SHANGHAI's ECONOMY!

Shanghai's economy

Huang Pu Jiang 黄浦江

Huang Pu Jiang is the largest river in Shanghai. It is a 113 kilometres long river flowing through Shanghai, China that was first excavated and created by Lord Chunshen. The Huangpu, Shanghai's "mother river", gets its name from Lord Chunshen's surname Huang. The Huangpu is also called the Chunshen or Shen River. It divides the city into two reigions: Pudong to its east and Pusi to the west.

Bund 外滩

The Bund is a waterfront area in central Shanghai ans runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu district. It was initially a British settlement. It has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, etc. Magnificent commercial buildings sprung up in the years around the turn of the 20th century as the Bund developed into a major financial center of East Asia. It is also one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai.

French Concession 法租界

The French Concession is the area of Shanghai once designated for the French, consisting of today's Luwan and Xuhui Districts. In 1842 when Chinese lost the Opium wars, Shanghai, among the other cities, was forced to open themselves up as international "ports of call". It was part of foreign involvement in China. In 1849, the government of Shanghai conceded a large segment of land to the French consultate. The area of French Concession progressively expanded in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries and despite rampant re-development over the last few decades, the area retains a distinct character, and is a popular tourist destination.

Shanghai's Economy

Reflection — China's dilemma

As the world's largest source of carbon emissions, China is responsible for a third of the planet's greenhouse gas output and according to the World Bank in 2007, 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China.

In my opinion, China should not pursue higher economic growth when there is escalating pollution due to the industrialization. Factory and vehicle and large scale use of formaldehyde in construction and furniture, causes air pollution which can cause lung and heart problems. 

The report stated that hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness have been caused by exposure to industrial air pollution. Seriously contaminated by industrial discharges, many of China's waterways are largely unfit for direct human use.

This shows that China's industrialization have been polluting the environment to the extent that many of China's waters are mostly unfit for direct human use as they are seriously contaminated by the industrial discharges, and has caused alot of deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness. 

Overly polluted environment will also cause the tourism of China to fall as people would not want to travel to China as it has an unpleasant environment that would make their stay uncomfortable and thus pursuing higher economic growth will instead cause the economic to drop because of the industrialization. 

In conclusion, China should solve the problem of the escalating pollution due to industrialization first before thinking of pursuing higher economic growth.

SiTing (20) 2G

Reflection on China's dilemma between pursuing higher economic growth and escalating pollution due to industrialization

China’s economy

China is also the largest exporterand second largest importer of goods in the world. China is the largest manufacturing economy in the world, outpacing its world rival in this category, the service-driven economy of the United States of America. ASEAN–China Free Trade Area came into effect on 1 January 2010. China-Switzerland FTA  is China's first FTA with a major European economy, while China–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement came in effect in 2007 is the first FTA signed with a South Asian state. The economy of China is the fastest growing consumer market in the world.

 

However, China cannot have the best of both worlds. While they are pursuing a higher econimc growth, they also have a pay of price – pollution due to the industrialization. China is in a dilemma between pursuing a higher econimc growth and escalating pollution due to the industrialization.

 

In my opionion, I think it is much more important to reduce pollution as these pollution will affect us and our future generations. Pollution in exchange for a higher economic growth is not worth it.

 

Pollution is one aspect of the broader topic of environmental issues in China. Various forms of pollution have increased as China has industrialized, which has caused widespread environmental and health problems. According to the World Bank in 2007, 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China.

 

If they were to continue and cause even more pollution, it will just add on to the pollution and may even affect the tourism popularity of their own country as people would not want to damage their lungs, breathing in the polluted air.

 

Industrial pollution

Air pollution caused by industrial plants

 

In 1997, the World Bank issued a report by Susmita et al. targeting China's policy towards industrial pollution. The report stated that "hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness [have been] caused by exposure to industrial air pollution. Seriously contaminated by industrial discharges, many of China's waterways are largely unfit for direct human use". However, environmental regulations and industrial reforms had had some effect. Continued environmental reforms were likely to have a large effect at a modest cost.

Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley of the New York Times in a 2007 article about China's pollution problem stated that "Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party." Main points from the article included

A draft of a 2007 combined World Bank and SEPA report stated that up to 760,000 people died prematurely each year in China because of air and water pollution. High levels of air pollution in China's cities caused to 350,000-400,000 premature deaths. Another 300,000 died because of indoor air of poor quality. There were 60,000 premature deaths each year because of water of poor quality. Chinese officials asked that some of results should not be published in order to avoid social unrest.

 

Thus, in conclusion, I think that China should keep in mind the pollution they are causing instead of just caring about expanding economically.

XinXuan 2G (14)

China's dilemma (money vs passion)

Despite China's long suffering in the past, China has gone a long way and in a very short period of time, China's economic growth has spurted. China is now one of the largest traders in the world and has been successful given that China even had the opportunity to host the 2008 Summer Olympic in Beijing. However, in pursuit for a higher economic growth, China has became very much industrialized and many factories are being built in China. 

These factories give out harmful gases called greenhouse gases. They absorb heat from the Sun and trap it in our atmosphere, causing the Earth's temperature to increase slowly, otherwise known as global warming. Currently, China is one of the largest polluters in the world and is the 1st on carbon dioxide emissions, right in front of the United States. The daily average PSI (Pollutant Standards Index) is 100 and above and respiratory and heart diseases related to air pollution are the leading cause of death in China. Besides that, decades of waste poured from factories and cities into China's rivers have turned many of them into open sewers. About 40% of the water in the country's river systems has a quality index of 3 or worse, meaning that it is unfit for human consumption. 

These have brought me to a stand that China should focus on keeping its environment clean before pursuing a higher rate of economic growth. A higher economic growth is meant to help improve the lives' or the living standards of people. However, China's actions to help herself make more money is contradicting it's her purpose of doing so. By building more factories and becoming more industrialized, China is becoming very polluted and this causes the people of China to suffer. It is not making their lives any better than it already is. Because of the pollutants in the air, people have to wear masks everyday and they can hardly see anything that's in front of them. Peasant who live in the country sides will have a hard time finding a clean source of water for their crops and animals as they can no longer go to the river nearby for water as it is now polluted. 

In conclusion, China should stop pursuing for a higher economic growth and should start considering the cleanliness of their environment. Is it really worth it to sacrifice the beauty of our home planet for materialistic things like money?

Clarissa Lee :)

China's Dilemma 😁

China is a developing country. For a country to be fully developed, it has to go through industrialization. Industrialization produces a lot of carbon dioxide, which is bad for the environment. It causes air pollution, and the air pollution affects people greatly. When people inhale the dirty air from the environment, it would cause their health to deplete. Also, when more carbon dioxide is present in the air, there is a higher rate of global warming. The effects of global warming has shown over the years. It is extremely harmful towards the environment. Icebergs and glaciers have started to melt, increasing the sea level. If global warming continues, and the sea level goes to a level which is inevitable, many people would suffer. 

China has considered the fact that industrialization affects the economy, and they are therefore in a dilemma whether to pursue higher economic growth or to escalate pollution. Yes, it may seem fine for China to go through thorough industrialization, as a country cannot affect much towards global warming. However, if every country has the same mindset, and does the same, then industrialization would become another big problem. It is good for China to consider about the effects of industrialization. If there is really no choice for them, and they have to go through industrialization, maybe it would be a good idea for them to invest on greener technology. It would help greatly in the effects of industrialization, by lowering the effects and making it less harmful. Therefore, I hope that China can actually think of another better method before starting industrialization so as to not cause so much effect on the people and the environment. Their technology is high, and they have many good talents there since they have a big population, so I am pretty sure China can come up with an extremely helpful method which can be used for the present and for the future.

-Danson Tan (31)