#haoqi

Development is defined as change directed toward improving human welfare (Miller, 361). I took this picture at Victoria Harbor of Hong Kong, China. China is a challenging country to define. The dominant narrative across much of the world is of China as a rising hegemony, the next great superpower, and a global economic powerhouse. China has accomplished a remarkable feat in transforming itself from one of the world’s poorest countries to its second largest economy in just 30 years. With a population of 1.3 billion, China is increasingly playing an important and influential role in development and in the global economy, which has been the largest contributor to world growth since the global financial crisis of 2008. Riding the upsurge of economic success has improved the lives of millions. From more comfortable living environment to the staggering raises in salary, life for the average Chinese citizen entered into a new age. China’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) and the newly approved 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) highlight the development of services and measures to address environmental and social imbalances, setting targets to reduce pollution, to increase energy efficiency, to improve access to education and healthcare, and to expand social protection. The annual growth target in the 12th Five-Year Plan was 7 percent and the growth target in the 13th Five-Year Plan is 6.5 percent, reflecting the rebalancing of the economy and the focus on the quality of growth while still maintaining the objective of achieving a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020 (doubling GDP for 2010-2020).

Given the prevailing focus on its rapid economic rise, it is easy to forget that poverty, which defined as lack of access to tangible or intangible resources that contribute to life and the well-being of a person, group, country, or region (Miller, 361), remains one of its greatest challenges. Seventy million Chinese people still live in extreme poverty (compared with 300 million in India, 100 million in Nigeria, and 25 million in Ethiopia), struggling to survive, often in appalling conditions. While China’s economic success over the past decades has indeed been remarkable, the sheer size of its population means that, in terms of GDP per capita, it still ranks only 83rd in the world. What’s more, it suffers from dangerous levels of income inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.462. The vast majority of China’s poor live in rural areas, which have benefited much less from the growth driven by the powerhouse cities of the east and where people still rely heavily on agriculture and subsistence farming. Agriculture remains a key pillar of the Chinese economy; 35% of the world’s farms are in China (compared to 9% in sub-Saharan Africa) and, even today, 50% of the population remains in the rural agricultural sector. Rural poverty is further compounded by China’s enormous health burden; the country has the world’s third largest TB epidemic, for example, and more than a million Chinese people die every year as a result of smoking.

This person is a Chinese student, who is also a circular migrant between China and America. Circular migration (Miller, 341) is defined as a regular pattern of population movement between two or more places. It may occur within or between countries. She comes to the U.S. every January and August and goes back to China every December and May for vacation. This may be one of the most dominant circular migration waves in the world. China is the leading source of international students for foreign universities and colleges, and even more of its young people are preparing to go abroad to study over the next five years, according to an education policy adviser. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s National Committee estimates that the number of Chinese studying abroad each year will peak at between 700,000 and 800,000. Considering China’s economic growth and rising household incomes, the annual amount of Chinese studying abroad will come to a head within five years. Studying overseas fosters a global outlook and broadens students’ minds. The Chinese government tries to promote this kind of circular migration since there will be more and more educated students coming back to devote their energy to this country. We have the visiting scholar program, which will allow thousands of students studying abroad without paying tuitions. Last year, the Chinese government also proposed and launched a regional economic strategy, The belt and Road Initiative. The Initiative will boost further opportunities for students to pursue the education in countries and regions along the routes of the initiative. As a circular migrant, I am so thrilled to have the chance touching a completely different culture. The experience will enable me to be more inclusive, and provide me with a broader range to develop.

Social stratification is defined as a set of hierarchical relationships among different groups as though they were arranged in layers (Miller, p218). This photo is a very cute girl at the Gallery of Art. The fancy outfit she wore represents good economic standing. Besides that, the motivation of parents for bringing her there can also reflect the high cultural quality of them. While in China, there are a huge amount of children who cannot afford the price of school, who do not have the educational resources at all. Even some of them need to worry about the resource of foods and clothes. The children who born in rural areas may not have the chance to visit the gallery of art during their lifetime. The social mobility in China has highly restricted the growth of the next generation in the rural area regardless of the economic development in recent years. It takes extremely hard time and the significant amount of efforts for their parents who have little knowledge to support their children improve their life standard, to improve their social status. It is impossible nowadays for a farmer to step into the middle class of China. Education might be one of the solutions, but there are fewer and fewer students from rural area entering into the top universities of China. On the contrary, there are more and more children lived in cities getting the chance to study abroad. Huge efforts are needed in order to achieve the movement of social stratification.

A cultural broker is someone who is familiar with two cultures and can promote communication and understanding across them. This photo is Henry Kissinger’s On China. On China not only addresses the central role he played in Nixon’s opening to China but also tries to show how the history of China, both ancient and more recent, has shaped its foreign policy and attitudes toward the West. This book has a significant influence on people in the western world, especially on the American. Kissinger knew both American and Chinese cultures a lot so he could utilize its unique advantage, to show the world a true China on an objective view. At that period, because of the ideological conflicts, China had a relatively intense relationship with the western world. American people often viewed China as a feudalism country. It is difficult for American people to fully understand China if they didn’t change their basic views towards China. They would continue to regard China with a kind of “stereotype”. Kissinger provided them with the proper standing and acceptable evaluations based on Western values. While at the same time, he analyzed the situation based on Chinese culture and values. It is why this book is widely spread in both hemispheres.