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Pollution In China Case Study

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The gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country's economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period. In layman’s terms, it is a representation of the size of the country’s economy.
China’s tremendous growth in GDP over the years has indeed shocked the world. With the implementation of the Chinese Economic Reform, China’s GDP has seen a tenfold increase and has even overtaken Japan to be the second largest economy after the United States. However, there is always a downside to economic progress in a country.

Pollution.
Not only is pollution is a huge problem in China, it is in fact a problem in many industrialised cities. China is saturated with heavy industry, metal smelters, and coal-fired power plants which are all paramount in maintaining the fast-paced economic growth it is currently experiencing; even as they generate tons of hazardous gases and soot into the air. The air pollution and smog in two of China’s biggest cities -Beijing and Shanghai- are sometimes so bad, airports are forced to shut down due to of poor visibility. That is not all, the air quality of Beijing is said to be 16 times worse than New York City. Blue skies are a rare sight and buildings several blocks away are difficult to locate, visually. Apart from that, sometimes you can't see the street from the 5th floor window in Shanghai. …show more content…
In 1978, China introduced its Reform and Opening Up policy; allowing private power generation businesses and foreign investors to enter its economy for the first time. As such, China’s economy responded; projecting sustained economic growth surpassing 10% for the past thirty years. This increased China’s GDP by an astounding

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