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