought in such a way as to plan these
1:08:06technologies. From a vision point of
1:08:10view, we are not much more stupid than
1:08:11if you look at France 2030. We did a
1:08:13strategic projection exercise and
1:08:14overall the main strategic industries
1:08:16for the country were identified. The
1:08:19big difference, in any case, what
1:08:20really struck me, is the way in which
1:08:21we are executing this vision. The
1:08:23example of humanoid robotics is a
1:08:25political will. They understood that
1:08:28the humanoid robot would become a
1:08:30flagship product in the next 10 to 20
1:08:32or 30 years. So they support the entire
1:08:36ecosystem. We are running late to catch
1:08:49our train to Hzu.
1:08:58No, don't worry,
1:09:02we are about to see the train, but when
1:09:04we swipe, it tells us that we don't
1:09:05have a ticket. It's
1:09:08a sketch.
1:09:11We lack the time to view the
1:09:14Anzo Anzo dong. You have a guideline.
1:09:21We're going to be leaders in
1:09:23electricity, we're going to be leaders
1:09:25in decarbonization, we're going to be
1:09:27leaders in self-sufficiency in 5 or 10
1:09:29years, and that doesn't change anything
1:09:31. It's fine, it's the highway, let's go
1:09:33. There's textiles, there are raw
1:09:35materials, there are all these things,
1:09:37but in everything we see, in everything
1:09:38we do, there's a lot of technology. Why
1:09:40? Because in the five-year plan and in
1:09:44the country's plan, in the next 5, 10
1:09:46or 15 years, the country's priority
1:09:49will be technology. This is not a film
1:09:53that we're making specifically about
1:09:55technology, but because all the efforts
1:09:57and priorities are necessarily focused
1:09:58on that, ultimately, we feel that the
1:10:00country is entirely focused on these
1:10:02themes. Isn't
1:10:03democracy an obstacle to all that? Holy
1:10:05[ __ ], right now, this question
1:10:08fascinates me, because you listened to
1:10:11André Chang and André Chang says: "In
1:10:13fact, the difference between China and
1:10:15Europe is that in the end we are not
1:10:17that different, and in China, for the
1:10:19collective benefit, we agree to give up
1:10:21a bit of our individual freedom." In
1:10:23Europe, we put individual freedom at
1:10:24the center of everything. So in fact,
1:10:26Europe is a democracy that defends the
1:10:27rights of minorities. China is a
1:10:30dictatorship made up of a single party
1:10:32that defends one thing only: the rights
1:10:34of the majority and respect for the
1:10:36rights of the majority. And in fact,
1:10:39this difference gives rise to very
1:10:40different civilizational trajectories
1:10:42because, look at the big picture, it's
1:10:44much more advanced. They put a billion
1:10:46people to work in 30 or 40 years. They
1:10:49gave them a standard of living that is
1:10:52more or less close to what we have in
1:10:53Europe. Not for everyone, but still
1:10:55without the country collapsing. Well,
1:10:56it's crazy. It's totally crazy. So the
1:10:59piloting that was done is incredible.
1:11:08We're
1:11:09in a real state of madness.
1:11:11Here we come to Unitri, which is truly
1:11:13the flagship of robotics here in China.
1:11:15It's a company that was created in 2016
1:11:17, so not that long ago. Unitri's
1:11:19strategy is to make these robots highly
1:11:21accessible to both professional
1:11:23companies and private individuals alike
1:11:25. They are really winning their bet. It
1:11:27is the highest-ranking company in China
1:11:29right now. In robotics, developing a
1:11:54humanoid robot takes less than 9 months
1:11:56. What does developing a humanoid robot
1:11:59mean? It's not assembly, it's what?
1:12:03Taking a product from the idea to a
1:12:05functional product that comes out in 9
1:12:07months. Today, in California, it's more
1:12:11than double that. A teacher can have an
1:12:13idea in the morning, and it will be
1:12:15tested in the afternoon by a company
1:12:17that is in the area. A prototype of an
1:12:20electronic product can be made in 18
1:12:22hours in China. Mr. Robots. Oh,
1:12:48how he gets up. It's [ __ ] annoying,
1:12:52I'm honestly shocked.
1:12:56See that with a bit of intelligence,
1:12:57and you think wow, wow? I had a hard
1:12:59time knocking that guy down just now
1:13:01when he thought, "Unbelievable."
1:13:08And also, you have a new generation
1:13:10today, for example, who don't want to
1:13:11have children. I think that's also the
1:13:13big problem with demographics, but the
1:13:15Chinese, the Chinese government, is
1:13:16trying to respond with robotization.
1:13:20And today, you see humanoids everywhere
1:13:21, they're adopting them as quickly as
1:13:23possible to compensate for that.
1:13:29Okay.
1:13:31But the price has dropped, it's gone
1:13:33from 16,000 US dollars to 13,500.
1:13:36That's
1:13:3713,500 dollars. Okay. And you can buy
1:13:39it all over the world.
1:13:42In France, Shopify. We're going to make
1:13:58the source code and the programming
1:14:00interface available. We want to break
1:14:04down the barrier that hinders secondary
1:14:06development, the one that comes after
1:14:08the first.
1:14:09Okay. So the goal is to make it
1:14:11available to as many consumers as
1:14:13possible for as many uses as possible.
1:14:15Yes. Phew, really. All moving, you see,
1:14:22doing things but it looks so fluid. In
1:14:24fact, it's their stability, the fact of
1:14:26jumping like that.
1:14:28But I'm honestly, I'm in the biggest
1:14:30technological slap of my entire life.
1:14:32Yeah. of my entire life, I think. Well,
1:14:35you see, compared to a smartphone,
1:14:37uh, compared to...No, it's crazy
1:14:40that the 21st century will be the
1:14:42century of China. The 20th being that
1:14:45of the United States and the 19th of
1:14:47Great Britain.
1:14:48It reflects a bit of everything we've
1:14:49seen here so far. That is to say, in
1:14:51fact, a few days ago, we were in the
1:14:53countryside with people who are so far
1:14:55away from that and now you are in
1:14:57something we have never seen, you see.
1:14:59So, since I got out there, I have been
1:15:01thinking about lots of use cases, about
1:15:04the depth of all this, where I can
1:15:05clearly see that it is more of a
1:15:07humanoid that is a bit of a baby, uh,
1:15:09yeah, a bit like the thing that greets
1:15:11you, that waves at you, that does like
1:15:13this. Up until now, I had only seen
1:15:15that, only things that didn't appeal to
1:15:17me. And now, you think to yourself,
1:15:18well, when you see the evolutions of
1:15:20Lia in parallel, you see a potential
1:15:22that is truly infinite, both worrying
1:15:23and at the same time, it's the same,
1:15:25you know, there are lots of positive
1:15:27uses, they all highlight it. We are in
1:15:29a new world and China is currently very
1:15:31clearly becoming the leader of this new
1:15:33world.
1:15:35When I worked on China, well before
1:15:37Xinpin, the next question was, why does
1:15:39China want power? At first, I thought
1:15:43that China wanted economic and
1:15:45political power to remain China. And
1:15:48with Zijinping, my thinking changed.
1:15:51There is no Chinese tradition of
1:15:53expansion and world domination. But
1:15:56Xinpin wants it. Through China 2025,
1:16:00where he listed about ten technologies
1:16:02and said, well, China will be number
1:16:05one in these technologies by 2025. So
1:16:07there he came out of the woodwork, he
1:16:09went against what Dan Hoping had
1:16:12advocated and what all of Dan Hoping's
1:16:14successors had followed. That is to say
1:16:17, we keep our heads down. He is the
1:16:18complete opposite. He clearly states
1:16:20that he wants to be a global player.
1:16:26When you say all that, how do you see
1:16:28it? Is our children's generation the
1:16:32ones who will end up with it all? You
1:16:36see, it's the...Isn't it the last
1:16:39generation of humans that is coming?
1:16:42You see when you see all this? It's
1:16:46still quite funny. You see, my son
1:16:48Jules, who is 6 or 7 years old, he flew
1:16:50a DJI as well as you and me. Better
1:16:53than half, better than 90%of humans,
1:16:55you see. But soon they won't have to
1:16:58fly anymore, they'll operate all by
1:16:59themselves. So
1:17:01today, in all cutting-edge technologies
1:17:03, China is either the leader or number
1:17:052.
1:17:06And above all, China's strength is its
1:17:08adoption of technology. Again, when you
1:17:10quickly adopt technology on that scale,
1:17:13you inevitably get better results and
1:17:15faster.
1:17:16All levels of society, I'm caricaturing
1:17:18, from a worker on an assembly line to
1:17:20a party member. Everyone has this
1:17:22awareness of the collective and the
1:17:24common interest.
1:17:25Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Sure. That's clear.
1:17:29That's clear. Then they'll say, yeah,
1:17:32but they don't have the right to
1:17:33protest. Certainly. One, it doesn't
1:17:35mean that they don't think. And two, it
1:17:37means that they are ready to blend into
1:17:39the crowd as a constituent element of
1:17:41what makes up society and what makes up
1:17:42its individual depth.
1:17:44But the social contract is that I pay
1:17:46taxes. What do I get in return?
1:17:48Infrastructure that works, education,
1:17:50security, medical care, it works, it
1:17:52works and it improves every day. And
1:17:55when we look at it from a Western
1:17:57perspective, our Western societies in
1:17:59general, I find that we pay a lot for a
1:18:01return on investment, so to speak, that
1:18:03is increasingly questionable. And so
1:18:05that too is where you lose your
1:18:07constituents, you lose your citizens.
1:18:09Here, I think they still have
1:18:10confidence in their leader, in their
1:18:12leadership, that's what they say. See
1:18:15Vladimir who is with the Great. And
1:18:19we're discovering Shanghai a bit by day
1:18:21since in fact yesterday we traveled all
1:18:22day, also at night but we traveled all
1:18:24day between
1:18:26Well no, we weren't in Shanghai.
1:18:28Hello. Hello.
1:18:30This is a former industrial wasteland
1:18:32of the textile industry where we are,
1:18:35there was even a phase, it was printing
1:18:37works. There were many areas like that
1:18:42that were converted. The
1:18:44question for me is not that's the
1:18:46subject, it's how do you live in a
1:18:47dictatorship? How do you live, how do
1:18:49you solve your problems? What I feel
1:18:51here and what the Chinese feel is that
1:18:53you have a system that helps you live
1:18:56better and more easily. That is to say
1:18:58that what is essential for me and what
1:19:01is essential for the ch why it is a
1:19:03stability whatever name we give to the
1:19:05system is that we have the impression
1:19:07that the system helps you to make your
1:19:09life easier.
1:19:11I think that in Europe, we would be
1:19:13ready to follow a little more blindly
1:19:15what our leaders propose. If we had
1:19:18certainty, we could trust them. In
1:19:21China, we felt that the Chinese were
1:19:23convinced that the country was working
1:19:25for them. They told us this several
1:19:27times. Yes, China works for me, China
1:19:30makes decisions for me. I think that if
1:19:34we asked the same question in France,
1:19:36the answer would be completely opposite
1:19:38.
1:19:40Nike, Apple, Tesla, Hermes. When you
1:19:43think about it, there are still no
1:19:44Chinese brands that really make us
1:19:46dream, like all these great French and
1:19:48international companies. For them, in
1:19:49their development, this is the last
1:19:51step and they are in the process of
1:19:53taking it.
1:19:53We have been developing a partnership
1:19:55with the Huawei group for 13 years. We
1:19:58had a discussion with them, and they
1:19:59asked, "But how do we make this work?"
1:20:00In fact, I told them, "You already have
1:20:01a problem, which is that people don't
1:20:02know how to pronounce your brand." And
1:20:04Huawei's first ad in France was an ad
1:20:08where there was a girl saying "woo" so
1:20:13that people would remember the
1:20:15pronunciation of the brand.
1:20:17The challenge for Chinese brands is
1:20:18that they have excellence in the
1:20:20product, the value they are going to
1:20:22deliver. So these are the world
1:20:23champions. This is an extremely
1:20:26utilitarian brand vision, I call it
1:20:28very data-driven, but not very
1:20:30culture-driven. But culture-driven is
1:20:33very present in their business in China
1:20:35, which means that they do not follow
1:20:37the precepts of their success in China
1:20:39when they go international. There is a
1:20:41gap.
1:20:42Your first connotation is what China is
1:20:44for a Chinese person because when you
1:20:45talk about Paris, they have a romantic
1:20:47idea.
1:20:48They have a vision of what it is. When
1:20:50you speak in French, what is it?
1:20:51Beijing or Shanghai? They have no idea.
1:20:53The Chinese ask you to understand the
1:20:555,000 years of history. But in reality,
1:20:56it's the same. The Chinese will never
1:20:58understand France as much as a French
1:20:59person. That's normal. So it's the same
1:21:02for them, the challenge is to simplify
1:21:04what China's message is in general and
1:21:07it will take time to get it out at a
1:21:09certain point. So
1:21:13are you ready? Are you ready for the
1:21:15test? Table,
1:21:18and now we use ink mode. Incredible,
1:21:22right?
1:21:23It replaces your Kindle. You're so
1:21:25happy not to have another device to
1:21:27carry around
1:21:28at that time. It was a bit of a
1:21:30challenge for Chinese companies to sell
1:21:32their products under Chinese brands. At
1:21:35that time, TCL had indeed bought
1:21:36Thomson for the television part. But at
1:21:39the same time, they had also acquired
1:21:41Agatel, a mobile phone brand, because
1:21:43there was this kind of...you know,
1:21:45consumers in Europe or abroad, they
1:21:47didn't really trust them, and so on and
1:21:49so forth. So it was actually beneficial
1:21:51to have a Western brand.
1:21:54All of France has an artistic soul. I
1:21:58think you are the best country for
1:22:01branding. That is exactly what is
1:22:05lacking in China right now. They have
1:22:08prejudices about made in China. They
1:22:10think it is always of poor quality, but
1:22:12the reality is not at all the case. Not
1:22:15at all.
1:22:16Have you seen what you expected? How is
1:22:18your image now that you have spent a
1:22:20few days in China? Has it changed your
1:22:23opinion?
1:22:23Yes, it has changed. It has changed a
1:22:25lot. That's what I say. I always tell
1:22:28people, "Come here, experience it and
1:22:30see it and make your own image. Then
1:22:33you will see what is possible." Once
1:22:36Chinese products arrive in Europe and
1:22:38have their first success, the second
1:22:40wave, the second season of BYD in
1:22:43Europe, it will be very interesting to
1:22:45follow because they have a hard time
1:22:47exporting their culture abroad. I don't
1:22:51know if this is a positive or negative
1:22:53point, but I can assure you that
1:22:54because of their reputation and image
1:22:56that they cannot change, they are
1:22:58blocking themselves. If this could be
1:23:00changed, then I tell you, the United
1:23:02States would no longer exist. A small
1:23:07bridge was built in 6 weeks. 6 weeks
1:23:10ago, there was nothing.
1:23:10Again, that's because one of them was
1:23:11sick. Isn't
1:23:14that huge?
1:23:19At the end of this trip, one thing
1:23:20became very clear to me. China is not a
1:23:23myth, it is not a miracle. It is not a
1:23:25completely incomprehensible country
1:23:26like I thought before. It is just a
1:23:28system, an imperfect system, sometimes
1:23:31brutal, often opaque. A system that
1:23:33tires its population, that controls a
1:23:35lot, that does not always leave room
1:23:37for doubt, but a system that produces,
1:23:39that advances, that executes.
1:23:43And then the fundamental question, in
1:23:44fact, is my obsession here, it's how to
1:23:46reconnect the consumer who wants to pay
1:23:47cheaply, the producer who wants to work
1:23:4935 hours and the citizen who would also
1:23:50like to be fed for free. And today,
1:23:53this is something that we don't realize
1:23:55. Oh no, but I feel extremely concerned
1:23:58. I ask myself the question every day
1:24:00of how to recreate value in Europe. We
1:24:03shouldn't just put up walls and say, "
1:24:04No, no, we don't want to see what's
1:24:06happening here. We're going to impose
1:24:08taxes everywhere and block them." No,
1:24:11in fact, we still have to intelligently
1:24:13support this evolution, this is
1:24:15progress.
1:24:17In Europe, it is possible to create an
1:24:19alternative model, telling the Chinese
1:24:20they can have access to the market. On
1:24:23the other hand, you have to produce in
1:24:25Europe with European labor and your
1:24:27factories generate transfers of
1:24:29know-how and technology
1:24:31like what China has done with us for
1:24:33years.
1:24:33But they are so smart. How are they
1:24:35going to let us do that? I mean, they
1:24:37are
1:24:38asking for technology transfers. But
1:24:40you know, because they are factories,
1:24:41they realize that it is hell to open
1:24:43factories in Europe and up until now,
1:24:44you have been putting phones in boats.
1:24:46Cars are still limiting. Earlier, we
1:24:48were with a Chinese player. The guy
1:24:51told us this in text, he said, "But we
1:24:52know for 20 years, there were
1:24:54partnerships, things and stuff, we are
1:24:55ready to do the same with you." In fact
1:24:58,
1:24:58they can't sell because at some point
1:25:00without cooperation, they won't let you
1:25:03sell.
1:25:03Yes, but there are 300 million of us,
1:25:04they are 8 billion.
1:25:05Yes, but they need our market. I mean,
1:25:07our market is one that, for certain
1:25:09Chinese companies, represents over 30%
1:25:10of their total turnover. That's huge.
1:25:13Today, they want to take over the
1:25:14European market because the American
1:25:15market is completely closed, customs
1:25:16duties and so on. And so they know very
1:25:18well that if they want to take over the
1:25:19European market by mastering the
1:25:20technology, at some point Europe will
1:25:22wake up and ask them to transfer the
1:25:23technology. So they're the ones who
1:25:25come to see us because we have a fairly
1:25:26serious player who tells us, "Well,
1:25:28we're ready to share what you're ready
1:25:29to do?"
1:25:29How can we work together? You see,
1:25:31we can't do anything other than in this
1:25:33sense of history.
1:25:34Many Chinese entrepreneurs speak to you
1:25:35in private. When you talk to them, they
1:25:38can't understand why we don't protect
1:25:40our market. They also can't understand
1:25:44why the government doesn't help the
1:25:45most innovative companies.
1:25:48While we debated, they tested. While we
1:25:51protected what already existed, they
1:25:52built the next one. While we thought
1:25:54about the world in terms of value, they
1:25:56thought about it in terms of results.
1:25:58China did not win because it was
1:26:00smarter. It is winning because it chose
1:26:03discipline, planning, speed, because it
1:26:06aligned schools, research, factories,
1:26:08capital and the state towards a single
1:26:11goal. And above all because it never
1:26:15asked itself whether it was comfortable
1:26:17. We
1:26:18must not think that a French engineer,
1:26:20just because he graduated from
1:26:21polytechnic, will find the miracle
1:26:23solution. The European elites will not
1:26:26have been taught these issues of
1:26:27economic warfare. These subjects are
1:26:30not taught in the schools of the
1:26:32European elites. So inevitably, when
1:26:34these people come to power, they are
1:26:37completely diminished in relation to
1:26:39this world, which is a world of
1:26:41economic confrontation.
1:26:43Members of Parliament should all be
1:26:44forced to come and spend a week in the
1:26:45US, a week in China. Dude, they don't
1:26:47understand anything. It's crazy. Do you
1:26:49see what you just said? You'll see the
1:26:51car. Oh, or anyway. What do I do now?
1:26:54We must accept we are no longer world
1:26:56leaders and share the burden and weight
1:26:58of the world with others. Share with
1:27:01China, we have to share with Russia, we
1:27:02have to share with the Indians, and so
1:27:04on.
1:27:05So we're going to have to cooperate. We
1:27:07have no choice. We have to manage to
1:27:09move towards a model of cooperation.
1:27:11There also has to be a political will
1:27:14to cooperate, to know where our
1:27:16strengths are, where our weaknesses are
1:27:18, to manage to build these JVs, these
1:27:20partnerships, whatever you want, but to
1:27:23cooperate. Let's learn to cooperate
1:27:25again.
1:27:26The window is still short. We must
1:27:28seize it before everything collapses.
1:27:32We must seize it.
1:27:34This film does not say that China is
1:27:36right. He says it is ready. Ready to
1:27:38produce, ready to invest, ready to
1:27:40sacrifice. Ready to last. So the real
1:27:43question is not can we do business in
1:27:44China? The real question is much more
1:27:47disturbing. Are we in Europe still
1:27:49capable of doing business at all,
1:27:51capable of producing quickly, capable
1:27:53of thinking long-term, capable of
1:27:55accepting effort, constraints, friction
1:27:57? Because while we are looking for the
1:28:00perfect model, China is building the
1:28:02real world and it will not wait for us
1:28:04to be ready.
1:28:17We are very happy to welcome you aboard
1:28:19Circation Hong Kong. Oh no, it's
1:28:29happening again. China build something
1:28:32great my friend. Grab your m the drama
1:28:35talk breaking news. Another China
1:28:37shuture tech greater ideas until China
1:28:42built it better built it cheaper built
1:28:44it fast. That's the part we can't get
1:28:47we preach fair play open the gate feel
1:28:49China's moving to China. Oh no, no.
1:28:56They bu better deeper faster.

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