Can China feed itself?
In the past, China has had rapid population growth. It is the largest nation on earth in terms of population, with about 1.3 billion people. In the years before the communist takeover, the growth of the population in China was huge, as most families had several children. This continues today in rural china, where having lots of children is a good strategy for the future. In the urban areas, population growth rates were slowed by the one child policy, introduced in 1979, and also had extensive campaigning from the 1950’s onwards; urging people not too have more than one child. Currently, population growth in China is at 0.59%, though this is an estimate as figures are difficult to collect in the rural areas. Rapid population growth was recognized as a problem by the countries leaders in 1950’s, and that is why they eventually introduced the one child policy. They did not believe that the country could cope with the expansion in population.
The population distribution in China has become increasingly uneven in recent years. The cities have grown by 41.8% since 1978. This is due to the millions of people who are leaving the countryside and looking for work. Most big cities, Shanghai and Beijing are found along the east coast. Another dense area of population is the South central region, with cities such as Hong Kong and Wuhan. This has created immense environmental problems, and also the problem of feeding all the people in the cities. But at least half of China is extremely sparsely populated. These vast rural areas are often mountainous (Tibet) or are open, exposed grasslands (Inner Mongolia). These areas are difficult to cultivate, and any people who live here have to scratch a living. China is still crossed by large rivers, the largest being the Yellow river and the Yangtze. These make huge areas of China open to cultivation, and also allow settlement along them, which has started to happen with cities such as Chongqing. The problems of overpopulation are still a major problem.
