One of the most promising trends of today's world is the changing nature of national prestige. In particular, the rise of science and technology - uniquely combining intellectual sophistication with practical blessings - has reached such inspiring heights that it now counts for far more in the minds of ordinary people than brute military power when it comes to evaluating the real achievements of a people.
This is not to say that social features as varied as economic dynamism, political wisdom, artistic creativity or simple civility do not rightly reap their share of popular admiration, but science and technology have a special affinity with the trajectory of modernization and universal progress. The method of science, proceeding non-dogmatically through hypothesis, testing and disciplined criticism, liberates it from the coercion, pandering and bamboozlement that otherwise sully human institutions.
Yet within this trend there also lies a dangerous trap. The prestige of science and technology has become so great that it threatens to distort policy decisions in damaging ways, and relatively poor yet enthusiastically modernizing countries such as China are particularly vulnerable to such risks.
It is precisely because the field of science and technology has such crucial importance to the future of the human species as a whole that it should be practically linked to the widest possible social participation. Yet this may require a down-to-earth approach deeply disappointing to starry-eyed technological enthusiasts. Specifically, it may necessitate economic development paths which prioritize labour-intensive options over their high-tech alternatives, postponing, or even renouncing, certain prestigious technological projects.
Because China's immense economic transition involves both rapid urbanization and the wrenching restructuring of "rust-belt" industries, it faces problems of labour re-allocation on an unprecedented scale. If unemployment is to be kept within tolerable limits over the next two decades, the task of job-creation must remain the primary policy objective. The measures necessary to ensure success in this respect will often be very different from those most closely bound to immediate technological prestige.
When it comes to navigating these difficult decisions, the market mechanism once again reveals its incomparable advantages. When any country faces a labour glut, the price of labour tends to settle at a level which encourages those labour-intensive economic activities most beneficial to the growth of overall employment. In China, this means that the "primary urbanization" associated with large-scale migration of workers from the rural hinterland will automatically encourage the emergence of relatively low-tech light industries, such as textiles, toy-manufacture, food-processing and mass-production of consumer goods, enabling moderate capital investment to soak up large numbers of job-seekers.
This situation can be further assisted by policies designed to foster small enterprises in the service sector which have proven themselves the world over to be the greatest engines of job creation. Their importance in this respect far-exceeds the capacity of large businesses, even if the latter have impressive brands and international reputations. Once again, the lure of prestige can lead policy makers to overlook this economic bedrock of society, dazzled by the gleaming towers of a few giant companies and their grandiose schemes.
That is why, while celebrating China's bold venture into space, it is also possible to applaud the recent decision to scrap the Shanghai-Beijing Maglev project, substituting a less prestigious conventional railway. Saying "no" to what sparkles most brightly can be a great virtue, quietly and unpretentiously serving the people's true interests, without hope of fanfares.
Despite the beguiling lure of prestige, sharpened by memories of past humiliations, it seems China has learnt that when it comes to solid and generalized progress a thousand small steps are wiser, surer and perhaps even faster than a single spectacular jump.
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