Went on a tour of an Iron Man Windmills, an American owned windmill company here in Wuhan. They produce windmills that pump water out of the ground (of the same basic design as the ones produced in 1900; these run anywhere from 10,000 – 250,000RMB), and are getting orders for far more than they can produce. Their clients are almost entirely Chinese; usually local governments. The pitch is that they can adopt a centuries old technology to greatly improve life in rural China, in areas where there is no running water and little electricity.

Though I may be more pessimistic than many about China’s near-term prospects, it boggles the mind to consider the extent to which pre-existing technology could be widely implemented to improve people’s quality of life.