The Dark Side of China’s Industrial Boom
- Categories: International, News
- Date: Oct 22, 2009 04:58 JST
- Tags: Bizarre, China, Environment, Guro, Image Gallery, Made in China, Photography
China’s impressive growth and gleaming towers are only possible because of a huge and frequently overlooked sacrifice, with millions ravaged by industrial poisons and much of the land blighted for decades to come.
These photos are by Lu Guang, of Zhejiang province, a former factory worker turned photographer who has devoted much attention to documenting some of the less savoury aspects of China’s rise.
His efforts to document the unfolding ecological catastrophe which blights much of China have recently earnt him the Smith Award for humanistic photography:
Even the Chinese government has published estimates showing it has been losing as much as 3% of its GDP annually due to the effects of pollution.
International bodies such as the World Bank have made much higher estimates, with anywhere from 6-10% of GDP lost due to the effects of pollution, suggesting GDP figures alone may be drastically overstating the actual, but undeniably substantial, gains in welfare realised by the Chinese people.
China’s impressive growth is set to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, but this may only have been accomplished by mortgaging the health of as many, and at the cost of devastating much of China and the wider East Asian region.
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wow.... aftermath of too much "Industrial Boom"
thats horrible
fallout 3 in LA version XD
chore : "Teenage mutant ninja panda!
Teenage mutant ninja panda!
... "
Prepare your "chinese Assault rifle" guys, i think i saw super mutant in these pictures
It looks just like fucking fallout its scary.
Rare tub girl sighting at #12!
Ah yes China, if they replace US and Europe as dominant economical powers, 99% of the world would be like this
Man China is fucked up even more now.............
I'd totally film a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic movie there.
that is really messed up. ecoterroristfags need to get up in there.
this are all inevitable effect from industrialization.
cause and effect. whole cycle
make money by sacrificing the land environment for their GPD >> then spent it on military and development >> then when the pollution become too much to bear >> then start on environment clean up with the left over money >>
You forgot the part where they use the military to invade somewhere with less pollution for their citizens to live and force the prisoners and citizens of their occupied territories to work in the Chinese wastelands.
It makes absolutely perfect sense. I'd call it genius, but since it is such and obvious strategy I'll refrain this time.
Holy sh*t
Well... looking the pictures looks like China is still a child compared to USA and other countries.
Huge polluter there? Battery manufacturers... particularly the ones who make the types used in Priuses... The Prius' dirty secret - before it drives a single mile, it's created more polution than a Escalade produces in 100000 miles including production polution.
Buy a Prius, make a couple Chinese flipper babies!
GOOD JOB HIPPIES!
that a very nice setting to film fallout 3 the movie
Holy shit! China is #1 fucked in the whole world!
There are wastelands in my country too.
But not as bad as this.
Yuck!
Can this be copied to a site where I can send the link to friends and such, cause I want them to see how bad this stuff is in China.. without the questions as to what else is on the site from friends and family..
I hope people realize USA, Canada and even Japan have gone through the same things when they were developing.
Japan has the Minamata Disease, Canada has Fort Mac and I don't even need to give an example about the USA.
I remembered Half Life 2.
Makes me imagine that the China in the fallout world is a much cleaner place. Even with all the radiation.
Well, okay. White people and those who imitate them come into China, and repeatedly tell China that she's worthless, because all she ever did was cling to her old ways and never made scientific and industrial progress. She was happy regardless of the periodic turmoil and regime changes. At least they were regulated and sustainable; wars cause people to die, famines cause people to die, but all these things had their ways of working out.
But then came the "Enlightened" Westerners with their technology. Sure, they were faster and stronger. Sure the medicines cured a LOT of diseases, but what is the price to pay for such innovations?
Other societies just push, and push, and constantly tell China that she's inferior.
Well, this perverse destruction of the environment is an attempt to catch up and keep up, like steroids with athletes.
At what cost do we pay to keep fulfilling everyone's expectations?
The cultural revolution is why China was deemed worthless. That is just the biggest epic fail. All that thousands of years of culture destroyed. Just so sad. China is slowly, slowly starting to realize this grave error while at the same time trying hard not to make the same mistakes of the U.S.S.R.
It is not the west that has expectations of China rather than the Chinese government has for it's 'status' in the world. They want to be the best and brightest at the cost of her own people. They want to be the most powerful and glorious at the cost of her environment and freedom. China wants to beat every other industrialized nation on the planet, yet due to shortcuts, ignorance of effects, and pure greed, she will ultimately fail in this regard. Even Confucius realized that without the people, there is no country. The Chinese have forgotten this sage advice.
When a small person sees a big person, they'll try to emulate that to be like them.
Could Chinese policies be the result of its impressions of countries it considers greater than itself?
I dunno. Maybe China DOES know about the consequences, but is willing to cast a blind eye for the sake of trying to catch up.
Because once they do catch up, the rest of the world will become their trash dump.
A small sacrifice now for a great reward later.
FREE TIBET YOU DICKS!!!!!!
Yeah, but you see that would make China more of a hypocrite to itself than it already is to the world. Communism? HA. What happened to class struggle? Oh, I forgot, the leader of China is a member of the bourgeoisie.
China keeps Tibet to assure itself that it's still great and powerful, much like how America still hasn't let Hawai'i and all the other states run away without Federal interference. American tactic is that they'll go to other peoples' lands, and submit a petition to include those lands as a part of the United States and justify that petition saying "We actually improved these lands, even though it's not ours- it's better in our hands, and that's why it belongs to us- it OUGHT to belong to us." Americans call it Manifest Destiny. That's the same policy China has with "One China" Rather than with the Han ethnicity, Beijing tries its best to either manipulate, formulate, or blatantly lie about the relationship the central government and the Han people have with other peoples residing in mainland China.
If China frees Tibet, they'd have to free the Uighurs, Mongols, Manchurians, all the other people who're tired of Bejing's policies, including Hong Kong (who can prosper by itself a la singapore), and might as well recognize that Taiwan has a winning chance as a valid contender in dominating Chinese politics.
So fat chance that China'll free Tibet, much like how Hawai'i does not have a great chance in re-declaring itself as a Monarchy prior to American imperialism. And China has the largest army in the world.
You're don't really have anything to worry. They're people too. They just need to wait a while until they get sick of the government and will probably try to overthrow it or use terrorism.
Thanks to China, Tibet is free since 1950 and a bit more since 1959.
Are you retarded?
You might want to study the history of China's government before you go and blame the rest of the World. Of course if you live in China good luck trying to study that as you'll probably be arrested or you'll only get books that contain little to no fact in them because they don't want you to know the truth.
How are you so certain that everyone else outside of China isn't as biased or prejudiced when considering Chinese history? Of course, you're right- Chinese view of history is a communist view of history. China didn't invade Tibet, China "Liberated" Tibet. That doesn't change that there are still a lot of influential thinkers who have credibility in institutes of education that are willing to portray China as a victim of Imperialism, most likely because those said thinkers are sympathetic to socialist causes, much like how in the early 20th century, thinkers were closely aligned with nationalism, thus the constant wars then and prior that century, more specially in Europe.
At the top level of academia is just a bunch of opinions that get selected based on how convincing that opinion is, not necessarily how it really is close to the truth. So I was kinda disillusioned as to how what we know about things are the result of petty politics and popularity contests at universities.
The truth has been that it's all about White People being dicks, not the rest of the world. If anything, I think Black people have been fucked up the ass worse than the Chinese.
Germany is like Japan a rapid aging and soon declining country. And much worser, Germany together with (West) Europa suffers from Islamisation year for year. In a few decades they will be part of the Islamic World.
And Japan...heh, China's gouverment and people have it's own thoughts how Japan's future will be. America can't protect it's servent forever.
No. China will rule. It's heavens decision. 5000 years of Chinese existence prove this.
Sankaku Complex - Anime, manga, games, and anti-Chinese propaganda observed from Japan
Why does Sankaku feel the need to associate our culture with something so unrelated?
why are you here in sankaku?
Obviously to Masturbate. DUH. WHY ARE WE IN THE INTERNET IF NOT TO BLOW OUR WADS?
OH OHHHH POLLUTIOOONN FAP FAP FAPPPPPPPP!!
LMAO +1
>Why does Sankaku feel the need to associate our culture with something so unrelated?
>unrelated?
337 Comments
Hm... Something doesn't compute.
'Cause bashing China with misconceptions and ignorance is fun!!
Because it is a Japanese blog, and it must have anti feminazi, Pro-Neet and anti-Japan propaganda
China is slowing becoming an industrial wasteland
At least they didn't permit Nuclear bomb testing on their soil like my country.
Look up lop nor on wikipedia China's last nuclear test was in 1996. Go there yourself and see how many tumors you grow.
Wow, when I saw the first pic, at first I thought it was a 3D landscape from Fallout..
China looks like something out of Mad Max with all that pollution.
Where's Captain Planet where you need him?
I looked on the back of my Captain Planet Figure and it seems he was made in China. He does not take kindly to people like you slandering the Peoples Republic. Watch your back dude.
If you take out the cost it would take to clean up all of the environment and get cleaner technologies then China's actual GDP growth is closer to 0.5%. They will eventually have to spend enormous amounts of money to fix their dams, clean rivers, etc. The north of China is practically a desert now and their projects to divert water up there cost to much and the water is coming from level 5 (the max) polluted waters.
The End is inevitable jejejejeje
Fabulous photography
What website are the pictures from? I'd like a link so I can reference it.
"Why play your favorite post-apocalyptic games? Live them now!!! Visit China today!"
New tourism campaign for the good ol' People's Republic?
CHINA SUCKS!!!
Uh.. this happens to all countries that went through industrialization. Haven't you seen/heard the stories of what USA looked back then when they went through the same period? Dark skies, thousands of species is of birds going extinct. etc. etc. It's easy to point and blame but I think if people would just help out then this wouldn't be as big as a problem. The earth can only take so many industrialization that humans throw at it. Don't blame china, blame all the humans.
That's a cop out. People weren't as educated about the environment 200+ years ago. We know better now, and China should too. You may have money today, but tomorrow with all that pollution you are gonna either be dead or have an extra set of balls growing off of your forehead...
Man, those are some brutal pics... Especially the one with the dead fish floating in the water. O.o
Its a real shame, especially since China's natural environments, are some of the most beautiful in the world.
This looks like the scene of an Industrial Revolution Europe, only this one is in China.
holy shit, its half life 2 in real life
i think people are making a big mistake here thinking that all industrial revolutions are the same. Yes, there will be pollution but if you look at the industrial revolution for the US and Great Britain, theirs were somewhat gradual and took many years before ending. For Japan, it began in the early 1900s until the 50s but for China, it basically had an entire industrial revolution in a fraction of the time that it took other countries which is why even if there were laws, it would probably be close to impossible to soften the impact of industrialization on the landscape.
hey green peace quit your whining at us and move you damn offices over there if you give a shit about the environment go fix it cause we are doing fine.
china is a developing country.
america,europe,japan and korea used to be like this.
Pestilence shall consume thy living...
WTF HAPPENED TO THEIR FACE FOR GOD SAKE ???
Reminds me of Nausicaä's wastelands.
Those feet look like they're from those mutants in The Pitt (Fallout 3).
Billions+Industrial Revolution=Bad
Sankaku complex should post "trash lands" off every continent to show that humanity is one and the same.
And, yet, we're supposed to go to "Hope"enhagen. When China signs and puts away some of their sovereignty, then America will.
Oh My God, this is awful, horrible
Mordor ?
OMG.
I thought China is clean & shiny. I thought that's true whole my life. Yes, I also thought that China - is a big megapolis. Big, shiny, techy...
Bu this... If it's the cost for everything... I.. I don't have much words to say...
hey thats the chineese ''zone'' style of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
WELCOME TO MORDOR
ehhh, what happened to you artefact,
it's fine that you keep your tone to a kind of neutrality,,or matter-of-factly,tho
i miss so much your wonderful sarcasm wording...
Especially, that last photo. Idk what that green stuff really is, but even if it's not radioactive waste, it's plain sick...
*Ring ring ring
"Hello?"
"Hey Bono, someone beat your record."
"WHAT BUT I'M NUMBER 1!"
"It weighs 100000000 courics and it's by the Chinese."
"NO I CAN'T BE NUMBER 2!"
i felt like living there T_T
But no, someone please think about the fictional children, who gives a fuck about the earth, the life and the people getting fucked up by their self worshipping government.
Surely the UN are doing the right thing.
OMG!! Fallout meets Oblivious
HA HA HA!! I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!!!
*adds "massive industrial pollution" to Destroy China list. . .
Ah, the sweet ol' backside of globalization and industrialization.
That looks like a good place for Hollywood to film a Fallout movie.
THIS
IS
CHINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Tonite we'll dine in toxic waste!
Well in another 10 or 20 years elite class will make more money and flee the land of the dead. They will go to Canada or US and enjoy quality life. The rest of China will be isolated put in to a space ship and launched in to the sun for recycling.
i really wish those photos would be photoshoped
My piss- & shit-filled toilet is 1,000,000,000,000 times cleaner than that place!
that is definitely Photoshopped
Are those pictures actually real? If so, i dont give a shit what kind of excuse China is going to give but this stuffs will destroy them if they dont stop soon.
ooowwwww....
fuck china...
We need to donate all the worlds GDP to Japan's military so they can perform another magnificent NANKING MASSACRE! This time don't confine it to Nanking, spread the love to the rest of China!
Oh wait, they are probably gonna kill themselves before hand anyways... just hope they don't take the rest of us with 'em....
Enjoy your bankrupt economy and eventual suicide.
-China has the highest population in the world.
-China will be the 2nd greatest industrial powers in the world in this year - or says the World Bank.
-China is one of the greatest waste importers in the world.
-China is one of the greatest export harbors in the world.
After lining these facts, it's no wonder this happens.
But that phosphor covered ox...
It's just sad...
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/wp-content/gallery/safe-misc/chinas-industrial-rise-at-what-cost-10.jpg
Is that what I think it is....floating pieces of SH*T?
Looks much alike like Russia.
Well, we're all fucked. Age of fools indeed. Just die already stupid humans, dont make us suffer anymore.
+10
looks like a post-apocalyptic world
Well, i somewhere a saw a nice diagramm showing that in which stages of industrial development are Asian countries.
Obviously, Japan is the most-developped which means they now fund into other countries with their money and high level technology. SKorea is the next, ountries like Malaysia are in the middle, and China.... is the most back. They are at the stage of bulding up heavy industries, which is not a bad thing, all, now developped countries did this, but:
1. They are simply huge.
2. They should adopt envimoremtn-safe technologies, which are pretty much avalible nowadays.
2. They are communists, tehy dont give a fuck about nature and people.
To say a 'good' point, England (others too but they were fist) had this too in the 18th century - remember those drawings in your historybbook? Black skies, child labour, 18hr work-days?
我们国家人口太多 贫富相差很悬殊
What da fuck china.
Green Kow! tenenenenenenene.....Green Kow! Holy Jamoly Kowman!