PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD > China (Yunnan) > 22

Xiaguan, Yunnan, China

Chinese scale and ultimately cost advantages will make the country by far the world's largest producer of textiles, as it will be the case with much labour-intensive products. 

However, the economic situation is far from stable: half of the debt held by banks are "non-performing" (i.e. much of it will not be repaid), and partially as a result industrial output capacity is kept artificially high despite low levels of demand, which does not bode well for the sustainability of those businesses. If the economy does not grow at a sufficiently strong pace in the next years, poverty could strike back and be cause of deep social unrest. At the same time, the impact Chinese economy has on the environment (its own and its neighbours') is already alarming. Like many communist states, China does not have a good track record in keeping environmental priorities high in its agenda. Deforestation and water pollution are only two of the many faces of a potential environmental nightmare. 

We believe it is important that pressure is maintained on China's government in order to create space for environmental issues on the country's agenda. Simultaneously, many projects are afoot to educate and train the Chinese in environmental preservation. Also, it is not secondary to expose all levels of Chinese to foreigners, to open up channels of communication and understanding: a country the size of China cannot be socially isolated without risking geopolitical instability. For more details, see the "what you can do" section.

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