Chapter 2

Please respond to what Dodson is saying about anxiety in the Chinese people in this chapter. First summarize his main points and then react to them.  Do you think the Chinese have any reason to be more anxious than Americans? Why or why not? 

Dodson talks about the limitations of the middle class in China as stresses for the people as a whole. First, he talks about the middle class's lack of power. They do not have power to move, or even hold onto belongings or jobs with any amount of certainty. Furthermore, the Chinese people are not allowed to move up from poor to middle class to upper middle class with any ease. The changes are difficult and frowned upon by the government. This creates a tension in the homes and the economy at all times.

Next, Dodson talks about the education system. First of all, with education costs growing, most are not able to attend even a small school, much less a university. The education system leaves students in a constant battle with their peers for the highest seat in the class. After that, the students are required to take an obscenely rigorous exam. This exam then allows them to enter a college, but they are usually restricted by area – with the best schools being in certain cities, which may or may not be where the student is from. Never the less, the students are still stuck where they started out – this could make them less likely to find a job later.

Next, Dodson talks about the lack of jobs available to students. After completing their time at the university, students might not even be able to find a job after they graduate. With the lack of jobs, students are left over qualified for work and not able to repay their families who had to sent them through school. This leaves the next working class jobless and unable to support anyone at all.

Finally, Dodson talks about healthcare. He says that usually officials are paid off to serve the people, and if you have no money, then you will not be helped. This means that one broken bone might take food off the table for a week or a month. This leaves the Chinese people who come down with a real illness unable to find or pay for treatment. If they die, then they will also leave their families unable to support themselves in the dead loved ones absence.

All in all, I think that Chinese people are much more anxious that Americans. The things being limited by their government are rights here in the United States and we might argue about them, but we do not have to fight our government for them on a daily basis. Our system of economic flow makes it much easier to succeed though hard work, rather than the Chinese system which makes people work hard and stay suppressed. I feel that Chinese people have every right to be anxious as they have no recourse and no solutions that they can manage on their own.

Dodson Ch.5 Response

My response to China's use of natural resources is one, as per my usual reaction, of slight shock. It is something that makes me hang my head low for poor Mother Earth who is suffering because of the way the Chinese (and just about everyone else, really- but I am focusing at the group at hand, here) is treating her. Even the US has standards set that we generally adhere to, and we are some of the biggest wasters of resource out there, as much as it hurts to think! I honestly wish China would have started going in a different direction, a la Norway with 99% of their energy being clean in conjunction with other high standard environmental policies. It is difficult for the US to go in this direction because our framework was built on what we have now, and we are too far in debt to fix it seems to be the common complaint, but I do sincerely wish China would have just BEGAN on the right foot.

The only possible errors I see in Dodson's assumptions for China's future is the same one I see in any assumptions made about the future of the world: that we simply don't know what's going to happen. Sure, we plan based on past trends, statistics, and et cetera...But I believe we should plan this out and compute this data to show us the worst possible scenario not because I am pessimist, but so we are all prepared for the worst. That includes Dodson's projections about China's future. I think it is very important to have a plan for the worst that can happen, so the worst isn't as devastating when it potentially hits.

As per whether Dodson's reasoning applies to the US- I really think it does. We, too, need to reconsider the impact we have on our planet. I believe that we need to start to give back to the planet and protect it, just as it has given to us and done all it could to make our own lives better. Whether you see it as a living thing of its own or just a floating rock in space, we owe it and the creatures living on this Earth that at least. After all, the Earth is not for us alone, but our children and the creatures who coexist beside us. Human ingenuity will not keep us going if we don't do anything with it and find a way to save our Earth. We can remain in denial, but we will end up just like China if we continue to treat our land the way we do.

All in all, Dodson has made me reflect not just on how China and ourselves treat our environment, and about how we all do. I suppose we all have "the appetite of a dragon".

Ch. 5

The way I see it, China doesn’t really care about the environment, they just want the resources they require to manufacture goods to make money.   They have gone through most of their own resources, so they now have to relay on other countries to supply them, mostly oil and timber.  One thing that Dodson failed to mention is once China feels that it is equal to western countries if it will start to enforce strict environmental laws or if it will continue creating as much pollution as is currently.  Also, something I was wondering is if they would even get to the point of economical achievement they are reaching towards before, as Dodson puts it, a significant number of canaries in the coal mine dies.  In past chapters the numbers of people who have already died from environmental issues in China.  Then in this chapter there were many statistics about how much China’s environment is changing each year.  So they must be able to create a reasonable prediction on when China will reach it’s breaking point and of how many of their people will die before it will reach that point.  But I think the points the Dodson does mention can be applied to the US as well.  Whenever countries’ ranks in consumption of resources are mentioned the US is either second, after China, or first.  The US needs to learn the difference in need and want when it comes to consumption of resources, because the US also has the appetite of a dragon when it comes to nonrenewable resources.        

Chapter 5 Response

I find that China is struggling to get on a steady pathway in regards to natural resources and energy needs. It appears that whenever they find a natural resource to harvest and manufacture, it does not last forever. China makes up nearly twenty of the population, but they are quickly loosing land that is harvestable in their country. They are also relying heavily on other countries to supply their need for resources such as oil. It appears, as Dodson mentioned at the end of the chapter, that China is striving to live the lifestyle many Americans do. However, if China and India get on that same path we will all be using up way more than we can safely and sensibly supply in the world. An error in Dodson's prediction of China's future may be that he can not be certain of where their government and economy are headed. A shift in the way their society is set up could create a shift in employment and manufacturing which could change where they stand as a country of importing and exporting resources. Perhaps he could consider the human psychology aspect of the change happening in the China. While the country as a whole seems to be moving towards desiring an "affluent life" from an economic or capitalist standpoint, it can really be viewed as being rooted in a human desire to be equal with their western counterparts and the human want for abundance in ones life. I don't know if this factor is important in a statistical way of explaining the situation in China. However, I think it is definitely something to consider in explaining why China's future looks like it does. I think Dodson's reasoning does apply to the United States. Dodson stated at the end of the chapter that "China risks reliving its cycle of decline as natural resources within its boarders and around the world dwindle and societies require ever ore energy to maintain their complexity". Globally, there is a desire to become more complex and as our needs grow as a society we inevitably use up more of our resources. Where they stand now I think the future will be the same for China unless there is a major revolution in they way they run their government, however, one could say the same thing about the U.S. While we may be a seemingly affluent society, there are still major issues that we face as a country, even if they are not similar to those in China.

Chapter 5 Response

   For the most part, I feel indifferent in my response to China’s natural resources and energy needs. It is something that greatly affects countries everywhere, yet I didn’t find myself connecting to this portion of the chapter like I did with others. I can say that it is incredible the impact China’s consumption and energy source does impact our way of life in the United States as well. I agree with Dodson predicting China’s future, I didn’t see anything wrong with his claim. If I were describing China’s future, my analysis would have probably fallen under the same lines. The only thing that comes to mind that is not necessarily taken into consideration is the possible chance China could have to prosper or improve the bad habit they have of overusing all of their resources. Dodson’s reasoning definitely applies to the U.S. as well. With the idea of modernization, countries like the U.S have also joined the bandwagon of using up too many resources. The U.S. also risks living a cycle of decline within these resources.  The rate in which the United States uses these means may not be as great as China due to the population difference, but if the rate isn’t limited or kept in check it may very well result in “a disaster that is avoidable”. I don’t think the U.S. will ever be the same as China just because it is such a big difference of numbers, but it is very likely that if the U.S. continues to prosper, its future will be very similar to China’s. 

ch 3 and 4 Dodson

Chapter 3

In Dodson's words it seems that the Chinese government will do anything to keep their people where they want them. They arrange property transfer in a way that is in no way beneficial to the resident but it works for the government. With Dodson's description of "Hukou" specifically, it is apparent that the government was acting from a place of fear, and that is the fear of failure. Dodson writes that "the central government could keep one of the greatest variables--and therefore risk of failure-- of central planning fixed; that is, the movements of the Chinese population". Dodson goes on to talk about how the planning of towns and cities was intentional in "rebuilding the country in the socialist mold". I responded to this reading in shock especially due to the immense loss of earned opportunities that Dodson described. People were taken away from their homes, work and schooling. I cannot imagine someone coming in and removing me from the life that I have worked towards. What if the government had the power to strip me of the education my Mother and I have strived for me to have? In these times, the uncertainty that the Chinese people have to live with undoubtedly adds to the stress the experience, as explored by Dodson in earlier chapters.

Chapter 4

Aside from the mention of "cancer villages" where family is the core value in surviving, I found the mention of "mass hysteria" to be uniquely compelling. it was compelling to me in how overtly twisted it was. Twelve hundred employees had all fallen extremely ill, having convulsions and vomiting but "public health experts from Beijing agreed with the doctors, business executives, and local government officials that staff reactions were the result of mass hysteria". Dodson also writes that medical tests did not show any poisoning to occur. I wonder how doctors, people who are supposed to be truthful and healing were manipulated into blatantly lying to patients. It makes you wonder how deep the corruption really runs in China, and really anywhere in the world. It seems that business and money rule everything, even down to a persons health and safety. The employee described at the "Connell operations" took her job back or else she would not have had continued medical treatment. I wonder if the twelve hundred employees who fell ill in any way really believed that their situation was "mass hysteria" when they were obviously physically ill. The fact that they did not really have the opportunity to take a serious stand against the conditions they work in is I feel what sets China apart from say, the U.S. If what happened in the Connell operations happened in the states it would have caused a major uproar and I think that fact is what is the most compelling to me. We are all human and we all become ill at times, we all fight to live. What makes our lives in America any more valuable that the billions of lives in China? 

responding to Chapter 5 on China

How do you respond to the analysis of China's natural resources and energy needs in Chapter 5?  Do you see any possible errors in the way Dodson moves toward predicting China's future?  Do you think there might be something he's not considering in his analysis?  What might that be?  How important is that missing factor? Does Dodson's reasoning also apply to the U.S.?  How is the future likely to be different for the U.S. or why will it be the same as for China?  250-350 words