When a Billion Chinese Jump is a road journey into the future of our species. Traveling from the mountains of Tibet to the deserts of Inner Mongolia via the Silk Road, tiger farms, cancer villages, weather-modifying bases, and eco-cities, Watts chronicles the environmental impact of economic growth with a series of gripping stories from the country on the front line of global development. He talks to nomads and philosophers, entrepreneurs and scientists, rural farmers and urban consumers, examining how individuals are trying to adapt to one of the most spectacular bursts of change in human history, then poses a question that will affect all of our lives: Can China find a new way forward or is this giant nation doomed to magnify the mistakes that have already taken humanity to the brink of disaster?
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Book Description
As a young child, Jonathan Watts believed if everyone in China jumped at the same time, the earth would be shaken off its axis, annihilating mankind. Now, more than thirty years later, as a correspondent for The Guardian in Beijing, he has discovered it is not only foolish little boys who dread a planet-shaking leap by the world’s most populous nation.
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"A fascinating, engaging and beautifully written book. It is a masterpiece."
--George Monbiot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning
About the Author
Jonathan Watts is the Guardian's Asia environment correspondent and recently covered the Copenhagen Climate Conference. He was short-listed for Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the 2006 British Press Awards, and he and his research assistant were awarded the One World Media Award for best press story in 2007. In 2009, he was a co-winner of the environment prize at the One World Media Awards for a series on the global food crisis.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Michael A. Robson
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
When wrapping up this amazing book on the Environmental Crisis in CN, I was reminded of a great, but similarly gut-wrenching piece of non-fiction, Will Smith's portrayal of Chris Gardner in the 2006 movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness'. For those who haven't seen it, it's a dreadfully sad, but ultimately uplifting movie , about a young father trying to build a life for himself and his young son. Based on a true story, it's amazing, scary, depressing, and yet wildly inspiring. Although it was a good movie, ultimately the experience suffered since 98% of the movie is total downer. The story Jonathan Watts takes us on, sadly, follows a similar path. You can see the arc, as Watts trucks around CN, meeting the locals, and reporting the story on the various aspects of the environment; from the dusty farmers, to the most brilliant scientists in the country, he attempts valiantly to end the book on a high note.
As Watts puts it, CN is on a mission to beat the crap out of Math. How? Well, looking at the numbers, the throngs of CN people, the vastness of its land, the mountains of trash, the unimaginable statistics on pollution' it's tempting to throw in the towel, but Watts won't have any of it. For its part, CN is putting all its money behind the greatest scientists on Earth, and figuring out how to get cleaner water/energy, and bigger, juicier produce. The race is between a frenetic population growth and the dwindling resources that keep them all going.
On the ground in rural CN, there is a wispy paradoxical mirage, at once a driving force, and impossible to validate, and that is the dream, the delusion, that getting rich will make all the problems in the world go away. It's one struggling lower class workers have passed around for millennia, but in 2011, at this scale, at this speed, with these stakes, the little lie that kept the Consumerist train going all these years could devastate us all.
How can you tell a farmer from HLJ province that getting rich is overrated? All they know is that life is much better now than it was 20 years ago. They have more money, and more food, than their parents did. And until their stomachs and their neighbors' stomachs are full, the Environment will always take a backseat. And it's not as if this is just a CN problem: the truth is, in a massively efficient global 'organization' of sorts, we've all decided (for numerous reasons) that CN is a great place to make stuff. Mass production, batch processing, cost minimization, and resource centralization, is done to perfection in South CN. So the countries from all over the world have decided to outsource not just their manufacturing industries, but the pollution that goes with it, to CN.
You see, that's the dirty little secret. We all did this. As I sit here in my SH apartment, perhaps I should feel the most guilty. The lifestyle portrayed in SH in this book, is particularly nauseating. I actually felt physically disturbed reading about the shallow meaningless 'social climbing' that goes on in SH (just as it must in LA, NYC, or SF on any given night). In SH it's the army of Nouveau Riche, and it's what millions upon millions of empty bellied-CN here aspire to. You've been warned. As you read about the (now defunct) Barbie Stores, or the infamous Bar Rouge on the Bund, it's as if city planners in the capital are saying, 'take all the Foreign trash and plop it in SH' We don't want the gaudy architecture, or all those ridiculously overpriced night clubs'and we sure aren't going to let them put a bloody Disneyland next to the Forbidden City!! Put it all in SH.' Like the supply chain mastery and batch processing that goes on down in GD province, SH seems to be the centralized dumpsite for the wasteful foreign lifestyle. A cash cow, to be sure, but one that must be contained.
[Note: I live in SH too, and my friends don't live like those portrayed in the book. See the contradiction? Please don't take offense. It's only one aspect of the city.]
Enough needling the CN: let's turn the question around: what would you do if you had this massive demand for Energy and Resources? Would you reach out to other countries, and set up trade missions around the word, like the recent one in Africa? Would you invest in clean technologies? Would you implement controversial and unpopular restrictions on family sizes? You've got all the college graduates and all the technology and all the money in the world. What would you do?
Just how far would you go to beat the Math?
For more reviews like this, check out 21tiger.
As Watts puts it, CN is on a mission to beat the crap out of Math. How? Well, looking at the numbers, the throngs of CN people, the vastness of its land, the mountains of trash, the unimaginable statistics on pollution' it's tempting to throw in the towel, but Watts won't have any of it. For its part, CN is putting all its money behind the greatest scientists on Earth, and figuring out how to get cleaner water/energy, and bigger, juicier produce. The race is between a frenetic population growth and the dwindling resources that keep them all going.
On the ground in rural CN, there is a wispy paradoxical mirage, at once a driving force, and impossible to validate, and that is the dream, the delusion, that getting rich will make all the problems in the world go away. It's one struggling lower class workers have passed around for millennia, but in 2011, at this scale, at this speed, with these stakes, the little lie that kept the Consumerist train going all these years could devastate us all.
How can you tell a farmer from HLJ province that getting rich is overrated? All they know is that life is much better now than it was 20 years ago. They have more money, and more food, than their parents did. And until their stomachs and their neighbors' stomachs are full, the Environment will always take a backseat. And it's not as if this is just a CN problem: the truth is, in a massively efficient global 'organization' of sorts, we've all decided (for numerous reasons) that CN is a great place to make stuff. Mass production, batch processing, cost minimization, and resource centralization, is done to perfection in South CN. So the countries from all over the world have decided to outsource not just their manufacturing industries, but the pollution that goes with it, to CN.
You see, that's the dirty little secret. We all did this. As I sit here in my SH apartment, perhaps I should feel the most guilty. The lifestyle portrayed in SH in this book, is particularly nauseating. I actually felt physically disturbed reading about the shallow meaningless 'social climbing' that goes on in SH (just as it must in LA, NYC, or SF on any given night). In SH it's the army of Nouveau Riche, and it's what millions upon millions of empty bellied-CN here aspire to. You've been warned. As you read about the (now defunct) Barbie Stores, or the infamous Bar Rouge on the Bund, it's as if city planners in the capital are saying, 'take all the Foreign trash and plop it in SH' We don't want the gaudy architecture, or all those ridiculously overpriced night clubs'and we sure aren't going to let them put a bloody Disneyland next to the Forbidden City!! Put it all in SH.' Like the supply chain mastery and batch processing that goes on down in GD province, SH seems to be the centralized dumpsite for the wasteful foreign lifestyle. A cash cow, to be sure, but one that must be contained.
[Note: I live in SH too, and my friends don't live like those portrayed in the book. See the contradiction? Please don't take offense. It's only one aspect of the city.]
Enough needling the CN: let's turn the question around: what would you do if you had this massive demand for Energy and Resources? Would you reach out to other countries, and set up trade missions around the word, like the recent one in Africa? Would you invest in clean technologies? Would you implement controversial and unpopular restrictions on family sizes? You've got all the college graduates and all the technology and all the money in the world. What would you do?
Just how far would you go to beat the Math?
For more reviews like this, check out 21tiger.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
14 reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dystopian view of the future - because of China
Oct 29 2010
By Christian Kober
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I bought this book because, having lived in China for so long, I am always happy to gain new and different perspectives on China. Therefore I bought this book in a local bookshop, yearning to gain some insights into the Chinese environmental malaise. Ever since I have come to China in the 90s I have read about the looming environmental desaster in China.
China is fashionable. They all write about it, China will be dominant, will threaten all our jobs, will collaps.... Never is there a book that simply says 'China will continue to muddle through'.
This book mostly falls into the dystopian category. China is the refuge of last resort for all poisonous garbage of the world. China will consume enough coal to singlehandedly convert the world into a greenhouse. Etc. etc. The author tries valiantly to be evenhanded. He acknowledges that the rest of the world have outsourced their environmental problems to China. Many dirty industries in richer countries have not been cleaned up, they have been closed down. Thus the West has become greener and now scolds China for being dirty. The author also acknowledges the gargantuan efforts China has undertaken to clean up its environment.
Thus he is surprisingly fair and evenhanded. Yet in the end basically his vision is a dark one. China will not be able to handle its environmental problems and thus will become a major desaster zone. Like so often, he simply extrapolates the present into the future, not taking into account that humans react to changing circumstances and have been surprisingly adept at dealing with changing circumstances.
Nevertheless the book provides a compelling picture of a China in flux, a nation which tries to find its path. And, as mentioned before, he also makes it very clear that China is not the only culprit for the environmental impact it has.
China is fashionable. They all write about it, China will be dominant, will threaten all our jobs, will collaps.... Never is there a book that simply says 'China will continue to muddle through'.
This book mostly falls into the dystopian category. China is the refuge of last resort for all poisonous garbage of the world. China will consume enough coal to singlehandedly convert the world into a greenhouse. Etc. etc. The author tries valiantly to be evenhanded. He acknowledges that the rest of the world have outsourced their environmental problems to China. Many dirty industries in richer countries have not been cleaned up, they have been closed down. Thus the West has become greener and now scolds China for being dirty. The author also acknowledges the gargantuan efforts China has undertaken to clean up its environment.
Thus he is surprisingly fair and evenhanded. Yet in the end basically his vision is a dark one. China will not be able to handle its environmental problems and thus will become a major desaster zone. Like so often, he simply extrapolates the present into the future, not taking into account that humans react to changing circumstances and have been surprisingly adept at dealing with changing circumstances.
Nevertheless the book provides a compelling picture of a China in flux, a nation which tries to find its path. And, as mentioned before, he also makes it very clear that China is not the only culprit for the environmental impact it has.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Billiant but sobering book
Feb 13 2011
By Triathlon Duffer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As he journeys the length and breadth of China he observes the impact of China's--and the world's--development on the land, flora and fauna. It is a very sad and worrying tale, which fills in many of the pieces of the puzzle that I saw while working there.
I didn't appreciate that while we were busy planting trees on our road projects, that they came from but two types of poplars and the lack of biodiversity is having a major negative impact on the bird life. While I saw the grim conditions of many workers, I didn't know that much of what we recycle in the west ends up in these dark, dank factories in China where it is processed with no regard to the workers or the environment. I knew that by building improved infrastructure we were permitting factories to relocate inland, but I didn't appreciate that this was also transferring the pollution problem inland. I always was worried about the quality of the vegetables and other products, now I see that there was good cause to be.
After cataloging the litany of problems faced by China, the author turns to the possibilities in terms of the adoption of green technologies, etc. Unfortunately, against the backdrop of the problems one has to wonder whether China has passed a point of no return with addressing its environmental issues. I do hope not, but the signs are not good.
This is a must read book for anyone involved with development in China, or who are interested in the environment and sustainability. Both fascinating and disturbing, the author deserves credit for the breadth and scope of his work.
I didn't appreciate that while we were busy planting trees on our road projects, that they came from but two types of poplars and the lack of biodiversity is having a major negative impact on the bird life. While I saw the grim conditions of many workers, I didn't know that much of what we recycle in the west ends up in these dark, dank factories in China where it is processed with no regard to the workers or the environment. I knew that by building improved infrastructure we were permitting factories to relocate inland, but I didn't appreciate that this was also transferring the pollution problem inland. I always was worried about the quality of the vegetables and other products, now I see that there was good cause to be.
After cataloging the litany of problems faced by China, the author turns to the possibilities in terms of the adoption of green technologies, etc. Unfortunately, against the backdrop of the problems one has to wonder whether China has passed a point of no return with addressing its environmental issues. I do hope not, but the signs are not good.
This is a must read book for anyone involved with development in China, or who are interested in the environment and sustainability. Both fascinating and disturbing, the author deserves credit for the breadth and scope of his work.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
well written
May 20 2012
By A&D
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This was an intriguing story of China, a superpower with billions of citizens, even so many that you can just guess what is the total number of its citizens. And yes, many of these issues have been on the news. Many are familiar problems even in US and in any other developed country, like pollution, fast pace of technology, and increasing need for electricity, fuel, and food.
Therefore, it is no wonder that China is the topic of this book. It's growing so fast, and it has a great potential to either save the world and nature with its decisions or destroy the nature, pollute the air and water even more... A lot depends on its leaders and what will happen there in the near future.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the global politics, global environmental issues, and a growing superpower.
Therefore, it is no wonder that China is the topic of this book. It's growing so fast, and it has a great potential to either save the world and nature with its decisions or destroy the nature, pollute the air and water even more... A lot depends on its leaders and what will happen there in the near future.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the global politics, global environmental issues, and a growing superpower.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
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