The rapid integration of the world’s economic systems through the breaking down of barriers to trade, finance, investment, technology and labour around the world has had profound effects on the Chinese economy. The world ’s largest economy has embraced the process of globalisation through trade liberalisation, financial market reform and the ‘open door policy’ therefore enabling China to receive the benefits of globalisation. This process has stimulated economic growth leading to sustained increases in per capita incomes, improvements in quality of life and significant reductions in poverty and unemployment. However, the effects of globalisation and rapid economic growth have come at a cost, resulting in significant environmental degradation …show more content…
Trade liberalisation and the reduction in bureaucracy has enabled overseas firms to enter the Chinese market to take advantage of cheap and vast labour, creating millions of jobs. However, the privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the face of international competition as well as economic restructuring has also simultaneously led to mass job losses, especially in rural areas, posing a challenge to the Chinese economy and the government. During the period 2009 to 2015, China’s urban unemployment rate averaged 4.8% which is lower than the world average of around 7%. However, the real unemployment situation is likely to be more serious as migrant workers and newly graduated students are not included in government statistics on unemployment. As well as this, China has had historically low levels of unemployment, thus, a trend of increasing unemployment levels indicates a worsening situation. We can see the extent to which the impacts of globalisation have had on China, through historical unemployment statistics. In 2009, unemployment reached a 30 year high of 5.4% reflecting the impacts of the Global Financial Crisis and highlighting that China is now increasingly exposed to external shocks. The movement away from labour intensive industries (i.e. manufacturing and agriculture) and the effort towards service based industries, due to the process of …show more content…
American economist, Rostow through his ‘Stages of Economic Development’ demonstrates that economies may ignore environmental quality in their quest for growth. This notion is true in China, with government and private firms using unsustainable practices in order to maximise globalisation opportunities. China suffers mostly from chronic air and water pollution caused by both the demand for energy (i.e. coal mines) as well as the process of manufacturing. This effect on the Chinese economy is quantified through China’s emissions, which in 2010, was 8,286 million metric tonnes, 35% higher than the next uppermost emitter, the United States. China is also home to 16 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world. Consequences for not cleaning up the environment will not just be a health crisis but an economic one. The Chinese government is now recognising and addressing the environmental problems which have occurred due to both rapid economic growth and industrialisation. It has set targets which aim at reducing pollution levels with $6.6b committed in spending in order to achieve such targets. Such examples include investment in nuclear power instead of coal, hydroelectricity (i.e. Three Gorges Dam) as well as new stringent environmental laws. It is hoped that new regulations and investment will lead the way for renewable energy and a sustainable
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Show MoreOne of China’s best successes has in turn been one of its biggest downfalls. One of the main problems is China’s greatest success which has been its phenomenal economic growth. This is one of the main drivers of the current environmental problems that the country faces. Factories dump pollutants into the air and water. It is difficult to see the Chinese government making the significant sacrifices required to improve their environment if it means slowing down their economic growth.
In 2007-2008 ;China became the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. In 2010 China became the world's biggest energy consumer” (Seligsohn, 2015) As Seligsohn
The Three Gorges Hydroelectric Dam was envisioned as China’s new symbol of power in a world that is driven by the latest innovations. However, today it is viewed around the world as a catastrophic environmental disaster that became a reality through corruption, improper planning, and complete disregard to pleas of warning. The dam was China’s answer to control annual flooding, a problem that in 1998 displaced 300 million Chinese who lived on the banks of the Yangtze River. It was also China’s tactic to increase international trade by deepening the Yangtze River to accommodate large cargo ships farther into Mainland China. Most importantly, it was China’s 24 billion dollar investment to decrease the annual burning of 50 million tons of coal with the goal of producing 10 percent of China’s total electricity needs by 2012 in response to the needs of its growing population. Despite these goals of economic growth and clean energy production, government officials ‘cut-corners’ during inspection to save money and refused to listen to warnings from engineers and environmentalists regarding the potential environmental devastation. “China decided to launch the project – then solve the problems along the way.” (John Byrne, the director of the University of Delaware’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy)
However, the impact it has made on China can be considered to be great as it brought China under the limelight in the global economy. Globalization has had many positive and negative ramifications on the Chinese economy. In the short run, it may be so that the negative impacts outweigh the positive impacts, but that is easily debatable. This is because all the negative impacts of globalization can be corrected with economic policies that can be efficiently undertaken by the Chinese government. In this manner, China in overall will be able to enjoy all the benefits of globalization and contribute more to the rest of the world as it continues to grow economically and socially. In today’s world, globalization is an important part of the development and prosperity of each nation and China too should be able to reap from its benefits. Today, as China proudly holds a place in the global economy as the world’s second largest economy and most populated country in the world, it can be said
Globalisation is a process that refers to the increased integration between different countries and economies as well as the increased impact of international influences on all aspects of life and economic activity. Over the last 50 years, globalisation has had a tremendous impact on the Chinese economy. The impacts brought forth by globalisation can be both positive and negative and effect both economic performance, economic growth and the development of China’s economy. Globalisation is the main factor responsible for China’s significant growth that has taken place over the last two decades. However, globalisation itself is not entirely responsible. The Chinese economy has also implemented strategies which have been very effective in promoting economic growth and development. These strategies include the implantation of“Open door policy”, “Reformation” of China’s agricultural system and joining the World Trade Organisation.
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
In the case of China, the cause of a robust economy might not match, or even be synonymous with, the causes of political and social change; especially since the effects have not yet reached their full potential. However, there is some contrasts
China’s economy is one very large indicator of its role in globalization. “In 2010 China became the world’s largest exporter” (CIA World Factbook). Without China many places such as the United States of America would be without billions of goods imported from China annually. An influx of companies moving their manufacturing to China has allowed people to flock to cities and find jobs. China’s economy has grown exponentially over the last few decades. In the last three years China’s economy has grown by nearly ten percent every year. Despite this influx of money to China it has also resulted in many drawbacks. For example, China’s environment has been obliterated. China burns more coal than every country in the world combined. Beijing has been so badly polluted that there are actually companies that sell cans of fresh air to people, and gas masks are a common sight. On January 12th 2013 Beijing’s air pollution reached a record setting 775 PPM. To put that into perspective, the scale for measuring pollution is 0-500 PPM. This set an all-time recorded high. In Los Angeles a high ...
China has made some improvements in environmental protection during recent years. According to the World Bank, China is one of a few countries in the world that have been rapidly increasing their forest cover. It is managing to reduce air and water
However, China accounts for 33% of the worlds Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly arising as a result of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, and the deforestation that occurs in its wake. China is also suffering from desertification, coastal reclamation and severe climate change as are result of their long time blasé attitude towards environmental issues. While the Chinese Government now do acknowledge that environmental oversight has occurred, strict censorship within China deprives outsiders of receiving the full story of the environmental calamity that is occurring within China. Citizens within China are becoming increasingly concerned with governmental policy that regards further unnecessary degradation of the environment. A retired party official revealed that there had been 50,000 environmental protests within China in 2012 alone. China has amended numerous government acts and implemented strict new regulations in an attempt to curb pollution and Greenhouse gas production. However, the problem China faces cannot be swept under the 'bureaucratic rug' so to speak. The problem rests with the lack of an alternative clean energy to the fossil fuels currently used to fuel China's resource hungry industry. China has implemented numerous 'real world' measures to reduce environmental impact. Perhaps the most well known of these projects is 'Green Wall of China', which is a 4,500 km green strip of
It’s become a common sight to behold. In other cities, popular must have fashion items include scarves, sunglasses and perhaps a striking pair of shoes. In Beijing however, surgeon masks have been “in style” for years and more recently more people have been sporting a can of fresh air; from Canada. The pollution has gotten so bad that people are willing to pay as much as 22.95 U.S dollars for a 10-liter bottle of “Pure Premium Oxygen’. “[The] first shipment of 500 bottles of fresh air were sold in four days,” said co-founder Moses Lam to the Telegraph. The government has faced increased domestic and international pressure to address the situation. Throughout the years, China’s industrialization and economic boom has brought millions of people out of poverty and skyrocketed their economy to first place, but in doing so, their environment has been seriously damaged. A new poll done by Gallup shows that 57% of Chinese adults believed that protection of the environment should be given top priority even at risk of slowing economic growth.
(2009) illustrated China’s economic growth is shifting from a predominantly agriculture to a growing share of industrial and service sector. For example, in Beijing; China’s capital city has proved that many urban dwellers achieved a good quality of life. Consequently, the authors believe that the ability to construct sustainable social development in the communities is a key challenge for China. Likewise, Mittleman (2000) explains that globalization is not a single and unified phenomenon, but a syndrome of process and activities. In addition, globalization offers major benefits, including gains in productivity, technological advances, higher standards of living, more jobs, access to broader consumer products, low cost, dissemination of information and knowledge and reduction from poverty etc. Adversely, globalization has downside implications such as various cultural losses, rise of new hybrid forms of traditions, and additional socioeconomic shortcomings.
When the new Chinese Government was set up in 1949, the new government faced a lot of problems. First on their agenda was how to re-build the country. As Communist Party of China (CPC) is a socialist party, their policies at the time were similar to that of the Soviet Union’s. Consequently, the CPC used a centrally planned strategy as its economic strategy when it first began. For a long time, the Chinese economy was a centrally planned economy in which none other than the state owned all companies. In fact, there were absolutely no entrepreneurs. As time went on, the problems of a centrally planned economy started to appear, such as low productivity, which was the key reason for restricting the development of China. With the population growing, the limitations of the centrally planned economy were clear. In 1978 China started its economic reform whose goal was to generate sufficient surplus value to finance the modernization of the Chinese economy. In the beginning, in the late 1970s and early 19...
The population of China continues to rise at an exponential rate because of the prevailing economy. Ironically, China is known as one of the worst polluting cities because of their economic growth. Even though China residents already have been through many air pollutions in the past, citizens were shocked by the recent event. It is time for the Chinese government officials to step up to prevent the unstoppable air pollution by changing China into a “greener” country and saves millions of lives. While the economy is a top priority in China right now, but Beijing citizens have to keep the balance between safety of their lives and fighting against the pollution. Most of all, I learned it is not about the economy helping to keep China thriving. It is about having available solutions and strategies to replace outdated technologies with newer ones that are designed to make China a healthier living environment and positively impact the quality of human
The environment is far from protected in countries like India and China. Pollution which is a commonly large factor in both the countries is present in every aspect of nature and the main concern being the change in mentality about urbanisation and industrialisation in people’s minds. To add to the pollution issue both these countries deal with several environmental problems which caused pollution problem in their regions. The three main problems faced by India and China are Deforestation, Industrial Air Pollution and Industrial Water Pollution. The common factor causing these problems are industries in their respective country. Both countries produce goods on a large scale which determine and explain the pollution problem.