Free Essay: Challenges Facing China

China is one of the nations of the world that has received tremendous attention in the recent past. This is largely because of its economic potential and huge investments in Africa, appearing to overtake the west. While this is the case, China equally has its fair share of challenges as like many other countries of the world. In this paper, we discuss major challenges facing China.

The first challenge affecting China is its ever-rising middle class. Experts argue that that the rise is phenomenal and it has grown concurrently with the country’s economic development, which has hit its highest in history. It is estimated that between 100 and 250 million people fall in the middle class. This is projected to hit a high of 700 million people by 2020. It is needless to emphasize the fact that such an upsurge will put pressure on the government. For example, the demand for better housing services will shoot up and other social amenities.

Additionally, China has a huge gap between the rich and the poor, a common problem in most nations in the world today. There is inequality in the distribution of social wealth, which has bred a range of challenges for the government. In line with this, China’s poor population has been rising for decades because of the low salaries people earn. The impact of this is that the Chinese government cannot stimulate domestic demand. This leaves China with no option but to rely on investment and trade with foreign countries. It is worth noting that China’s inequality emanates from the differences between urban and rural population and the huge disparities in income generation.

The third challenge facing the Republic of China is urbanization. It has emerged that the government no longer has control over the distribution of people in different parts of the country. Other areas in which the government’s influence is dwindling are development of labor markets and accuracy in gathering and processing population statistics. Today, about 65% of Chinese live in rural areas. However, it is estimated that the figure about 70% of the population will be shift to urban areas by 2035. Obviously, this will have significant impact on the environment and the social state of people. Among other things, there will be high unemployment in the cities, which will breed criminal gangs. This will in turn convert urban dwellers in paupers, leading to a rise in China’s poor population.

China also faces the challenges of an ageing population. Research shows that the country has remained an ageing nation since 2000. This is to say its adult population is growing exponentially because of the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to tame ballooning population at that time. Today, about 130 million Chinese are elderly, translating to 10% of the population. Experts project that this figure will rise to 342 million people in twenty years. As a result, China’s median age will rise from the current 30 to 45 by the year 2050. With this rise, there is pressure on the infrastructure and services, which do not meet the demand of the people.

Another challenge is environmentally related. Because of population, almost 35% of China’s land has been affected by acid rain while 45% have been contaminated. A quarter of the population use contaminated water while 400 cities are under the threat of water shortage. Solid waste management services cannot meet the high demand and can only treat 32% of the solid waste, which is harmful to man. As a result, China loses US$28 billion every year because of environmental pollution.

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Online Resources:

http://www.thechinastory.org/2012/09/the-ten-grave-problems-facing-china/

http://www.activeukchina.com/china-overview/china-overview/current-issues-facing-china/