@sorghum.
Your pleasant living arrangements are purely anecdotal in such a large country. It’s vastness is staggering.
But here are but two of countless research articles - and remember we are not taking about a government known for transparency. It’s probably much worse.
The per capital income of the average Chinese citizen compared to party members and government elite (including joint venture billionaires and Uber wealthy) is not comparable to us worker standards.
If we leave the obvious worker and income disparity issues aside.
Here’s the but a glimpse into some of the issues. It’s just not a comparison between countries and environmental stewardship and oversight.
And unless 2013 to 2018 is what would be regarded as ancient history, I stand by my statement 100 percent.
China ‘environment census’ reveals 50% rise in pollution sources
“Ministry says country has 9m sources of pollution, with factories breaking emissions rules the big problem”
The Guardian -UK
Lily Kuo in Hong Kong
Fri 30 Mar 2018 21.50 EDT
Another article…deforestation, early death, rivers unfit for human contact, very bad water and the global carbon coal polluter among other things.
“China’s mounting environmental crisis is endangering the pace of its economic growth and threatening the legitimacy of the ruling party.
Backgrounder by Eleanor Albert and Beina Xu
Last updated January 18, 2016”
“China’s environmental crisis is one of the most pressing challenges to emerge from the country’s rapid industrialization.
China is the world’s largest source of carbon emissions, and the air quality of many of its major cities fails to meet international health standards.
Life expectancy north of the Huai River is 5.5 years lower than in the south due to air pollution (life expectancy in China is 75.3 years, according to 2013 UN figures).
Severe water contamination and scarcity have compounded land deterioration.
Environmental degradation threatens to undermine the country’s growth and exhausts public patience with the pace of reform.
with reports from late 2015 implying that it consumed up to 17 percent more coal than previously reported.
In January 2013, Beijing experienced a prolonged bout of smog so severe that citizens dubbed it an “airpocalypse”; the concentration of hazardous particles was forty times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In December 2015, Beijing issued red alerts for severe pollution—the first since the emergency alert system was established. The municipal government closed schools, limited road traffic, halted outdoor construction, and paused factory manufacturing.
At least 80 percent of China’s 367 cities with real-time air quality monitoring failed to meet national small-particle pollution standards during the first three quarters of 2015, according to a Greenpeace East Asia report.
In December 2015, the Asian Development Bank approved a $300 million loan to help China address the capital region’s choking smog.
Industry along China’s major water sources has polluted water supplies: In 2014, groundwater supplies in more than 60 percent of major cities were categorized as “bad to very bad,” and more than a quarter of China’s key rivers are “unfit for human contact.” And lack of waste removal and proper processing has exacerbated problems.
Combined with negligent farming practices, overgrazing, and the effects of climate change, the water crisis has turned much of China’s arable land into desert.
About 1.05 million square miles of China’s landmass are undergoing desertification, affecting more than 400 million people, according to the deputy head of China’s State Forestry Administration.
Water scarcity, pollution, and desertification are reducing China’s ability to sustain its industrial output and produce food and drinkable water for its large population”