Ever since the industrialisation if China, China has become more and more polluted. The pollution in China has caused many health and environmental problems for the people there.
In the recent 50 years, particularly in the last 20 years, China's economic development has been very strong. Since 1949, China's GDP has increased by 10 times. From 1985 to 2004, China's economic growth has gone through a remarkable 20 years, with its GDP's annual growth rate being about 8.7 percent, and still growing. However, all these achievements have come with a cost on China, particularly in the use of natural resources and the huge loss of eco-environment and pollution.
Environmental problems in China
1. Air and industrial pollution
-Lung cancer and cardiovascular disease were increasing.
-Lung cancer was two to three times more common in cities than in the countryside despite similar rates of tobacco smoking.
-Only 1% of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union, because all of its major cities are constantly covered in a "toxic gray shroud". Before and during the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing was "frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics."
-Many Chinese cities, including Shanghai, currently experience annual average levels of respirable particles that exceed the World Health Organization’s air quality guideline.
-The Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in 2003 had an internal and unpublished report which estimated that 300,000 people die each year from ambient air pollution, mostly of heart disease and lung cancer.
-Chinese environmental experts in 2005 issued another report, estimating that annual premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution were likely to reach 380,000 in 2010 and 550,000 in 2020.
-A 2007 World Bank report conducted with China's national environmental agency found that "...outdoor air pollution was already causing 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths a year. Indoor pollution contributed to the deaths of an additional 300,000 people, while 60,000 died from diarrhea, bladder and stomach cancer and other diseases that can be caused by water-borne pollution.
2.Water Pollution and water scarcity
-Wang Jusi (1989) points out that in China, two of the most important environmental problems are water pollution and water shortage.
-Rivers, lakes, oceans, and groundwater have all been polluted to an extent.
-The water resource per capita is 2140 cubic meters in China, only a quarter of the world's average, ranking 110th among the world’s poorest countries of low water resources per capita.
-Experts predict that China's population in 2030 will reach 1.6 billion, and water resources per capita volume will be only 1750 cubic meters, indicating China will face serious water shortage.
-About one-third of the world's population has no source of safe drinking water. As for China, a developing country, water pollution has become the main factor that harms the public health.
-Pang Pengsha points out that in 2004, China reported 753 incidents of water pollution, for which industrial waste plays the main role, and meanwhile, the non-degradable and toxic chemicals in the agricultural waste, sewage and solid waste have caused serious damage to soil and underground water resources.
-Small rural industries cause a serious water pollution problem in China. In China, the water quality of over half of all river is unsafe for human, and the serious water pollution costs several per cent of GDP, estimated. Mark Wang (2007) argues that rural industry is the basis of the economic, but it plays the same important role that causes the serious water pollution problem in China.
-An increasing population and rapid economic growth as well as lax environmental oversight have increased water demand and pollution.
These are only two of the environmental problems and pollution that China faces that I have listed down. In conclusion, although there are certain benefits in China developing its economy, I feel that the negative impacts of China's pursuit of higher economic growth outweighs it's benefits. The negative impact on the environment and the amount of pollution it causes is too severe to ignore. The impact on the people's health is also very serious. I feel that the health of the people is more important than China's economy. Afterall, if a person has a lot of money but poor health, he cannot enjoy his wealth. This is similar to China's case. China is sacrificing environmental health for economic growth, and I feel that this is jot worth it. If China wants to improve its economy, the environmental health should still be taken into consideration, as health, the people's health, or at least the environment, is more important. So therefore, I conclude that while China pursuits higher economic growth and industrialises, China still needs to take into consideration the environment and the peoples health, and not totally focusing on industrialising and economic growth.