Do you think China has gone through a lot of changes in recent years?

Question

What changes has new technology brought to people?
What are the most positive changes?
Do you think there will be more changes in the future? (What changes?)

Answer 1

Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng said at a press conference in Beijing Wednesday that following China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), there had been five "positive changes" for the country's opening-up policy.

The minister said that China's opening-up has witnessed the change from a limited opening-up in limited regions and fields to an all-round, multi-level and much broader opening-up, as well as from a policy-guided opening-up in an experimental manner to a system-guaranteed opening-up under a legal framework.

Meanwhile, China's market opening process has changed from a single-sided self-opening to a two-way opening between China and other WTO members, and China has now been able to take an active part in the setting of international economic and trade rules instead of having to accept these rules in a passive manner, Shi added.

The last change is that China can now adjust its economic and trade relations with other nations through both bilateral and multilateral discussion mechanisms, while in the past it could only rely on the bilateral mechanism for smoothing out disputes, said Shi.

"All these changes will exert a comprehensive and far-reaching impact on our country, provide new opportunities for the development of China's foreign trade and economic cooperation, and help blaze a new trail for China's participation in the economic globalization," said Shi.

China formally became a member of the WTO on December 11 last year. Shi said that in the past year the Chinese government comprehensively fulfilled its commitments with an "earnest and responsible" attitude.

China has sharply lowered its tariff level and removed various non-tariff barriers, and has also abolished or revised as many as some 2,300 laws and regulations related to foreign trade and economic cooperation to meet the WTO standards, he added.

"Generally speaking, the entry into the WTO has and is continuing to have a positive effect on China's economic development," said the minister. "We have achieved a smooth beginning."

Answer 2

For a number of years now, China has had a strong policy to control population growth allowing only one child per couple. People tell me that an only child differs from a child in a large family. Because of the way they are reared as being very special they are apt to be more self-centered and less apt to place a central government high above them without question. Also parents likely would not want to lose their only (allowed) child in a frivolous war and the central government may have to take that into consideration. The value on present human life may be higher than ever despite a huge population. Communications with the outer world are better than every and the population produces many products for foreign markets. The population is more apt to know what they are missing than in a tightly controlled isolated society. Chinese will want what others already have and are in fact developing wealthy and middle class segments that value good education. China will need a great deal of energy to develop and any innovations that use less mined energy will be valued. For example they are developing wind turbine farms and have had bad experiences with careless pollution. China has joined the modern club.