[mgrovernut]

I'm not surprised by any of this although it still amazes me to see how fast things are changing. As a Brit I do have a couple of questions though.

Is a more democratic China likely to emerge within the next 10 years?

Do people in China appreciate just how the industrialisation of China is going to cause the world massive environmental challenges?

P.S on the last question I'm not argueing against China's right to industrialise, I guess I'm just saying that in places like Britain there is a growing realisation that if we were to reduce our carbon emission to 0 then China's booming economy would replace all our Carbon outputs within a year. So in a sense we feel almost helpless in Britain on the enviroment...

 

[mgrovernut]

China has evry rite to have a technological and industrial revolution. Britain and the usa have already poluted their corners of the world irreperably, don't impose your 'white' values on other peeps.
Since the usa and england are horrible over weight, does that mean starving orietals should diet to? Perhaps this is our revenge for your colonial redistribution of wealth based on race/
Remember the opium wars?

Firstly I'm not white (like I care about colour). Secondly if you actually bothered to read what I wrote then you would note that I said I wasn't arguing against China's right to industrialise. In actual fact I support it's right to do so. My QUESTION was more about whether or not people in China actually appreciate that whilst Industrialisation is a good thing economically for themselves (and others) that the size of China means that the environmental impact will be huge. In Britain we polluted during our own industrialisation but there are 2 points here:

1.) When Britain industrialised no one really thought much about the environment.
2.) We are a tiny country compared to China in terms of Land Space and population.

If China is as laid back as we were in Victorian times then the world will face an enviromental meltdown. Therefore in my view China has to appreciate that building a coal powered station every 10 days (when we in the UK are closing them) isn't helpful. It needs to realise that no country in history has ever industrialised on the scale that China is now doing. So all I'm asking is do the Chinese people appreciate this?

 

[mgrovernut]

If by democracy, you mean direct mass elections for the highest office of the land. I don't think China will get there in ten years. Neither do I think that's necessarily in the best interest for China at this stage of development. Democracy is a system of institutions which work best when there is a strong foundation of widespread high educational attainment, rule of law and a large middle class that have a stake in the system. China is certainly getting there, but not yet.

However, I think China will be much freer in ten years as personal freedoms and political freedoms continue to grow. China is a very different country from ten years ago and I believe it will be even more different in ten years. China's society is opening to the world and modernizing at such a fast pace, it's hard to keep up with all the changes.

About the environment. I believe that the Chinese central government realize that this is a major problem. Certainly, China's environment has been strongly hurt by the industrialization. I think it is imperative that China learn from the mistakes of developed nations and try to find ways of promoting green energy and reducing pollution. The central government has been focusing on this issue, but the problem is so massive that I think the results are quite limited. China has a severe pollution problem and I dont think it will go away anytime soon.

Thanks for reading what I wrote and responding with the above. My views or guesses about what is going on in China seem to agree with the above. It's quite difficult to know what's going on in China at times and you begin to wonder how much you know about what is really going on. But the above makes sense..