Reflection

Writing this blog was a daunting task. Before even starting this blog, I had a struggled with deciding what topic I should write about. Eventually I chose to write about my recent trip to China because I had witnessed many things that happened over there that I wanted to discuss. This project helped me in many ways. For instance, I have gained new technological skills by learning how to post and use a blog. I loved how we could customize our page to our liking.

Also, this project was less time-consuming than writing a research paper, making me have more time to spend with my family. Finally, the last thing I liked about this project was that we got to see what our classmates wrote about. That is important because we could see what they liked and their standpoints on their topics.

Despite having many pros, there are a few cons about this project compared to the research paper. First off, it was easier to write papers because for me, it was easier to keep on track and focus on what I am talking about. Furthermore, it was hard to think of specific sub topics to write about because I had to make sure I had enough information to write about and fully discuss about the topic. Another thing is that there was so little time to write about each sub topic.

There were times where I was pulling my hair out and getting frustrated over how much I had to write. Sometimes, I even fell behind on some assignments. Finally, the last thing I did not like about the project was the Visual Rhetoric. I could not understand what ethos, pathos, and mythos meant and how it correlated to a picture.

If I were to do this project again, I would probably want to choose a different topic because others’ blog’s sub topics were correlated and intertwined together, making it easier to write. Overall, I thought this was a good project, but it might be too stressful and technological for me.

I smell the pollution!”

Bad Air in China

My previous postings were about higher education and the new urban poor in China. Now I would like to take on another hot topic, the environment, in China with my readers.

In the past decade China earned her reputation as the factory for the world. Many of manufacturing jobs were relocated from the west including the United States to China. The Chinese economy enjoyed a comfortable ride through this transition. A significant portion of Chinese citizens got them out of the poverty for this opportunity. However, behind the prosperity is the severely damaged environment. For instance, 9 of the 10 cities with the world’s worst air pollution are found in China (Schmidt, 2002).  Many of us might still remember the great concerns about the air quality raised by some of the athletes participating in the Beijing Olympic Games three years ago. During our latest trip to China, my son complained about the fact that he could smell pollution. The severity of air pollution was easily spotted when I was there. Even the snow on the ground was somewhat grayish in my hometown.  The consequence of air pollution is so enormous for the Chinese society. The respiratory disease linked to air pollution is the leading causes for the death in China (Schmidt, 2002).  Adults die most often because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and children because of pneumonia (Schmidt, 2002). Air pollution causes millions of Chinese to suffer from chronic ailments including heart disease, cancer, decreased immune function, and fatigue (Schmidt, 2002).

The polluted and diminishing water resources are even a greater threat to the life of many Chinese citizens.  A recent report showed that the underground water sources for drinking water in more than half of the Chinese cities do not reach the national standards. The hazardous chemicals in the drinking water used by more than 190 million people are above the safety level (Schmidt, 2002). For this reason, my parents have been buying bottled water for drinking. Because of the limited availability of water resources, many cities in northeastern China are plagued by the chronic water shortage. My mom often store quite a few plastic bottles filled with tap water in her balcony in case there is unexpected water outage,  which had happened several times a week. When I was there, I experienced a cutoff of water while I was in a middle of a shower.

Another drastic effect resulting from the degradation of environment is the dust storm of this time of each year. While I am writing this blog, I just noticed a headline from Xinhua News that the citizens in Beijing are suffering from one of the worst dust storms this year. The visibility falls below 2 miles (see the picture above). The situation can be much worse in some of northwestern areas, like Gansu province. The visibility could be as low as 50 meters. The local citizens are forced to stay inside buildings. Economic activities are brought to a halt.

Sandstorm in Gansu

The worsened environment is directly correlated with the industrialization in China during the past 60 years. The degradation was accelerated in the past 20 years, which matches the period of fast growth in Chinese economy. Coal is the most used source to power Chinese economy. The coal was often burned without treatment to reduce the release of hazardous gases, such as sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide, and without the removal of particles in the soot (Schmidt, 2002).  Associated with the recent economic boom, a vast amount of small to medium sized factories were erected everywhere. Many of those factories produce chemical and biological wastes. Since the local governments are concerned only about the economic profits, they stay blind to the potential environment damages. It is often reported that the chemicals from manufacturing facilities are freely discharged along the major rivers. Now the problem becomes too huge to be remedied. It was estimated that the damages caused by pollution and degraded resources consume up to 8% of China’s GDP, roughly equal to the annual growth of the country’s economy (Schmidt, 2002). In other words, the economic development in the industrialization process is washed out. History may not repeat itself. However, one can find a lot of similarities in the history. What we seeing in China reflects what has happened in US early last century when US was going through her industrialization. The sad reality is that we do not learn from history.

                          I am glad that the Chinese government is committed to restore the environment. In next decade 1.5 percent of GDP will be invested in the environment protection. More importantly the Chinese government at all levels should feel the urgency and accountability in this issue. They should have a balanced policy in economical development and environment protection. We have already seen that Chinese are importing technologies in clean coal. They have an annual target in increasing forest coverage. In my hometown, they just started a centralized heating system. This way the emission will be better controlled. I trust that the situation will be improved with time. I hope that other developing countries will avoid the same mistakes in their industrialization process. In the end, we will live in a better world. 

             

             Work Cited:

Bad Air Quality (n.d) http://www.our-energy.com/pictures/static_content/china_hydropower_as_the_right_solution/bad_air_quality.jpg Retrieved  April, 30,  2011 from www.Google Image.

Sandstorm in Gansu (March, 2010) http://feww.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/sandstorm-19-march.jpg  Retrieved April, 30, 2011 from Google Image.

Schmidt, CW. (2002, September). Economy and Environment China Seeks a Balance. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2002 Volume 110, PA517-PA522.Retrieved March, 24, 2011from Academic Search Complete Database.

Visual Rhetoric

This image depicts two students preparing for the gaokao, the Chinese college entrance exam. Above both of their heads, there is a banner saying the gaokao is 56 days away. One student, the one with the red hair, is stressed because he needs to cram all the information he learned in the past into his head in so sssslittle time, whereas the other student, the one with the glasses, is calmly studying for the test. Also, the stressed student is saying he cannot handle all the stress to study for the big college exam anymore.

The picture shows the rhetorical strategy of pathos. Pathos is the quality or power in any form of expression evoking emotions and feeling for it and it is evident in this image. For instance, it appears as if that the student on the left is very stressed out because one can see that he is sweating, frowning, and looks as if he is going through a nervous breakdown because of his power studying for the test. Many can relate to this picture because we all know that at a time of lots of pressure, we give in and cannot take the stress anymore. For this student, if he breaks down, he would not be able to study for the test, which is a short 56 days away, and not do so well.

Another rhetorical strategy this image shows is ethos. Ethos is the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as seen in its beliefs and aspirations. This image shows ethos because it shows two students studying for the gaokao and reaching for their goals in life, just like how the Chinese culture supports higher education and treat gaokao as an important event in one’s life.

This image supports my opinion that the gaokao puts too much psychological pressure on the students and their family, especially for the fact that one single test decides one’s fate. It should be reformed to make it a consistent evaluation for the quality of the students.

This picture shows an excited college student who is holding a city hukou book. He probably, like many other students from the countryside, earned the hukou from performing well on the gaokao by getting into a college in a big city. Since he did well on the gaokao, his destiny was changed. With a city hukou the student would get better opportunities to get a job and enjoy some privileges. At the end they tend to be more successful than a person without a city hukou.

The picture shows the rhetorical strategy of mythos. Mythos is the interrelated set of beliefs, attitudes, and values held by a society or cultural group, which in this case is the Chinese. University education in China is bound to hukou, a residential permit, a system to bind a person to the land he or she is born to and do not allow people to relocate easily. This is because many Chinese believe that taking the gaokao is an important event that happens in one’s life and doing well on it will lead the student into a successful life, like what happened to the student pictured in the image.

Another rhetorical strategy that is shown in this picture is ethos. Like the first picture, this image shows ethos because it shows a farmer student with humble beginnings, climbing up the social ladder because of gaining a city hukou. With that, it would be easier for him to get a job and make a better life for himself. Just like before, the gaokao has changed this person’s fate.

This image does not support my opinion about the disadvantage side of gaokao because I argue that the test is too stressful and needed to become fairer whereas this shows a pro. In his case, the test changed his fate for the better.

Work Cited:

Blogosfere. Gaokao (n.d) http://arteesalute.blogosfere.it/2008/06/ansia-da-esame-in-cina-il-gaokao-e-un-dramma-nazionale.html.  Retrieved 4/25/11 from Google Images.

Chinasmack. Farmer-student-registration-3 (August, 2010). http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/stories/rural-college-students-household-registration-dilemma.html. Retrieved 4/25/11 from Google Images.