Since we ditched everything in Beijing for a ten day adventure, I have to do any writing, posting, or researching from my phone. I find it hard to type and edit, so please excuse any mistakes. The mobile app does not allow me to format links. Also, I have gathered bits of information from Josh, his colleagues, and the Internet. I am not sure how accurate everything is, so please feel free to comment with any suggestions/corrections.
I also recognize that there is a weird font/bold inconsistency that I didn't intend. Probably from copying and pasting different bits of information. Things like that make me want to jump out of a moving car.
(Reformatted 4 July 2015)
(Reformatted 4 July 2015)
Pollution
I left the hutong Tuesday morning looking like this:
I donned the mask because the air quality app suggested it.
As we rushed to the airport, I tried to get a feel for the change in air. The world was yellow and gray. The air was visible -- like everything was slightly obscured by exhaust. Not like fog. Maybe like the haze we sometimes have over Denver thickening and descending. It felt oppressive and otherworldly, and it was only at 227.
I don't really understand what the Air Quality Index measures. Josh tried to get a particle monitor thing before we left but was unable to secure one. With that, I could measure exactly what we were breathing in.
The Index ranks air quality from 0 to 400, with 400 being apocalyptical. In the last two years, Beijing has gone over 600. For comparison, I looked up a live map of US cities:
San Francisco: 25
Oakland: 57
LA: 53
Denver/Boulder: 21
Santa Fe: 4
Kansas City: 53
Cincinnati: 20
Staten Island: 169
The app I used does break down some information, and the World Health Organization has a brief/simple explanation. And I found what looks to be a super interesting interactive map here.
The short explanation of why China is so bad is rapid growth and mass production. Josh said that where we are now, Guangdong Province, has a lot of industry as well. The difference between here and Beijing, though, is the type of industry. Apparently, "light industry," like cheap toys, isn't so bad. "Heavy industry," like steel and cement, is. The former is made down here, the latter up there. For some really cool graphs about cement (no joke) and a solid explanation of China's growth, check out this article about China's cement production: "This massive cement industry also takes a heavy toll on the environment. Scientists estimate that the global cement industry accounts for around 5 percent of the world's carbon emissions, and more than half of the world's cement production capacity is based in China."
And that article transitions nicely to consider...
Population
When we were waiting for the taxi to pick us up from the airport, I got my first look at Shenzhen. It's a city of buildings being built. High rise under construction after high rise under construction. It is one of the newest cities in China, and it's sprawling, huge.
Josh's colleagues explained to me that twenty to thirty years ago, Shenzhen was a small, rural, fishing community of around 10,000 people. Today the population is between fourteen and fifteen million. (Actually, according to a great article called "The History of a City Without History," the population was 30,000 in 1989 and is estimated at twenty-two million today.)
Why? Shenzhen, in 1979, was declared a "Special Economic Zone." The government opened up the area as a test site for capitalist-like development. (See Wikipedia for an explanation.) The city is also very near Hong Kong. That proximity and its rapid, encouraged growth has made it a more international, contemporary, and potentially Western hub.
China's population is changing so drastically because of its rising cultural and economic development and its desire to become more global. People are moving to the cities voluntarily and involuntarily, and the population distribution is very uneven compared to the U.S. (which has a similar land area). I am having a hard time finding a good population density map that shows the change over time, so I'll have to wait until I have access to a computer. Post one in the comments if you can. Here are two links to general information about population growth in China:
- "A Surprising Map of the World Shows Just How Big China's Population Is," The Atlantic
- "China Population 2015," World Population Review
I think watching the changes over time will be imperative, and, just because it's interesting, we should watch the ghost cities:
Not exactly my kind of ghost city, but maybe creepier. Optional day trip?
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