Title: China'surban explosion: A 21st century challenge
By: Jaime A. FlorCruz
Date published: Jan. 20, 2012 Date accessed: Jan 20, 2012
Summary:
Zhou Jie, a farmer living in the rural parts of China, has moved into the outskirts of Beijing taking his family along. Having to adapt to the city lifestyle, Zhou has found a job in which he sells construction material and his wife adds to the family income by working as a housemaid. Millions of urban dwellers, peasants that leave the countryside and come into the city, hope for a better way of life as wages are much higher in the cities. These people are given the “dirty and dangerous” jobs which urban people no longer willing to do. The number of peasants that have moved into cities has been so large that China’s urban population is greater than that of the rural population. This is the first time such a thing has happened and is all due to China’s rapid urbanization. This change is making China more metropolitan and prosperous and has given a large number of people jobs. However, crime, traffic and housing problems are raising issues and the government has to keep a lookout for “city diseases” such as overcrowding, unemployment, and scarcity of resources.
Response:
I was in Beijing around eight months ago and the fact that you were never alone, no matter where you went, was a plus point as well as a negative point. I stayed there for a little over a month and throughout my visit I saw about two beggars and not many people that seemed financially unstable. As I talked to my cousin, who has been studying in Beijing her whole life, she said that all those people that I had said I hadn’t seen were in the nooks and corners of the city, where tourists and other visitors would not be able to see them. I think that this population shift will have a greater negative impact than a positive one. This being so as the gap between city dwellers and those from the countryside is very evident. Their mindsets and way of living are completely different and it will be very difficult for peasants to adapt to city life. Vocabulary:
A. Exacerbates
a. Critics of the policy say it causes discrimination against the mingong and exacerbates social tensions between the haves and have-nots.
b. to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill, feeling, etc.) root: from Latin exacerbāre to irritate, from acerbus bitte
c. When a teacher favors a particular student that you don’t like, it exacerbates the hatred you have against them.
B. Cumbersome
a. Some rural migrants secure temporary residence certificates but getting them is a cumbersome and expensive process
b. burdensome; troublesome. Root: Middle English cummyrsum; cumbre – defeat
c. Leaving all the work till the very day before its due makes everything so cumbersome as it results in a very tired student on the day the work is due.
C. Augment
a. His wife augments the family's income by working in the city as a household maid.
b. to make larger; enlarge in size, number, strength, or extent; increase. Root: late Middle English au (g) menten; Anglo-French au (g) menter; Latin augmentāre toincrease, derivative of augmentum an increase
c. Every student wants extra-credit projects by the end of the semester to augment their grade.
It's a real eye-opener to see countries industrializing today and facing problems that other countries first faced during the Industrial Revolution, especially because this is what we are learning about in European History class a the moment. Demographic shifts affected countries before and China is trying to cope with these problems now.
ReplyDeleteI think you should connect the experience you had in Beijing with your thoughts on this populations shift a little more. It would help your response to flow smoother.