Blog 10: High marriage costs leave many in rural China in debt 4/18/14 2:36p.m

Summary

               Northern China farmer families are facing financial impacts of the rising cost on marriages as they scratch and scram for every penny that goes towards such expenses as the ceremony and the dowry.  Farmer families in villages have complained how expensive it has been for them to fork out the money to help their son/sons pay for expenses such as a house and a car at the request of their bride’s family. The parent’s of these son/sons are going far beyond what they can afford financially just to give their son/sons a traditional wedding.  Some reports that were included said that it cost as high as 200,000 yuan or $32,200 in US dollars for the dowry and wedding ceremony but on top of that it cost the son another 200,000 yuan for a house and 80,000 yuan ( 12,900 US dollars) for a car. On the other hand it has become harder to find a wife in villages due to a shortage of women in these areas as a result of the country’s one child policy.  Other reasons have been because of traditional preference for male heir and a rise of women living in urban areas.

Analysis

             The social issue here is that high prices have put an economical weight on many of these families as they have had to resort to other means in order to find enough money. Farmer families have to borrow money to make ends meet while they continue to put themselves in even deeper dept. While they continue to put themselves in further debt just to cover the cost of weddings it is hurting them in other areas of their life such as: lack of money to go towards farm supplies and seeds to provide food for their family, living expenses with their homes, and other necessary expenses to take care of the rest of the family. The director of the sociology department at the school of the central committee of CPC suggested that the government needs to implement a plan to have stronger education provided to these villages in order to reduce these high costs towards weddings. 

Published :  4/15/2014 

 http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140415000146&cid=1503

License plate restrictions in China to reduce air pollution

License plate restrictions in China to reduce air pollution

China is still in struggle to reduce the amount of air pollution caused by traffic congestion.  This week’s article is about reducing the number of license plates auctioned in order to reduce the amount of cars on the road.  License plate rationing was put into place in order to control and reduce traffic congestion.  The prices of license plates can be very high, with some going for as much as a cheap Chinese car.  This month’s auction contained 9,000 plates, with a cost of nearly $14,500. 

This high price will keep most of the population from gaining a license plate.  Chinese people are saying the time is now to get a license plate, because the price just keeps rising.  Several cities in China are considering ways to reduce air pollution, which include congestion fees, auctions or plate lotteries.  Limited license plates will reduce the number of cars on the road, and will contribute to fixing the terrible air quality in China. 

The root of this traffic congestion problem comes from weak enforcement of traffic laws, lack of parking, and inconvenient public transportation.  Even with Tokyo and New York having more cars per capita than Beijing, this city still has way more traffic congestion.

Reducing traffic congestion in busy cities will greatly help the air quality in China.  If people are limited from buying a license plate, wither because of the high price of the unavailability, there will be less acrs on the road, which contributes to less air pollution.  Peoples cars isn’t the only factor that contributes to the poor air quality.  Public transportation and poor city planning also affect the air quality of China.  If measures aren’t taken to better these factors, the air quality will continue to diminish.   

Carly Taylor

March 22, 2013  4:55 pm

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-ration-license-plates-in-effort-to-curb-traffic-congestion-air-pollution/2013/03/22/bd99ebe6-9313-11e2-8ea1-956c94b6b5b9_story.html

Blog 5 "2 Countries, 2 Struggles for Justice"

The article I read for this week’s blog talked about two countries that are increasing in population and in sexual assault towards women, India and China. Even though China works harder at enforcing their laws they still some times fall short at doing so. Statistics show that only one out of ten women will report sexual assault. Most women feel ashamed and or embarrassed so they’re hesitant in reporting the abuse.

In countries like India woman are less likely to report sexual abuse because they will be shamed and most likely be made fun of. Same thing for China, the women feel embarrassed and are scared that they will bring shame to the family. The culture of the young girls and women that get sexually harassed every day seriously affect the chances of the coming forward with an accusation.

In China women receive far less assault or “teasing” in public then women in India. And the rate of conviction is significantly higher; therefrom it’s not as hot of an issue as it is in India. However a recent case of a young boy accused of rape, son of a singing general has gotten attention in the media. Seventeen year old Li Tianyi and four others were recently arrested in Beijing for a gang rape. According to the news the group had been out drinking celebrating the birthday of one of them, they used violence and threats to drag the girl into a hotel room where she was raped.     

Dalila Aguilar

2/28/13

9:47

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/world/asia/27iht-letter27.html?ref=women&_r=0

China's polluted ground water

China’s pollution problem goes further than the air

Not only does China have a recent issue of extremely high air pollution, but there are now findings that report the water quality is just as bad, if not worse.  The latest data collected on water quality reports that 90-percent of China’s ground-water is polluted.  Additionally, a recent study of 118 cities across China finds that 64 percent of the cities have “severely-polluted” ground water, and only 3 percent of the cities studied had a measurement of “clean” water.  The main source of the water pollution comes from paper factories and their lack of proper disposal of chemical-rich, used water.  

Polluted drinking water is linked to higher rates of cancer, so it is a major societal issue that needs to be fixed.  Local governments throughout China are taking action to correct this severe health hazard.  They have begun to lock wells so people will not drink the contaminated water.  A biological clean-up system has been put into effect and so far they are seeing good results.  "After we treated the river water, our statistics show that cancer and congenital endocrine diseases fell by around 90 percent," says environmental activist Huo Daishan. 

When ground water becomes polluted, it affects several areas of the surrounding environment.  Polluted water is dangerous for human health because of its linkage to countless cases of cancer.  Polluted ground water also becomes useless for the watering of crops, which has a major impact on the economics of the surrounding areas.  If farmers cannot use the water for watering their crops, they have to seek elsewhere or lose their crop, which is most likely the case because of minimal finances.    

Another cause of this high water pollution is due to the weak quality requirements that are not being enforced.  There are requirements of how you are to dispose and transfer waste residues, but they are not implemented.  However, it is still illegal to allow waste to seep into the ground water. 

Carly Taylor

February 22, 2013  3:09 PM

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/water-02182013150415.html

Pollution: China's Pollution Debate

Smog Stokes China Pollution Debate – VOA news

 

This article is about the current pollution problem going on in China.  Already this year, the pollution levels in China have gone well above levels considered to be healthy.  During the last week of January, a long stretch of extremely high-level pollution brought up debate about this very unhealthy problem.  Smog consumed cities from the north all the way to southern China. 

The blame of this mass pollution problem is on the busy factories, the use of coal for heat during these winter months and also the high-sulfur fuel used in automobiles.  China has the largest automobile market, and the Chinese with cars use them as habit.  One solution to this pollution problem is to restrict the use of cars during high-pollution times.  One person who was interviewed said this restriction would hinder his way to work, and he doesn’t think it will solve the problem.  Another man claims that yes, the cars are a problem, but not the biggest problem.  He thinks it is the easiest way to start the cleaning of China’s air.

The fuel quality in China is very poor and contains high amounts of sulfur.  Pan Xiaochuan, a professor from the Beijing University School of Public Health says improving the quality of fuel would improve the quality of air, but it would also raise the prices of fuel.  This would not go over easily with Chinese citizens who as of now purchase cheap gasoline.  Traffic congestion is also an issue.  When the cars are backed up and moving slower, they create five to ten times more pollution.

China is well on the way to the industry of carbon trading, which will help to reduce pollution.  The platform for carbon trading is to offer companies to earn credits for lowering green house gas emission.  Experts claim that the Chinese carbon trading program will become the largest in the world, and it will reduce pollution in China by 45% in only 7 years. 

When you consider the large population in China, it’s large producing industry, and the quality of gasoline, you would think that pollution would be more of a problem for the country than others.  Pollution is so harmful to the environment and to people health.  There need to be strict regulations on the big factories on their toxic emissions, and the quality of fuel needs to be increased. 

 

Carly Taylor

2/1/2013  3:54 PM

 

http://www.voanews.com/content/smog-stokes-china-pollution-debate/1595200.html