China and Development

China and Development

1. OneChildPolicy

   • Why ?
     • 1979 - China's leaders afraid of enourmous pop. growth
       • Only allowed to have one child or pay fines and have disadvantages
         • Exceptions
           • If the two parents do not have siblings
           • If the first child is a girl (Rural areas only)
           • If it is an Ethnic minority
   • Problems
     • Parents, especially in rural areas, do not want to have a girl as she will marry and go away.
       • So the number of girls born is going down. In 2007, there were 120 boys born for 100 girls
         • So millions of men will not be able to find wives
     • People may have to support several older people, and this could be difficult

2. 3 Gorges Dam

   • Why?
     • China mainly depending on coal for Energy
       • Need a sustainable and clean source of energy
     • Help prevent floods on the Yangtze River
       • 1954 - Flood killed 33 000 people
     • Ships can go further up on the Yangtze River, carrying cargo
       • More industry for Chongqing
   • Provides 2% of China's energy
   • Largest Dam in the world
     • 2 km in length
   • Cost $22.5 billion
   • Problems
     • Impact on local people
       • More than 1.20 million people moved for building the dam
         • They were given money but they said it was not enough
       • Drowned 2 empty cities, 116 towns and lots of villages
     • Environnment
       • Stops fish and other river animals from moving freely
         • Yangtze River dolphin is now extinct
       • Poisonous level of sewage and factory waste build up
         • Harm wildlife and humans
     • Silt builds up in the reservoir and makes it less and less effective
     • At dry times of the year, the river level on the other side falls very low
     • Creates earthquakes and landslides
       • If the damn breaks, there will be a catastrophe

3. Environnement

   • Problems
     • Largely depending on coal - 70% of energy needs
       • But coal is a limited resource and pollutes the air
         • So China build more sources of sustainable energy
           • Wind farms
           • Solar panels
           • Dams
           • Nuclear power stations
     • Desertification
       • The farmland is turning into desert
         • Overgrazing
         • Chopping trees down
         • Soil too intensively farmed
         • So the Chinese are planting a belt of trees and shrubs called the green great wall
           • They are also building canals to transport water from the Yangtze River to water the dry North
     • Building sewage plants
     • Trap the CO2 from factories