e360.yale.edu — In recent months, protests over the severe illnesses caused by China's heavy industries have resulted in a crackdown on polluters. Leading the charge has been the state-run media, which the central government is now using to gain control over corrupt local authorities and powerful commercial enterprises.
Mar 19, 2010 View in Crawl 4
zunipusMar 20, 2010
Tear away the bravado, propaganda and nationalism and you'll find that China descended into being a criminal state decades ago.
mdellingMar 20, 2010
Ah yes, like the Tienanmen square protests. You certainly "brought out the pikes and scyths" there. Or all the human rights activists your government has locked up. They are obviously scared.Oh wait, they just keep censoring your internet and arresting protesters. If everything green tech is ever made in China, it will only be because everyone else made it and then the Chinese stole it.
pandabearshenyuMar 20, 2010
Clearly you didn't notice the advances China has made since these protests. Tunnel vision is a disease, get it checked out.
taiboMar 20, 2010
...?I'm confused by your comment. Wasn't the whole point of the article how China's government is cracking down on local officials and corporations through the media?
taiboMar 20, 2010
Uhh, most solar panel manufacturing and innovation is happening in China right now.
mrcocktoastenMar 20, 2010
Well Panda, I'm pretty sure it's not that simple. Make war? haha they are college students or maybe farmers but the rank-and-file Chinese walk the line of not protesting, and certainly not in war-like fashion. And yes, in 20yrs everything green tech will be made in China but as mdelling said, China would not have invented it. My feeling is China is growing at such a fast rate only because they make cheap plastic crap, whereas other countries have a more solid economy that is diverse and sustainable. Obviously Google felt the same.
nullcodesMar 20, 2010
I dont see how a trade embargo would help. If they become prosperous they can crack down on pullution. If you wanna see pollution go to India .. they have mad pollution they are broke so they can't have water tereatment plants and sewer systems (ironic when u consider the oldest sewer sytems in the world are found in India (part of ancient Indus valley civilization).The only way this would be fixed is after China has some wealth. The median income of the average Chinese person has risen to about 10 to 20 times the amount they were getting in 1980, but it still has a long way to go.
kd1sMar 20, 2010
Yet another thought on this. Manufacturing fled the U.S. ostensibly due to cost issues. Sure, that was part of it. You started seeing wholesale flight of major metals manufacturing just after the formation of OSHA and the EPA. Where did they go? Well at first they moved from the northeastern U.S. to the southeastern U.S. Then when environmental and workplace safety law caught up, it left the country entirely for Asia. So one has to wonder, what happens when (Not if!) the Chinese government enacts strict environmental standards? Consider the air and water acts in the U.S. have pretty much been gutted by Republicans. So we could well see it come back.
leekmiblesMar 20, 2010
Hrodrik, seriously, stop being retarded. It's clear that you don't know s**t about this place (China).
Closed AccountMar 20, 2010
I'm not your buddy, pal.