Economics 274 Fall 2018

China’s rapid economic growth combined with central urban planning has produced dozens of ghost cities, which are brand new cities with almost no inhabitants. Some of these cities, such as Kangbashi, were built to house over a million individuals, but currently hold only 20,000. This unused housing is shocking since China’s population is rapidly urbanizing.… Continue reading Ghost Cities →

In China, air pollution is killing millions of individuals each year. According to a recent study, air pollution contributes to 1.6 million deaths each year, roughly 17 percent of all deaths in China. In order to combat this lethal air pollution, China is starting to use more renewable energy resources as opposed to fossil fuels… Continue reading Solar Power →

As China gains more global economic influence, Chinese New Year has become more prominent and has a greater impact in international markets. During the holiday, Chinese factories rush to complete orders before they have to shut down, making it a headache for overseas retailers and importers that rely on China year round. Stock market trading… Continue reading The Economic Impact of Chinese New Year →

Hybrid seeds, especially in today’s society, often come with a negative connotation. One of the largest producers of genetically-modified seeds, Monsanto, has been the target of criticism for years. Regardless of the perceived “evils” of one corporation, and without delving too much into the politics of the issue, the goal here is to examine the… Continue reading Hybrid Seeds: Reaping the Rewards of the Green Revolution →

Back in Mao’s era, women were courage by chairman Mao to have as many children as possible. Chairman Mao was worried that the newly established country, the People’s Republic of China, would be involved with warfare like the potential WW3, so he wanted China to have more population. Besides, more people meant more labor to help with… Continue reading 晚稀少：Late Rare Few →

The Yellow River (Huang He) is perhaps China’s most historically significant geographical component. Its basin was the site of the first Chinese civilizations, and it was a very prosperous region from 2100-1046 BC. It is the most important water source of North China—which afforded settlers the opportunity to farm. It is China’s second-largest river—and the… Continue reading The Yellow River: the threats of “China’s Cradle” →

In 2008, the Gansu province of China faced a domestic dairy crisis. As the New York Times reported back in December of the year, nearly 300,000 infants were sickened by consumption of contaminated milk powder (Jacobs). Of these children that fell ill to the adulteration, six died. The primary symptom was kidney stones. The culprit was melamine,… Continue reading Milk and Melamine Scandal of 2008 →

400 million individuals in China have been impacted by desertification over the past decade. Desertification in China has two primary causes. First, in the mid 1900s excessive farming began to cause soil degradation. In Naiman, desertification had turned 300,000 acres of grassland into desert by 2005. However, nowadays the bigger threat is climate change. Many… Continue reading Desertification →

Shenyang, the provincial capital of Liaoning Province, contains ten districts, one city and two counties. With an urban population of 5.74 million, Shenyang has the largest urban population in Northeast China, ranking within the top ten largest urban cities in China. Shenyang serves as a cultural hub, as it is home to 38 Chinese ethnic… Continue reading Shenyang →

China needs more skilled laborers in order to sustain its constantly evolving economy. As Hessler highlights in Country Driving, an increasing number of Chinese men and women are leaving their home villages to take advantage of the economic opportunity in the developing urban regions. Rather than working in the advancing technology and services industries, these… Continue reading Rural High School Education →

Naxi, 纳西, refers to the ethnic minority group living in Lijiang Naxi Autonomous Country in the Yunnan Province in the southwest of China. Although most of the community lives in Lijiang, the rest are dispersed in the Weixi, Zhongdian, Ninglan, Deqin, Yongsheng, Heqing, Jianchuan and Lamping counties of the Yunnan province and the Yanyuan, Yanbian,… Continue reading Naxi →

The Chinese Government has recently announced that “the government will let domestic grain prices be decided by the market, with the state’s price support no longer playing a role” (Terazono 2016). This position differs from a year ago when Chinese price support policy was “moving in the opposite direction from developed countries, which are gradually reducing such… Continue reading Effects on Chinese Agricultural Price Supports →