Chingay Presentation Reflection

After weeks of preparation, the chingay presentation is finally over. We had started off totally clueless about chingay, only having limited knowledge of the chingay performance. However, after all this presentation, I have learnt a lot. Throughout this presentation, I have learnt that we have to persevere and not give up and most of all, teamwork. Many of our group members have busy schedule and when we came together to do our work, we would be focused at first but after awhile, we all felt like going home but we did not, we persevered and did finished our research! We learnt that we must not give up and not be LAZY. Last but not least, we would not have done the presentation without the teamwork we had and the constant encouragement we received from our teammates.

-Yin Jian

One Child Policy

The one-child policy is the family planning policy is the population control policy of China.  The policy is controversial both within and outside China because of the manner in which the policy has been implemented and because of concerns about negative and positive consequences.

PROS

Social problem alleviation: The policy was introduced in 1979 to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China.

Human rights violation and forced abortions: The one-child policy is challenged in principle and in practice for violating a human right to determine the size of one’s own family.  “Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children.” In 2002, China outlawed the use of physical force to make a woman submit to an abortion or sterilization, but it is not entirely enforced. In the execution of the policy, many local governments still demand abortions if the pregnancy violates local regulations.

Poverty eradication: In China’s poor areas, economic and cultural backwardness and too many births often interact as both cause and effect. The Chinese government has taken a step in giving support to the development of poor areas to alleviate poverty by promoting family planning, holding population growth under control, and raising the life quality of the population in those areas.

CONS

Human rights violation and forced abortions: The one-child policy is challenged in principle and in practice for violating a human right to determine the size of one’s own family. In 2002, China outlawed the use of physical force to make a woman submit to an abortion or sterilization, but it is not entirely enforced. In the execution of the policy, many local governments still demand abortions if the pregnancy violates local regulations, or even force abortions on women violating the policy.

Possible social problems for a generation of only children: Some parents may over-indulge their only child. The media referred to the indulged children in one-child families as “little emperors”. Since the 1990s, some people have worried that this will result in a higher tendency toward poor social communication and cooperation skills among the new generation, as they have no siblings at home. 

The “four-two-one” problem: As the first generation of law-enforced only-children came of age for becoming parents themselves, one adult child was left with having to provide support for his or her two parents and four grandparents. Called the “4-2-1 Problem”, this leaves the older generations with increased chances of dependency on retirement funds or charity in order to receive support. Most senior citizens would be left entirely dependent upon their very small family or neighbours for assistance.

I don't agree with China's One Child Policy. How would the child feel if they are the only child? They would probably be bored when parents are working, and hope that they have siblings. 

Being the only child, with no siblings to communicate and play with, they may develop poor communication skills. Also, parents would tend to indulge in the child and treat them as 'emperors' in the family. This can develop a selfish personality in the child and cause them not to be caring and think of other people's feelings, 

Furthermore, One Child Policy also adds to the child's burden. The child would have to take care of both his parents all by himself when he grows up. When he gets married, he would have to take care of another set of parents. This still does not include his wife and his children. When he does not have a sibling to share his burden of taking care of his parents, the child has to work harder and earn more money and this increases his stress level.

To conclude, although One Child policy can help to decrease the population in China, the disadvantageous impact on the child should be considered first.

-Hui Wen

China's Dilemma

Pros and cons of economic growth

Pros:

• Higher standard of living

• Employment: More jobs

Cons:

• Environment: More polluted

• Social: Wider income gaps

China has been industrializing since 1950. There are both positive and negative impacts of industrialization on China. Now, China is facing the dilemma between pursuing higher economic growth and escalating pollution due to the industrialization. 

Should China industrialize?

If China industrialize, the standard of living will improve. Industrialization also opens the door to lots of employment opportunities which, in turn, also open the door to establishing businesses to satisfy the needs of those employed by the industry. The China government and the Chinese public will be richer. However, it will lead to the escalating pollution. The massive amount pollutant gases released by the factories will cause respiratory and heart diseases and lung cancer. The health of the people are put at risk.The easiest and most direct solution to this problem is to stop industrializing. But, the economy will drop, China will not able to catch up with other countries. Hence, China is facing the dilemma between pursuing higher economic growth and escalating pollution due to the industrialization because the economic of China and health of the Chinese and equally important.

I think that China should continue to pursue higher economic growth but at a slower pace. This will slow down the escalation of pollution due to industrialization. And using the money earned from industrialization, China could introduce clean energy sources such as bio-mass to reduce the pollutant gases released by the burning of fossil fuel for energy. Hence China should industrialize at a slower rate.

*Fun fact:

China's 'airpocalypse' kills 350,000 to 500,000 each year

Between 350,000 and 500,000 Chinese die prematurely each year because of the country's disastrous air pollution, says China's former health minister.

The equivalent of the population of Bristol dies each year in China because of lethal air pollution, according to Chen Zhu, who was the country's Health minister until last year.

"Studies by the World Bank, WHO, and the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning on the effect of air pollution on health concluded that between 350 000 and 500000 people die prematurely each year as a result of outdoor air pollution in China," Mr Chen and his fellow authors noted.

*taken from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10555816/Chinas-airpocalypse-kills-350000-to-500000-each-year.html

-Zhang Linli

China's one child policy

Pros

-control overpopulation (make the world balanced)

-prevents country poverty

Cons 

-violation of human rights (abortion)

-cause unhappiness and anger in society

-not totally beneficial to China (not a win-win situation)

-affected childhood

What I feel?

It does seem violent and inhumane to do such cruel things to the public. Forcing abortion is definitely not a right thing to do. This will definitely cause anger not only from within but also from all parts of the world. The government are making the people suffer in a way. How can a country treat their people so badly? Children would feel lonely being the only child. Parents would be discouraged and unhappy to have such a small family. How is this even helping? More parents are aborting girls to get a boy so there will be an imbalance of gender.

However, everybody is lonly ooking at one side of the story. China's government is thinking for the good of the people. The growing population would cause an inbalance on the Earth we live on. Although there is enough space, 5% of the people can consume 23% of the worlds resources. China begins with the end in mind. It tries to think of the problems that can come in the future. No resources, high percentage of people in poverty. The country will rot away very quickly if this matter is not resolved. Everyone are just looking at the problems now and not later. Why must China be so forceful? It is because of the people. Will they listen if they are encouraged to do this? 

More on why we should control population growth - http://vimeo.com/18239773

-Nathan

One Child Policy

China's one child policy was implemented to control China's population growth. The policy limits couples to one child. Fines, pressures to abort a pregnancy, and even forced sterilization accompanied second or subsequent pregnancies.

Pros of One Child Policy:

1. Reduce the size of population

2. Poverty Eradication in China

Cons of One Child Policy:

1. Forces abortions and human rights violation.

2. Possible social problems for a generation of only children

3. Birth tourism

4. Policy benefits exaggerated

I think that the One Child Policy is disadvantageous. 

Firstly, the One Child Policy will affect China's economy in the long run. One of the reason why companies like to build their factories in China is because China has cheap manpower due to its large population. The One Child Policy will reduce the size of population tremendously in the long run. If this happens the manpower will no longer be cheap, so they would go to other countries with cheaper manpower.

Secondly, the child has to take care of his 2 parents. If the child is married, the couple will have to take care of 2 sets of parents and their child. So the money they earn will need to support 7 people, including themselves. 

Also, in the near future, the elderly to children ratio will have a stark contrast. 

Although the One Child Policy will help to achieve the goal (reduce the population) but it should not be implemented for a long time.

*Fun fact:

Previous reforms also permitted couples to have a second child where both were only children or, in the case of rural couples, where their first-born child was a girl.

The traditional preference for boys has created a gender imbalance as some couples opt for sex-selective abortions.

By the end of the decade, demographers say China will have 24 million "leftover men" who, because of China's gender imbalance, will not be able to find a wife.

*taken from:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-25533339

-Zhang Linli

Reflection - Picture of an Event

The Great Wall, was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. The Great Wall has a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world.

Here's a little background on the Great Wall of China. Qing Shi Huang started the construction of the Great Wall from the Yellow Sea in the east to the Gobi Desert in the West. The Great wall was first come together from smaller walls to discourage attacks from northern nomads. Thus Qing Shi Huang was determined to close up the gaps and unify the wall 1,400 miles to the west for China's defense. He forced peasants to build the wall. If they did not, their only choice other than building the wall was death. However, most of them died while building the Great Wall. Many lives were sacrificed in order to build the Great Wall. 

To me, the Great Wall of China is an amazing structure. It is one of the two man-made structures that can be identified from outer space. Once the people started building the Wall, they can't stop. They worked hard under the hot sun, taking only minimum breaks. They built the Great Wall till their death, without seeing their loved ones even once before they die. It is very admirable of them, they sacrifice their lives to build the Great Wall. Without their sacrifices and hard work there wouldn't be the Great Wall of China.

To China, it is something to be proud of. In the Chinese society there is a popular saying: “不到长城非好汉". It means you must visit the Great Wall at least one time otherwise you would not be a real man. Also, the Great Wall is an important part of China history.

From this, we can learn that perseverance is important. If we don't give up even when we are facing challenges, we will be able to achieve our goals and be proud of it. 

“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.” - Albert Einstein

-Zhang Linli

Chingay Presentation Reflection

After many weeks of preparation for the chingay presentation, it is finally over! The unintentional mishaps that happened to our group to delay us from presenting gives us more time to prepare, making our content of the presentation better. Starting a project is never easy, one may have the determination and urge to complete the project, but will soon lose them as time goes by. Thus perseverance and consistency is important to finish a project. In our to give a meaningful presentation about chingay, we have to research a lot and recall from what we had seen and learnt during the whole trip. This process actually deepened our understanding and knowledge as we found more information and background of Chingay. Doing the reflections and feelings of the performers also deeply moved me as they had practiced hard and put in so much sweat and tear to put up such a wonderful performance. Of course, since this is a team presentation, this assessment really thought me how to work as a team and contribute ideas on order to complete the project. Although everyone has busy schedules and it is hard for us to meet up together, we tried our best to stay back after school day after day. The constant encourages from teammates also urged us to work harder and complete the project. Preparing for the Chingay presentation certainly improved my teamwork and thinking skills!

-Hui Wen

Should China industrialise?

Should china industrialise? 

Downside

-more co2 emission worsen Global Warming

-people complain of polluted air (make Beijing air worse)

-fewer tourist (no visibility nothing to see, go china to breath bad air?)

-animals affected due to pollution, environment destroyed 

-more cases of lung diseases like pneumonia

Positive impact

-modernised, newer and better technology

-more $$ to make, cause of more industries 

-more places have excess to electricity, people have better lives (more lights and 

  stuff)

-development, people would enjoy newer and better facilities

What I feel?

Why must China industrialise now? The major problem the world is facing now is Global Warming and industrialisation of China will make it much worse while other countries are trying to stop it. It also reduces their tourists which makes them lose money. Animals and plants that once made China a holiday vacation for many may disappear. 

However, we should also look at the point of China. China is now more backward than many countries and are trying to catch up. Without the major change of industrialisation, they would stay stagnant in the society. In the long run, China would slowly gain the resources and technology to reduce their co2 emission and maybe stop it entirely. It would overall benefit China as a whole. Industrialisation is just the first step China has to take that can cause some harm but later, the harm can be changed for the good of the world.

-Nathan