Economy

Satirical account of the state of the Chinese Industrial Complex

In China, approximately 1 in 3 people are living less than 50 feet from a coal fired power plant (Lee), and coal power plants are the leading source of the energy provision in China. This is because the Chinese government, recognizing the problems and expense that would be caused by trying to institute any reform, have decided to make much of their land uninhabitable with pollution instead. Many Chinese farmers, living near these plants, have witnessed runoff and other pollutants destroying their land, and one farmer noted an incident in which runoff from a Chinese military industrial complex took on corporeal from and carried off his eldest son.

The Chinese government, led by President Xi Jinping, has adopted a policy that if they ignore the problem, they can make it go away, and therefore avoid paying any of the reparations to the families of those that have died of lung cancer. In the major cities, the pollution can become so bad after several days that people are forced to wear air filtration masks. President, and I use that term loosely, Jinping, visited a borough of a major city recently, and was pictured without an air mask, which prompted surprise from the residents, who are sure that he just inhaled enough pollutants to be dead in the next year (Kaiman).

The Chinese government, instead of adopting any real reform, had begun to try the new strategy of selling bottled air to residents of major cities such as Beijing, because any other measure would be too expensive. Restaurants in the cities are also beginning to charge patrons for the air they breathe, as it is the only way to pay for the massive air filtration systems that separate them from the hostile environment. Chinese scientist He Dongxian has stated that the environment in the major cities is akin to a nuclear winter, with seedlings taking 200 to 300% more time to sprout under otherwise identical greenhouse conditions. However, soon after announcing these findings, He was seen being dragged into the back of a police van, on the grounds that his research could quote "inspire real change" and "incite a riot against the government".

Though the Chinese economic sector is growing by leaps and bounds, the government regulation necessary to ensure that all the Chinese citizens to not leave the country for better conditions is not in place. As the economic sector has grown, so has the air quality been reduced, largely due to the fact that as the economy transitioned from a command to a free market, the natural tendency of man to seek the cheapest option remained and so no effort was made to steer away from coal and towards renewable energy such as solar panels or nuclear. Unfortunately, due to the ever-present smog, solar is no longer a power option.