China: hyper-development and environmental crisis

China's spectacular economic growth has been one of the most dramatic developments in the global economy over the past quarter century. Between 1978 and 2004 the Chinese economy expanded at an annual rate of 9.4 per cent. No other large economy has ever grown so rapidly for so long in the economic history of the world. As a result, measured by purchasing power parity, China now accounts for about 15 per cent of the world output, and about one-third of the world economic growth that has taken place since 2000. However, China's economic growth has taken place at an enormous social and environmental price. A rapid increase in social and economic inequality, environmental degradation, mounting rural crisis, growing urban unemployment and poverty, pervasive government corruption, deteriorating public services (especially in basic education and health care), as well as escalating social unrest, have grown to dangerous levels and could potentially lead to an explosive situation. We focus in this essay on the environmental impact of accumulation and profit-oriented development in China. Given its enormous population and its growing importance in the global economy, the implications of China's environmental crisis go far beyond China itself. It has become an important and growing element in the developing global environmental crisis.