GEOL 352 – Fall 2014 September 24, 2014 Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez China: Setting the context.

GEOL 352 – Fall 2014September 24, 2014Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez

China: Setting the context

Outline

• Geography and population

• Health and education

• Political history• Relation to environment

• Climate and Environment

• Environmental issues of today

http://arts1091.unsw.wikispaces.net/file/view/chinamap.gif/156354969/450x428/chinamap.gif

Geography + population Health + Education Political history Climate + Environment

http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/asia.html

• Area: 9,327,490 km2

• Second largest country in the world

• Population: 1,357,380,000(2013)• Rural population: 637,284,480

(2013)

• $6,807 GDP per capita


Brazil Russia India China0

200,000,000

400,000,000

600,000,000

800,000,000

1,000,000,000

1,200,000,000

1,400,000,000

1,600,000,000

Population Rural population

Russ

ia

Chin

a

USA

Cana

da

Braz

il

Aust

ralia

Indi

a

Arge

ntina

Kaza

khst

an

Alge

ria

02,000,0004,000,0006,000,0008,000,000

10,000,00012,000,00014,000,00016,000,00018,000,000

10 biggest countries


http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/37/105237-004-D8FC8BD8.gif


http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/lgcolor/cncolor.htm


http://www.china-food-security.org/data/maps/rivers/riv1_m.htm

http://www.japanfocus.org/-brahma-chellaney/2916


• Life expectancy: 75

• Fertility: 1.7 births per woman• Adolescent fertility rate:

9/100,000 women (15-19 years)

• Tuberculosis: 73/100,000 people (0.073%)

• Mortality (<5 years): 13/10,000 live births

• HIV: No Data

• Literacy percentage: 93% (2010)

• School enrollment –Tertiary: 27% (2012)

• Ratio of female to male tertiary enrollment: 113 (2012)

• Primary school completion rate: No Data

• Public spending on education: No Data



Brazil Russia India China58

60

62

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

Life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy- totalLife expectancy- maleLife expectancy- female

Year

s

Brazil Russia India China Canada USA Niger Mali Somalia Chad

Fertility rate 1.8 1.6 2.5 1.7 1.6 1.9 7.6 6.9 6.7 6.4

Adolescent fertility rate (per 100,000 women)

71 26 33 9 14 31 205 176 110 152

2575

125175225

• 1911-1912: Xinhai Revolution puts and end to the Qing dynasty and establishes the Republic of China

• January 1, 1912: Establishment of the Republic of China• Period of great instability, ended by the Chinese Civil War in 1949

• October 1, 1949: Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong proclaims the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China• Great Leap Forward slogan: Man must conquer nature• Population growth• Starvation deaths (1958-1961)• Mao died in 1976

• Currently Xi Jinping is the President of the People’s Republic of China (since March 14, 2013)


The “three great cuttings” (or four?)

• The Great Leap Forward (1958-1960)• Backyard steel furnaces to produce enough steel to “catch up” with West

world. Melting of plows, pots and other metal to create useless steel• Roughly 600,000 furnaces were operating by October 1958 required coal,

almost all made by clearing forests and establishing charcoal burners in villages

• Grain as a Key Link (1966-1976)• Response to the famine following the Great Leap Forward• Dazhai model• Deforestation for agriculture• Grain production became the highest priority

• Opening for Development (early 1980s)• Dismantling of collectivized agriculture and creation of household

responsibility system. Peasant families where contracted to do the farming work, and they had control over their agricultural practices decision making – widespread illegal deforestation resulted

• Market-driven deforestation (1992-1998)?• State-owned forest companies gain considerable freedom from the Ministry

of Forestry• Forest companies were able to respond to market needs and thus improve

market efficiency (chainsaws and heavy machinery can now wipe out forests for timber products faster)


http://www.chinatouristmaps.com/china-maps/climate/china-average-temperature.html


http://www.chinamaps.org/china/china-map-of-precipitation-annual.html


http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/lgcolor/cncolor.htm


http://kids.britannicaa.com/comptons/art-137856/Climatic-regions-of-China


China ranks 118/178 countriesOverall score 43/100

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN CHINA

• Air pollution

• Water pollution

• Desertification

• Dam constructions

• Massive production of goods

• e-waste dump

Hydropower in China

• World leader in dam amount and hydropower energy• Produces over 15% of the world’s hydropower

• 22,000 dams more than 15m tall built since the 1950s

• Three gorges dam (2008) • stretches 1.5 miles across the Yangtze river• Produces 10x the hydropower of the Hoover Dam

The world’s 10 Most Polluted Places – Scientific American, 2007

LINFEN, CHINA

http://www.worstpolluted.org/projects_reports/display/36

TIANYING, CHINA

At the center of Chinese lead production, this town has lead

concentrations in its air and soil that are 8.5 to 10 times those of

the national health standards. The concentrations of lead dusting the local crops are 24 times too high.

In the heart of China's coal region in Shanxi Province, Linfen has dust and pollution that make it almost

impossible to breathe, and the water is polluted with arsenic.

GUIYU, CHINA: an e-waste dump

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_1822158,00.html

Olympics in Beijing - August 8-24, 2008

What I saw in the field...

GEOL 352 – Fall 2014 September 24, 2014 Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez China: Setting the context.

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Transcript of GEOL 352 – Fall 2014 September 24, 2014 Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez China: Setting the context.