Modern China

1240 Words3 Pages

To say that China underwent a rapid economic ascension over the past fifty years is a gross understatement; the nation transformed itself from a largely agrarian society into one of the world’s most successful and powerful industrial giants. Through a series of economic, social, and political reforms, the country launched head first toward modernization and secured its place amongst the most influential world powers. However, a country that affixes its national onus solely upon the process of modernization is bound to ignore various spectrums of society, and in the case of China’s rapid industrial growth, the cost of progress took its largest toll on the environment. One of the more popular jokes during the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the question of whether or not the athletes would even be able to breathe correctly due to China’s air quality, yet this seemingly humorous observation underscores a problem which is hardly a laughing matter. China has become the leading country in terms of its nation-wide level of greenhouse gas emissions, over taking long-time leader, America. This ominous “achievement,” as well as numerous others which further undermine China’s environmental and medical well-being, have caused the government to recently undergo a series of dramatic environmental reforms which hope to undo the deep damage that has been inflicted upon China’s ecosystem. While China successfully completed its journey toward becoming a modern super power, its current goal of mitigating the effects of climate change and nation-wide pollution is perhaps just as important for the country’s future.

To understand the breadth of environmental problems that plague Modern China, it is important to first contextualize and understand China...

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... what has amounted to the largest hydraulics program in world history. Yet center to the nation’s nearly hazardous environment is the nation’s historically unabashed approach to industrialization and expansion. Recently, government officials have begun to warn the nation about the disastrous consequences of expansion without consideration for the environment. Likewise, the nation has made it a stated effort to outpace every other country in the world in terms of green technology that is produced domestically. Each of these government programs and policies is an important step toward China’s environmental recovery, but it must be understood that the nation still has tremendous ground to make up. Indeed, if China intends to continue its impressive trajectory, it is clear that it will need to orient its focus around a different kind of “green” initiative.

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