China has big problem with its food production and providing it for its people. People have resorted to rice husks, hemp leaves, grass soup, toads, rats, body lice, and even their own dead. Many moves toward industrialization have put China behind in its production of food for its people. These moves toward industrialization have taken farmers off their fields and into industrial factories. The result is cropland disappearing and water becoming scarce in some areas. China’s huge population increases by about 15 million each year, even with one child per family. China’s booming economy has made some people wealthy enough to pay off government restrictions of one child per family.
China has been trying to solve this problem in many ways. It has put a restriction on the number of children a family can have, which is one. This for some families who are wealthy enough isn’t a problem. China has also looked to importing food, but this has had a dramatic effect on the world’s trade prices. If China continues to import food the international prices will skyrocket resulting in developing countries being unable to import food. In addition to importing food China has also been researching and developing so called “super rice”. This “super rice” has an increased amount of seeds on it when it matures. Thus increasing food production. The “super rice” is supposed to increase production by some 20 percent.
If China’s problem keeps increasing and China can’t figure out a way to support itself they may have to turn to importing. This can have a dramatic effect on the rest of world. China may begin importing a lot of its food, which can drive up trade prices. The result is developing countries won’t be able to import food due to lacking of funds. Also if China keeps developing its “super rice” this may help the rest of the world by being able to increase production by 20 - 25 percent. This is a very interesting thing for many countries especially for those countries that are still young and could use the increase in production.
There are a lot of things that I have learned from this article. I now know that some of China’s people have been resorting to eating their own dead to survive, due to food shortages.
Imagine having to be told by the government that you were only allowed to have one child because of your ethnicity and then being forced to pay for an additional child if it happened. China fell under Communist control in 1949 with Mao Zedong leading the country. China had just gotten out of a bad war so Chairman Mao believed that the Chinese people should have as many babies as they could; he called this plan the Great Leap Forward. Soon, China was captured in a famine that killed nearly 30 million people, so Mao told the Chinese people to have smaller families. Mao Zedong created the One-Child Policy (OCP) to help prevent large families. It seemed a great idea at the time, but would soon lead to severe social issues, gender issues, and ironically, population issues.
How often does one think about when his/her next meal will be? If you are the average American, the answer will most likely be “in a couple of hours”; however, there is a good chance that you might also be one of the fifty million Americans that would most likely answer “I don’t know… whenever I can afford it, I guess.” Roughly every one in six Americans would have some sort of response like the one presented because that is how many are considered food insecure. This is obviously one of the most important social problems afflicting America in modern times, but what can be done about it? A Place at the Table displays three scenarios: Barbie, a struggling mother of two; Rosie, a fifth grader living meal
In the article, “A Food Manifesto for the Future”, Mark Bittman makes his claim on how our American diet is unhealthy and unsafe towards our bodies and the environment as well. Within his piece, he includes multiple suggestions that could be implemented towards the foundation of a healthier, and safer diet. Within all these recommendations, Bittman states that, “When people cook their own food, they make better choices.” I decided to argue for this proposal, after personal experiences that I have had recently where I was able to see the difference between cooking at home, and eating out. Within Bittman’s piece, he states that we should, “encourage and subsidize home cooking”, which at first I did not understand how exactly our nation could subsidize home
Graham, Hutchings. Modern China; A Guide to a Century of Change. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,2001
The United States Department of Agriculture defines food unsecurity as the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food, is limited or uncertain for a household. Food insecurity also does not always mean that the household has nothing to eat. More simply stated it is the struggle to provide nutritional food for ones family and/or self. The people that suffer from food insecurity are not all living below the poverty line. In 2012 49.0 million people were considered food insecure in the United States of those 46.5 million were in poverty (Hunger & Poverty Statistics, 2012). For some individual’s food insecurity is only a temporary situation for others it maybe for extended period. Food insecurity due temporary situation such as unemployment, divorce, major medical or illness can be become more long term. The vast majority of these are families with children.
By 1980, although the birthrate in China has fallen to below 3 children per family, it was believed by a new regime of Chinese leaders which included Deng Xiao Ping, that forced and restricted population growth would lead to greater economic prosperity. This coercive policy influenced the family of the Chinese citize...
In the 1940s, China viewed promoting a larger population as a positive improvement for political strength and to improve economic development. Consequently, in the mid-1950s, China realized it “hindered economic development.” They then concluded the government of China must regulate population control in order to solve a majority of their problems (Rile...
In the United States, Food is one of the basic needs of life.We tend to spend tons of money every year to buy food. Consuming food reflects America’s culture in the United States. In America, Fast food is a way to enjoy delicious food made with sugar, fat and salt. It’s impossible to back away from eating good tasting food. Unfortunately, this is leading to major destruction. In the human life, food procurement, preparation, and consumption have devoted to an art form.Spite the terms of “America has a food problem,” it shows that our nation is unable to produce and supply safe, nutritious food in a way where it sustains our global population. Health Issues are a result of over consumption, which lead to portion sizes, and food production.
Morris, D., 2009. Feeding China. In: T. O. University, ed. U116 Environment: journeys through a changing world, Block 5, 'Changing China'. Milton Keynes: The Open University.
China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers and a coastline of 18,000 kilometers (Network Center of MOFCOM, 2004). It has a population of 1,401,586,609 people as of 2015 (Worldometers, 2015). In China, they tend to eat a lot of the same foods. Some of the local food consists of rice, noodles, fish, vegetables and meats (Parkinson, 2011). “China is described as a collectivist country because it “emphasizes the needs and goals of the group as a whole over the needs and wishes of each individual ().”
In Spite of the great achievements that China has achieved in the recent years, our country is still a developing country, which is facing many serious social problems. The most serious of all is overpopulation, for it has a passive influence on the national economy, education and environment.
Though China is the world's fifth-largest country in terms of area and the second largest country in Asia, it is the most populous country in the world. There is over one billion Chinese people which is 19 percent of the world's population and the population still keeps growing. From 2000 to 2010, Chinese population growth is about 6.2% and if we compared the population from 1960 with 2010, the population had grown more than 100%. While half of Chinese people live in the rural areas, the urban population is growing rapidly. In January 2012, urban population has exceeded the rural population for the first time. Now about 100 million rural people become migrant workers which move in and out the cities in search of work. This has caused many problems in China , since in the past and the present day, such as traffic jams in the city, pollution, and most importantly the shortage of food and shelter. This might affect the Chinese economic as well.
During the rein of Mao Tse-tung China’s population was almost at one million. Mao allowed couples to have as many children as they please because to him, “of all the things in the world people are the most precious.”(Fitzpatrick 2). As the as the population continued to grow the government became concerned and decided that population control was necessary in order to remain able to support the citizens of China. Furthermore, the government feared there would not be enough food to upkeep residents. The next leader, Deng Xioping, created the “One Child Policy” therefore preventing families from having more than one child. On September 25th 1980 the policy was instituted. Subsequently this law has prohibited children and parents the experience of having a big family.
Meat also consumes food resources in a shockingly inefficient way: it takes 8kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef, and 4kg for pork. But each kilo of grain may need a ton of water. And fuel oil is needed throughout the process, to fertilize the grain, pump water and to transport it.
There are those that believe our planet has reached its maximum capacity to sustain humanity and we need to reduce our population to rectify it. It is also said that our planet is well capable of providing both the nutrition and caloric needs for humanity, both now and into the future as well. Regardless of where one’s opinion of the facts fall between these two arguments, global food security is not where it should be. Uneven development could be argued to be a cause of this. But it is not the only issue affecting the planet.