Monday, August 23, 2010
China's intrinsic problems
Word out last week showed that China just became the 2nd largest economy on the planet. Okay. New development. Surprising to some, if not most of us. But I've been seeing China's significant, if not huge, problems for its people and economy for some time. Their pollution alone could keep their economic boom from expanding: China, for instance, is home to 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. But by far the most serious environmental issue that the Chinese urgently need to resolve is that of water. The country is facing increasingly frequent and desperate shortages, disastrous flooding in some areas, and dangerous levels of pollution. And the problem is not just environmental - insufficient water is already limiting industrial and agricultural output in some areas and threatening to curb China's high economic growth rate and food production if solutions are not found quickly.
And that's one thing but take a look at this beauty, out today: China Traffic Jam Enters 9th Day, Spans Over 60 Miles Can you even imagine a 60-mile long traffic jam, let alone one that would last 9 days? How long would you tolerate those conditions? So, yes, China has huge, huge internal problems. Huge.
Link to orginal posts:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/23/china-traffic-jam-enters-_n_690742.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/chinaroadtraffic;_ylt=ArMNOWl1TQRsEOhYMH7KEPes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNsY281ZGdwBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDEwMDgyMy9jaGluYXJvYWR0cmFmZmljBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA2NoaW5hc25pbmUtZA--
http://www.new-ag.info/focus/focusItem.php?a=1302
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3 comments:
China's emergence as the world's 2nd largest economy is a surprise to no one. Within the next 30 years or so, they will surpass the US to become the world's largest economy.
The issues you describe are relatively minor and can be addressed with the right kind of infrastructure investment, which China has showed it is capable of doing.
Their biggest problems are the sheer size of population and the serious gender imbalance.
It didn't surprise the people paying attention, no. The others, it surprised.
Their pollution problems are anything but "relatively minor" whether we're talking air or water, either one. And the water availability is a big concern precisely because of one of the things you point out--the size of their population.
I didn't even mention the still-rampant poverty which effects health, health care, etc.
They have significant problems, for sure. They number of people in the country assures they have huge problems.
According to news reports, they overbuilt housing by over 60 million homes. All empty. And the power companies are having a big problem powering the country, due at least in part, to this.
I'm not dramatizing anything here. I'm just saying they have a heck of a lot of people and matching issues.
mr
Quoting NPR: "China's electricity company recently estimated there were enough vacant apartments to house 200 million people."
that's significant.
mr
link: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129395776&m=129395775
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