China Desert Challenge

November 4, 2010

 Almost one third of China’s land is desert—a process that has accelerated due to development and human activities.

In fact, the deserts of China have also become a tourist attraction.

One strategy to slow the spread of the deserts is to create a grid of plant growth that will hold the sand in place. Trees have been planted too — all to stop the sand from spreading.

This project started years ago. Together with other planting strategies, this slowed the process of spreading deserts and has reversed the trend.

However, due to natural resources needed to fuel China’s growth and a huge population, northern China has become a boomtown and is attracting millions because of the opportunities to earn better money.

Herders have also been restricted from allowing their animals to graze on the areas that are being reclaimed from the desert. 

This has caused a reduction in the size of herds such as sheep and goats.

China has no choice but to win this battle with the desert since there is a shortage of land to use for food production.

More than 40% of China is mountainous. 

This leaves only 15% of the land that can be cultivated for food crops but only 75% of that land is used for that purpose.

Yet China produces more food than any nation.

Learn about Food and China’s Eating Culture

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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China’s Water Challenge – Part 3/3

November 4, 2010

To assist the rural people in the dry mountains of Gansu province, an award-winning program was started in 2000.

A leader of a rural women’s group, Zheng Jin Xia, says, “Because the village was so poor and there was no water, hygiene was very bad.  However, after we got the water cellars (underground storage that captures rainwater), we now wash our clothes and bathe.”

Funding for the Water Cellars for Mothers program came from private donations from individuals and from companies in eastern cities—twenty million yuan was raised by the women.

This project has provided water for one million people. The local government provided additional funding and the rural villagers contributed labor to build the system.

The Chinese national media covered the water shortage in the western areas, so more people learned about the living conditions there. This encouraged support of the project.

The “Water Cellars for Mothers” project is part of a vast undertaking to provide safe water for three hundred million people in the rural areas of China with a goal to achieve this by 2020.

In four years, the government invested millions of yuan toward rural water projects. In the future, a larger investment will be needed.

China’s water challenges are similar to other modernizing societies. Rapid economic development and population growth are demanding more water resources than ever before.

Next time you read or hear someone say that China is secretive and doing little to help the rural people, remember this. Since the start of the program, about 900,000 water cellars have been built

Return to China’s Water Challenge – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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China’s Water Challenge – Part 2/3

November 3, 2010

Shanghai decided to restore the original ecosystem systematically over time. With a stress on management and reduction of waste, the sewage that once flowed into the creek and river is now collected in pipes and processed at a wastewater treatment plant.

Shu Shiqing, Vice Director of Shanghai’s Water Authority says, “By the end of 2010 the goal was to treat 80% of the water.”

In Shanghai, there has been urban renewal along the river and creek with extensive green space added, and a new museum educates the people about environmental awareness.

With water quality improved and the stink gone, residents now enjoy the river. During summer, people come out in the mornings to exercise in the parks along the creek.

By the end of 2010, plants, fish and other living organisms would be living in the creek.

China has made great economic strides in recent decades but progress has been uneven. The gap between urban and rural areas has increased. Rural poverty is worse in the Western provinces such as Gansu.

According to a Chinese government study, probably 300 million people in China do not have access to safe drinking water. Most are in rural China.

Plans are now focused on solving that problem.

Kang Guo Xi, Deputy Director of the Gansu Water Resources Bureau says, “The Yellow River is the main source of water for Gansu.”

To increase agricultural production, water is pumped from the Yellow River as high as 600 meters and carried in aqueducts to field and village long distances from the river.

At higher elevations in Gansu, the challenge was more difficult but not impossible.

Return to China’s Water Challenge – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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China’s Water Challenge – Part 1/3

November 3, 2010

China has many water problems. There are several Chinese characters for water that explain these problems—much water, little water, dirty water, and muddy water.

“Much water” means floods and they happen every year causing great loses of property and life.

The second is “little water”, which means lack of rain causing rivers and lakes to go dry.  Of over six hundred cities in China, three to four hundred face water shortages.

The third is “dirty water”. Due to the number of people and industries, water pollution is a big problem.

Then “muddy water” causes soil erosion. China loses about 5 billion tons of topsoil a year.

All four of these problems are found in the Yellow River, which is called the “Mother River” or the “River of Sorrow”.

The Yellow River carries more sediment than any river—about 1.6 billion tons annually due to erosion.

Over the last 50 years, extensive flood control measures along the Yellow River have saved many lives and protected property.

Soil conservation has become a long-term strategy. Trees have been planted alongside the Yellow River and its tributaries and this has slowed the erosion about 90%.

Another challenge was the industries along the Yellow River. During the 1990s, industries caused the river to dry up. This was a regular occurrence and a challenge to fix.

Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Construction says, “In urban areas 80% or rivers and lakes are seriously polluted.” Treating the sewage is difficult. To solve this will take a huge investment.

Shanghai, with a population of 17 million is showing the rest of the country how to deal with the water pollution. Shanghai’s river and streams were once choked with pollution.  A billion dollars was spent to deal with the problem.

Discover more about China’s Water Woes

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Drought in China

November 3, 2010

China finds itself water challenged in the north and southwest.

Solve Climate News reports that drought had dried up southern China.  Three-hundred-and-ten reservoirs, 580 rivers and 3,600 pools have been baked dry.

Older villagers say reservoirs and irrigation channels are dry for the first time in their lives.

Some blame Global Warming, while environmental activists blame China’s biggest hydro-engineering project, the South-to-North water diversion scheme, which is designed to channel water north to cities such as Beijing and Tianjin.

In fact, that couldn’t be. The South-to-North water diversion will not be completed until 2050 and due to environmental concerns, the western line is still in the planning stages. Only the eastern and central lines are under construction. Source: Water Link International

CNN reports that drought in northern China is threatening crops in at least 12 provinces where more than 3.5 million people and about 2 million livestock live. More than 200 million people live in northern China.

The only region of China that’s getting torrential, record rainfall is southeast China where floods have killed many and displaced thousands. Source Accuweather.com

Much of China’s water originates in Tibet. In southwest China, the Mekong rivers originate on the Tibetan plateau. The Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers comes from the glaciers and melt water of the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

However, Tibet is melting and turning into a desert.

Learn more at Water – Two Countries Tell a Tale

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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