PowerPoint slides on Yangzhou's economy

Pre-trip research-Yangzhou's economy

Yangzhou is located on a plain north of the Yangtze River. The city has a history of over 2,500 years and developed as a major trading center for salt, rice and silk. The Grand Canal of China, also known as the Jinghang Canal, crosses the prefecture-level from the north to the south; its modern route passes through the eastern outskirts of Yangzhou's main urban area, while its old route runs through the city center. 

Yangzhou's Grand Canal dictated the rise and fall of its fortunes. The city declined with the fall of the Song dynasty and the diminished use of the canal, but revived again in the Ming era, when the canal was restored and used to transport silk, rice, and salt. The economy of northern China was greatly damaged and never recovered due to wars and to constant floodings of the Yellow River. Such a case occurred in the year 858 when an enormous flood along the Grand Canal inundated thousands of acres of farmland and killed tens of thousands of people in the North China Plain. 

The salt merchants in particular built elegant villas and gardens, especially in the 18th century when Yangzhou was part of the imperial inspection tours. Despite development, the city has much to offer, including its several gardens.

The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) inherited the Grand Canal which linked the north and south of the country and connected the major river systems running from west to east.

Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong always travelled along the Grand Canal for their imperial tour of inspection so this proves that the Grand Canal is very useful and important as it linked the whole China together.

Before the Sui Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was actually built section by section in different areas and different dynasties. During the Sui Dynasty, the canal was linked together. The Hangou canal, the earliest section of the Grand Canal, was excavated in Yangzhou. Since then, the Grand Canal has become the 'mother river' of Yangzhou. Approximately half of the peasant builders, which was around 3 million, died of hard labour and hunger before it was finished. This project was thought to have been a waste of manpower and money, which resulted in the downfall of China's economy. 

After the canal was built, the Grand Canal which was joined by the river systems from all directions, offered much facility to transport foods and goods from north to south in past times. It serves as a trading port and is an important economic center because it allows fast trading due to the link to rivers from all parts of China. Just as importantly, it greatly improved the administration and defense of China as a whole and strengthened economic and cultural intercourse between north and south. It contributed greatly to ensure that the Chinese primary economy thrived in past dynasties. Yangzhou is the communication link between the north and south.

The city has remained a leading economic and cultural centre and major port of foreign trade and external exchange since the Tang Dynasty because of its strategic position and the Grand Canal which links the north and south of China and provides foreigner with trading opportunities.

The city's status as a leading economic centre in China was never to be restored. Not until the 1990s did it begin to regain some semblance of prosperity, benefitting from national economic growth and a number of targeted development projects. With the canal now partially restored, and excellent rail and road connections, Yangzhou is once again an important transportation and market center. It also has some industrial output, chiefly in cotton and textiles. In 2004, a railway linked Yangzhou for the first time with Nanjing.

Yangzhou harbor, 11.5 km south from the city center, is located at the junction of the Beijing–Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River. In 1992, the State Council approved it to become a first-grade open state harbor, and General Secretary Jiang Zemin inscribed its name. Now, it has developed into a comprehensive harbor, integrating passenger, freight, container transportation and harbor trade, and has become the main distribution center of northern Jiangsu province, eastern Anhui Province and southeast Shandong Province. The harbor has greatly promoted the development of exports and the overall local economy.

Ge Garden (个园)

The entrance to this typical southern style garden with its luxuriant bamboo groves, ponds, and rock grottoes is on Dongguan St. in the city's northeast section. Designed by the great Qing Dynasty landscape painter Shi Tao for Wang Yingtai, an officer of the Qing imperial court, this garden takes its name from the shape of bamboo leaves which resemble the Chinese character ge, meaning "a" or "an."

It was rebuilt by General Manager Huang Zhiyun, a local salt industry official, on a ruin in the 23rd year of Qing Dynasty Emperor Jiaqing's reign (1818). There are bamboos in the garden. The owner of the garden loved bamboo very much and considered it as the representation of uprightness, honesty, braveness, and loyalty.

Geyuan is rich in culture and history so the local authorities decided to open the place for tourists and Geyuan is now a popular tourist attraction which allows Yangzhou to earn a lot of money every year.

Lushi Old Mansion (晚清盐商豪宅卢氏老宅) 

Built in 1897 during the Qing Dynasty by a wealthy salt merchant named Lu Shaoxu,  it is a lavishly furnished home with 100 rooms. The compound was sensitively restored in 1980 by local authorities to reflect the elegance and richness of Yangzhou's 2,500-year-old culture. A few years ago, it started operating as a restaurant and venue for events.

Instead of letting the mansion be demolished, the local authorities saw this as a chance to show Yangzhou's rich culture and an opportunity to earn money to improve China's economy.

China's Family Structure

China's Family Structure: One Child Policy

In the late 1970s, the Chinese government introduced a number of measures to reduce the country's birth rate and slow the population growth rate. The most important of the new measures was a one-child policy, which decreed that couples in China could only have one child. The birth rate in China has fallen since 1979, and the rate of population growth is now 0.7 per cent.There have been negative impacts too.Due to a traditional preference for boys, large numbers of female babies have ended up homeless or in orphanages, and in some cases killed. In 2000, it was reported that 90 per cent of the fetuses  aborted in China were female.As a result, the gender balance of the Chinese population has become distorted. Today it is thought that men outnumber women by more than 60 million. This gender imbalance just shows how the Chinese are sexist people and I personally do not think that this method is the best to reduce the country's birthrate. Fortunately, China's one-child policy has been somewhat relaxed in recent years. Couples can now apply to have a second child if their first child is a girl, or if both parents are themselves only-children. Hence, I can infer that this family structure in China has a negative impact and there should be a better method to it.

-Keefe(25)

China's Family Structure: Positive or Negative Impact?

The one-child policy, officially the family planning policy, is the population control policy of the People's Republic of China. The one-child policy states that each couple to only have one child, though some consider the term "one-child" to be a misnomer, as the policy allowes many exceptions. This policy was introduced in 1979 to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China. After the introduction of the policy, the fertility rate in China fell from 2.63 births per woman in 1980 to 1.61 in 2009. However, this policy is controversial both within and outside China because of the manner in which the one-child policy has been implemented, and because of concerns about negative social consequences. The policy has been implicated in an increase in forced abortions, female infanticide, and underreporting of female births, has been suggested as a possible cause behind China's sex imbalance. From this, I can infer that China's one-child policy has a negative impact on the Society of China. Whether this will change, only time will tell.
-Ian (26)

China: Higher Economic Growth or Escalating Pollution?

The socialist market economy of China is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and bu purchasing power parity after the United States. It is the world's fastest growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10% over the past thirty years. In the pursuit of economic growth to claim the title of largest economy, the rate of industrialization has also caused a significant amount of industrial pollution to China. In 1997, the World Bank issued a report targeting China's policuy towards industrial pollution. The report stated that "hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness have been caused by exposure to industrial air pollution. Seriously contaminated by industrial discharges, many of China's waterways are largely unfit for direct human use". However, environmental regulations and industrial reforms had had some effect. Continued environmental reforms were likely to have a large effect on the amount of industrial pollution at a modest cost. Will China continue to pursue economic growth? Or will it cease knowing what adverse results industrial pollution could bring to China's future? This is truly a dilemma for China, as it's only one or the other.

-Ian (26)

China's Dilemma

China's Dilemma between pursuing higher economic growth and escalting pollution

China has achieved miraculous economic growth over the past 30 years to become the world's second largest single-country economy. However, while doing so, it has caused a series of environmental problems.Economic growth in China is heavily invested in the development of manufacturing and heavy industries and energy consumption is thus growing rapidly. Unfortunately, this rapid increase in energy consumption causes more carbonemission, resulting in the rise in pollution and carbon emissions and is adding to environmental harm on a global scale and having a tremendous impact on ecological systems. On the other hand, China's economic growth is rapidly growing and its beneficial for them. In my opinion, China should consider the welfare of the people before carrying out any economic plans and should prioritise the people's health. By rapidly producing goods, carbon dioxide and harmful gases are being produced.  This fastens the rate of global warming and will not affect only China but the entire world. So what if they can earn loads of money. It will still be used for medical fees when the air pollution starts affecting them. Cutting down on the carbon emmision rate is benefical for the people but building more factories increases their economic growth. Both situations are beneficial and thus China is in a dilemma. However, China's annual carbon emission is already the top and is 26.43% of the whole world's carbon dioxide emission are from them. I strongly think that they should stop polluting the environment and not put the whole world at risk.

China's Air Pollution


 
Satellite Image of China( The gray part is pollution)


 ~Keefe(25)

Reflection on China's dilemma between pursuing higher economic growth and escalating pollution due to the industrialization

China's economy is ranked second in the world. However, China still wants to improve its economy and overtake the United States, which currently holds the world best economy. The main reasons for improving China's economy is because China has a big land mass of 3854082 square miles and a huge population of about 1.3 billion people. China's big land mass results in more space to build more factories because of China wanting to pursue high economic growth. These factories will produce more carbon emission which leads to air pollution due to this industrialization. Thus, there is a contradiction between these two because on one hand, China's economy is improving due to having more factories, leading to higher employment rate and eventually higher economic growth but on the other hand, China is putting themselves in danger of pollution from this industrialization which is the factories which are producing lots of carbon dioxide. So as China continue building more factories, China's economy will grow, pursuing the goal of higher economic growth, and at the same time, bring harm to people because of the escalating pollution. I feel that China should not neglect the people's welfare and so, China should reduce the carbon emission rate produced by the factories. China should put the people's welfare in front of its pursue for higher economic growth because there is no use if China has a higher economic growth but nobody to enjoy the riches and wealth because the pollution causes their health to deterioriate. Therefore, I can conclude that China is having a dilemma deciding whether to continue to pursue higher economic growth which might bring more wealth to its people or reduce the escalating pollution which might cause harm to its people. Both choices are beneficial and detrimental to China so China is having a hard time deciding what precautions and measures to take.

-Kah Ghee (15)

China - Pollution due to industrialization

China is still a developing country and hence they feel the the need to modernize and catch up to the more developed countries like America and Europe. In order to do that, they need to pursue higher economic growth by building factories. However, by doing so, they are escalating pollution. Factories give out harmful gases like carbon dioxide that will cause global warming. The more factories there are, the warmer the Earth gets. If they continue to build more factories, they will give out more harmful gases that will deeply affect the environment. China is already the number one country that gives out the most amount of harmful gases from factories. Stopping the increasing number of factories should be a priority for them. However, if they don't build factories, they will not be able to improve. Because of these two factors China has to consider, China certainly is stuck between whether to cause the world more harm or to improve themselves.

- Jessie (2)