
	Overdrive Boom with No Bust Harmonious Society Information Revolution Global Economic Crisis Ramping up its export juggernaut and taking full advantage of WTO entry, China’s economy in the first decade of the new millennium was “boom with no bust.” The information revolution fed more growth, as hundreds of millions of Chinese came online. But the Internet also became a forum for discontent, and the new leadership team of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao acknowledged growing environmental and social justice concerns with their call for a more harmonious society. Then, as the credit crisis in the US spread into a global economic crisis, China’s export-dependent growth appeared in jeopardy, and fears of a Chinese crash surfaced. But, as in 1998, China weathered the storm, and emerged in 2010 as the world’s largest exporter, largest foreign creditor, and fastest growing major economy, poised to soon surpass Japan and eventually eclipse the United States as the biggest economy on the planet.

Generation Gaps

Period: Overdrive (2000s)

WTO Was a Tool to Accelerate China's Growth
Charlene Barshefsky
2001 Marked a Change in China's Quality of Growth
Trevor Houser
The Export Boom was Due to Dollar's Depreciation
Brad Setser
The CCP Retains Strong Influence over the Economy
Susan Shirk
Change in Leadership Causes a Change in Policy
Li Cheng
China Needs to Bring The Environment Back in Sync
Elizabeth Economy
This is a Great Moment Given All of That Legacy
Robert Oxnam
The Olympics Was a Strange, Surreal Nightmare
Ai Weiwei
The Internet Facilitates Social Mobility
Michael Anti
China Needs to Innovate
Isaac Mao
Listen to Outside Voices
Rose Luqiu
Nobody Trusts The Chinese Government
Mao Yushi
Olympic Epiphany
Cai Guoqiang
Internet and Mobile Helped The Boom of Information
Bruno Wu
A Blind Man Riding on The Back of Blind Tigers
Jack Ma
China Has a Big Employment Problem
Thomas Rawski
China's Reserves are Worthless Because They Can't Use Them
Carl E. Walter
Chinese Companies React Faster
Edward Tse
Generation Gaps
David Zhang
It’s Not Just About Economics
Frank Hawke
The Early Days of China’s Internet
Chen Qi
No Dispensation from The Laws of Economics
Stephen Roach
US-China Symbiosis Fed the Boom
Federico Rampini

David Zhang

Founding Managing Partner, Matrix Partners China

David Zhang is a founding managing partner of Matrix Partners China, a leading venture capital fund, and oversees all its China operations. Previously, he was the managing director and Beijing office head for WI Harper, another venture capital firm, where he oversaw all investments, portfolio management and operations in both life sciences and IT in China. David joined WI Harper in late 2001 as an associate in the San Francisco office and moved back to China in 2003. Prior to joining WI Harper, he spent time at ABN AMRO Capital and before that at Salomon Smith Barney, the investment banking arm of Citicorp. He also contributed to studies at UCSF as a research associate and participated in the High Throughput Genotyping Project for multiple sclerosis for the Department of Neurology. David was born in Shanghai, grew up in the United States and holds a MS in Biotechnology and Business from Northwestern University and a BS in Biology and Chemistry from California State University, San Francisco.

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So from my parents' age, you know, right around early 60s, I think they missed the boom completely. You know, they’re not a participant, they're only sort of witness to it? You know? Maybe because the boom only happened in the past um 15, 20 years, maybe even 50 yrs.

So to a large extent, they have kind of missed it. The younger people, you know, I think the people who are in the 30s, to 45, or 50s, they're the active, they're the biggest contributors and participants of the boom. People like me, you know in their mid 30s, you know, we're in the thick of it, and we're just lucky, you know.

We're riding this wave as it becomes bigger and bigger, and you're taking advantage of you know, the market, you're taking advantage of your prior experience, whether it's from the US or domestically, you're at an age that you know...this is...the sky is the limit.

Um, for the people who are in the 20s, or even younger, I think um, you know, they're seeing a whole different view about China, and they're probably a lot more capitalistic than US or Europe than you can imagine.

So they're coming in with a very different view, they don't have the baggage of the prior...you know, the turmoil, the conflicts, you know, the downturn. So to an extent, they may be too confident, they may be too cocky, and they may be a little bit ill prepared, because many of them are being the only child, the single child. You know, have led a very sheltered life.

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Overdrive

Generation Gaps

Period: Overdrive (2000s)

WTO Was a Tool to Accelerate China's Growth

2001 Marked a Change in China's Quality of Growth

The Export Boom was Due to Dollar's Depreciation

The CCP Retains Strong Influence over the Economy

Change in Leadership Causes a Change in Policy

China Needs to Bring The Environment Back in Sync

This is a Great Moment Given All of That Legacy

The Olympics Was a Strange, Surreal Nightmare

The Internet Facilitates Social Mobility

China Needs to Innovate

Listen to Outside Voices

Nobody Trusts The Chinese Government

Olympic Epiphany

Internet and Mobile Helped The Boom of Information

A Blind Man Riding on The Back of Blind Tigers

China Has a Big Employment Problem

China's Reserves are Worthless Because They Can't Use Them

Chinese Companies React Faster

Generation Gaps

It’s Not Just About Economics

The Early Days of China’s Internet

No Dispensation from The Laws of Economics

US-China Symbiosis Fed the Boom

David Zhang

Founding Managing Partner, Matrix Partners China

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Map the interviews