China Rushes to Buy Salt

Photo courtesy of China Daily

Residents in China and Asia have caught on to a new and false rumor: that iodized salt can help prevent exposure to radiation. Within 24 hours, people flocked to grocery stores to buy up all the salt they could find, only to find most stores were already sold out. This false rumor, that iodized salt can ward off radiation poisoning spread in response to Japan’s nuclear crisis. Officials have informed citizens that ingesting iodized tablets will not protect against radiation and consuming too much salt can lead to death. The government has reasurred its citizen that China is in no harm from Japan’s radiation but people are still fighting for a sense of reassurance via salt. Prices of salt have jumped ten-fold in some cities and eBay is selling tablets for more than $540. Once the salt ran out, people started buying soy sauce saying that just in case, soy sauce as a lot of salt as well.

Doctors say that potassium iodide pills are used to help mitigate the effects of radiation, but regular table salt does not contain enough iodine to make a difference. Government officials are hastily trying to stop these rumors before people take advantage of the price jump and spread even more rumors. Some say it is disheartening to see how much the trust in the governments information has diminished.

I luckily made a trip to Wal-Mart on Tuesday and happened to buy a container of salt since I was close to running out myself. The salt I bought will be used strictly for cooking purposes.

5.8-Magnitude earthquake hits Yunnan

On March 10, 2011 a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit the far west side of Yunnan, in the county of Yingjiang leaving 25 dead and 314 injured. The quake toppled the homes of 1,039 families and left 5,000 others seriously damaged. As of Sunday, the central and local government have disbursed 10,000 tents, 15,000 quilts and 15,000 coats to the homeless victims in the quake-hit region. Altogether 53,000 people are being housed in large-sized tents in plazas and village squares. So far, no epidemics have spread as doctors are disinfecting the tents daily.

Kunming did not feel the quake and carried on like normal, but Yingjiang is an area with many minorities and poor villages. Please pr-y for the victims families and for the efforts in Japan.

Sunday at Green Lake Park

Green Lake Park is in the middle of Kunming and a beautiful oasis away from the city. This time of year it is filled with seagulls who have migrated south to enjoy the Spring City. On the weekends the park is filled with singers, dancers, musicians, tourists, families and anyone enjoying the scenery and weather. I spent this past Sunday enjoying the people around Green Lake and taking the role of a tourist in my own city.

This guy is looking up at his kite way up in the sky, I've never seen such a contraption for kite flying before. I've heard it said by the Chinese that kite flying is good for your health, it stretches out your neck and keeps you looking into the heavens.

The infamous Chinese squat. They can sit like this for hours, they've been doing it since childhood.

Population Growth

The numbers are in, well estimated numbers that is, from China’s population growth from 2009 to 2010. At the end of the year, China’s population has grown to 1.34 billion, an added 6.3 million people from 2009. This jump is considered modest for such a large country and experts suggest China may relax its generation-old one-child policy.

Since 1979, the Chinese government has limited families in cities to one child and rural parents to two to control its population. It is estimated that these family planning rules have prevented more than 400 million births since it started three decades ago. Some experts say that China’s population is now mainly growing because people are living longer, not because people are having lots of babies. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that China’s population will peak at slightly less than 1.4 billion in 2026, with India overtaking China as the world’s most populous nation in 2025.

China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission has said that keeping the country’s birth rate low will remain a high priority for the next five years. The country has to think how they are going to cope with the care of their growing elderly population. Official census numbers are expected to come in the next few months. China conducted the first census in the past ten years just last year. I, personally, was visited by the official census folks one day when I first arrived in China. My language was not good enough to understand what they were saying, but I knew enough to say I was a foreigner.

I have friends that were born in cities that are only children and friends that were born out in the countryside that have brothers and sisters. It is unfortunate that China has to take such drastic measures to control their population and so many births are either aborted or stopped from the start. I also have witnessed what its like to live in a country with over a billion people. After traveling to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai (the most populated city in China) I realize how big a problem having an overpopulated country is. To put things in perspective, China has about one billion more people than the entire United States. Can you imagine trying to get around and how your lifestyle would change?

Chinese New Year decorations

Beijing grants 17,600 people new license plates

Because of my recent trip to Beijing, I can attest to the number of cars on the street and how polluted the city really is. At two or three in the afternoon, the streets were jammed almost to a stand still and the subways were still crowded with people. At the end of 2010, Beijing had 4.8 million registered cars, an average of 2,000 new cars hitting the road every day. This past month the capital has instated a new quota of only 240,000 new cars to be registered this year, compared with 800,000 last year. Beijing is limiting the number of cars given a license plate by having a lottery once a month. This past Wednesday, the first lottery took place, granting 17,600 people license plates out of 187,420 qualified applicants. More than 210,000 people had applied but over 22,000 were disqualified. 90% of the plates are given to residents with the rest going to businesses. Many people think the lottery is a fair way to distribute license plates since it gives everyone a chance. Individuals can apply once a month and can only register one car. Beijing officials are trying hard to curb the problem by introducing higher parking fees in downtown areas and enforcing stricter traffic rules.
You’ll think again next time you're in rush hour, imagine 800,000 cars trying to get around your city.

To read more about this topic, click here.

Year of the Rabbit

As all of you know, it is the year 2011, a new year. On December 31st, the western world celebrated new years eve and on January 1st came a brand new year, filled with resolutions, new hopes and ambitions. But over in the eastern hemisphere the new year is yet to come. Chun Jie, or Spring Festival, is the Chinese new year, beginning on February 3rd. It is the most important Chinese holiday and is celebrated the entire first half of the month, from the 1st to the 15th ending with the Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve (Feb. 2nd) is a day where families gather and have a large feast and end the night with firecrackers. Both the eve and new years day is a time of reunion and thanksgiving. Most families will thoroughly clean their house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Red couplets and lanterns are hung on door frames and around the house. Traditionally red envelopes with money inside are passed out during the celebrations.

This year is the year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is the 4th animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. People born in these years are rabbits: 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999. I am very excited as this is my year! Chinese new year is also the most traveled time of the year. People travel back to their hometowns to spend time with family, making traveling during this time insane. I decided to get out of China for Chinese New Year, as I don't have a family here to celebrate with, I am taking a short vacation to the Philippines with some friends.

MADE IN CHINA

While being in China for several months, I've received several packages from friends and family with assorted goodies and letters. I laugh to myself when I look and see the usual 'MADE IN CHINA' stamped on the back of something my friends bought for me in the U.S. then sent to me in China. That phrase, 'MADE IN CHINA', has become second nature to us Americans. Its practically stamped on everything we buy, especially things made in bulk for cheap. But do we really know what it means for China? This fact, that China's presence is growing, was recently pointed out to me in an article I read from the New York Times. This past summer, China passed Japan to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States. In recent years China has passed Germany, France, Great Britain and now Japan proving that China, who was once an underdog, is growing faster than the rest of the world can keep up with. Experts even go as far to predict that China will pass the United States as the world's biggest economy as early as 2030.

China has roughly the same land mass as the United States but a fifth of the world's population and inadequate resources. Because the majority of China is underdeveloped it has a much lower standard of living also meaning a lot more room to grow. China is now the world's biggest exporter, passing Germany last year, but economists say that China is too dependent on exports and that it needs to consider greater domestic consumption.

Now all of these 1st prizes don't come without consequence. In 2006 China passed the United States to become the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Analysts are on the fence about China's relationship with the green market. Some believe China is reluctant to join in the debate about climate change or how to slow the growth of greenhouse gases. But China also started a program to cut the energy from each unit of economic output by 20% by the end of 2010. (Not sure if they succeeded or not).

Whether or not China decides to fully jump on board going global with the green market, it still has an authoritarian government that can take decisive actions by stimulating the economy, building new projects and investing in specific industries. China is already the primary determiner of the price of virtually every major commodity.

I am happy to say that CWEF is helping to promote and educate China about green products and ways of living. I am currently researching biogas units to install in village households. (A full report is later to come) CWEF has always supported sustainable healthy ways of living that somehow China has looked past or chooses not to acknowledge. My recent trip to Beijing was an eye opening experience of how truly polluted China really is. While driving out to the Great Wall, we could not see the skyline or buildings relatively close by. The driver told us that today was a 'good' day. I feel sorry for the children growing up with all this smoke and pollution and can only hope my lungs will not be too effected the 18 months I am breathing in the China air.

For the full article, "China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy" from the New York Times click here.