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In 2009, Chinese sales of cars, trucks and other vehicles soared to 13.6 million, a 46 per cent rise from the previous year’s levels and comfortably higher than the 10.4 million equivalent vehicles sold in the United States last year. Only 33 years ago, there were only one million privately owned cars in the whole of China. There are now over 40 million vehicles in China. According to the China Economic Review, over 2,000 cars roll onto the road every day in Beijing alone.
The Chinese government ofcourse understands, in the words of the Economist, that "the car industry more or less invented modern industrial capitalism." Which is why, according to the Financial Times; "China's car-centred model of development has been a mainstay of economic growth in recent years...the spin-off benefits from burgeoning car sales have been enormous. Each car requires several thousand parts, hundreds - if not thousands - of suppliers, roads, car parks, driving schools, petrol stations and other service industries."
The Communist Party has worked vigorously for China to join this capitalist heaven. In 1994, the auto industry was named one of five "pillar industries" by the government. “The Chinese government wants to emulate America’s rise to industrial glory by making the car industry a pillar of economic growth,” noted the Economist.
On the other hand there is of course significant concern about the longterm implications of this rapid growth of cars in urban areas like Beijing.
In a country that has two hundred million bicycles, cities such as Shanghai have banned them from many streets. The Washington Post explained in December: “Major streets boasted wide bike lanes, sidewalks carried ample parking space for bikes and bikes usually had the right of way at intersections [in China]. But lately, public space for bicycles has been shrinking under the tyranny of the car.”
Here's an excerpt from an article published online from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau , a govt.agency (bit surprised to see some self-critique here !)..
(begin quote).. "the euphoria for the wheels runs so feverish that the country's newspaper advertisings, television commercials and online homepage pop-ups are all sedans, vans and SUVs, of both domestic brands and overseas logos. At the just-opened Beijing Auto Show, all the global car-manufacturing giants have brought with them stylishly new line-ups, and, are elbowing each other for a bigger slice of the country's new-found wealth. It is crucial to consider the direction of the recent surge in automobility. Currently, China has some 40 vehicles per thousand residents, while Western Europe has about 590, and the US 950. With a population of roughly a billion more people than that of the U.S., China clearly has the potential to absorb many more cars.
Shrouded by the car-owning frenzy, few could see the perils. Seldom anyone counts the longer hours we are stuck in the traffic, and who cares the filthier air, fouled by the tailpipe gas emissions, which is consumed by our elderly retired parents and our toddlers and school children?
Take Beijing for an example. Before hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, the city had gone all out to increase the number of blue sky days. The torch put out, the financial crisis erupted. To rack up consumption and responding to the Central Government's appeal to go to car dealerships, Beijingers bought more than 2,000 new cars each day. Official statistics showed that it took six years for the city's car ownership to rise from 1 million to 2 million by 2003, another four years to reach 3 million by 2007, and just two years to hit 4 million by the end of 2009.
Although the city administration has resorted to temporary traffic restriction that bans one-fifth of the car population from driving every work-day, the traffic often snarls and congestion remains unbearable. Worse, the 4 million cars are emitting 1 million tons of pollutants each year, accounting for half of the city's total emissions.
The city used to advocate green modes of transportation, and tried to educate residents about environmental concerns. But, quite ironically, many low-rate bike parking sites are being closed, and lanes once exclusive for cycling are cut out and fenced for motors. In a bid to boost local GDP, officials now say there is actually room for more cars in the city.
Some experts have asked for a timely readjustment of Central Government policy to discourage oil consumption by reinstituting a higher duty on car ownership, encourage electric and new-energy vehicle manufacturing, and vigorously grow public transit system, typically the underground metro network and inter-city transit. Because, a country run on steel wheels is much firmer and healthier than on rubber wheels.
By cooling off the public craze for private wheels, China could lead the world in conserving fossil fuel, deliver smoother street movement, and protect the precious air which all of us breathe." (end quote)
Chinese environmentalist Liang Congjie does the math and describes the threat to human survival that the car now poses; "If each Chinese family has two cars like U.S. families, then the cars needed by China, something like 600 million vehicles, will exceed all the cars in the world combined. That would be the greatest disaster for mankind." Simply put, the day their future looks like our present, we're done for.
On that note, here's a portion quoted from poem I came across online,
Once effortless movement rippled
through the flow of people...
a wave powered by human spirit
and mixed emotion,
turning these wheels of numbered souls
Another cycle of life was ending..
Sources :
- Picture courtesy chinadaily.com.cn, dimsum.co.uk
- Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, Car rush is driven by GDP obsession,
- Financial Times, China's car sale growth slows - from frenzied to frantic
- People's Daily, China Rich Chinese fueling luxury car market growth
- MSNBC, China tops U.S. as largest auto market in ’09
- China and Cars : http://www.counterpunch.org/engler04232010.html
- Timesonline : China passes US as world's biggest car market
