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Shanghai is a civilized city, but not because of its cars
By Wang Yong |
August 18, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE are fundamental flaws in a newly released national ranking of "ecological civilization."
The ranking, designed by Yang Kaizhong, a professor of economics at Beijing University, says the more cars a city has, the more ecologically civilized it becomes. "Statistics show a positive relationship between the number of private cars and the degree of ecological civilization of a city," Xinhua news agency yesterday quoted the report as saying.
The report, titled "A Study Of Regional Differences in Ecological Civilization," was said to be the first of its kind in China. It was financed by a special government fund to support social sciences.
No wonder Beijing and Shanghai were selected as China's two most ecologically civilized regions despite their horrible traffic jams and attendant car emissions. To be sure, Beijing and Shanghai may have less industrial pollution and more service-oriented businesses than many other regions such as coal-rich Shanxi Province, as the report rightly pointed out. But the report erred in equating eco-civilization with urbanization.
Both Beijing and Shanghai boast myriad highrise buildings and millions of cars that are no less a pollutant to the air quality than coal combustion or chemical leakages found in many other regions in China.
As if highrises and cars are not bad enough, Shanghai has of late become a construction site where wastes of resources are alarming.
I walked in the area near Jing'an Temple on Sunday only to find a beautiful pavement maimed by construction workers who labored to replace the nice bricks of perfect quality with newer ones.
It's common sense that newer is not better. What then can account for this "ecologically civilized" city's craziness for the "newest" at a high ecological cost?
I love Shanghai for its people who are mostly urbane and congenial, not for its cars, highrises, wasteful construction and the unsettling noises that come with them.
The ranking, designed by Yang Kaizhong, a professor of economics at Beijing University, says the more cars a city has, the more ecologically civilized it becomes. "Statistics show a positive relationship between the number of private cars and the degree of ecological civilization of a city," Xinhua news agency yesterday quoted the report as saying.
The report, titled "A Study Of Regional Differences in Ecological Civilization," was said to be the first of its kind in China. It was financed by a special government fund to support social sciences.
No wonder Beijing and Shanghai were selected as China's two most ecologically civilized regions despite their horrible traffic jams and attendant car emissions. To be sure, Beijing and Shanghai may have less industrial pollution and more service-oriented businesses than many other regions such as coal-rich Shanxi Province, as the report rightly pointed out. But the report erred in equating eco-civilization with urbanization.
Both Beijing and Shanghai boast myriad highrise buildings and millions of cars that are no less a pollutant to the air quality than coal combustion or chemical leakages found in many other regions in China.
As if highrises and cars are not bad enough, Shanghai has of late become a construction site where wastes of resources are alarming.
I walked in the area near Jing'an Temple on Sunday only to find a beautiful pavement maimed by construction workers who labored to replace the nice bricks of perfect quality with newer ones.
It's common sense that newer is not better. What then can account for this "ecologically civilized" city's craziness for the "newest" at a high ecological cost?
I love Shanghai for its people who are mostly urbane and congenial, not for its cars, highrises, wasteful construction and the unsettling noises that come with them.
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