Beijing Today (The Current Situation) Report Example

Beijing which is translated as “north capital” from the Chinese language is a capital of the People’s Republic of China, the most astonishing state of exceptional traditions which is situated in Western Asia. The city of Beijing is the largest road junction and one of the basic aviation node of China. Besides, Beijing is political, educational and cultural center of the country while Shanghai and Hong Kong are the main economic centers. Alongside this, the city of Beijing takes part of “main engine” of entrepreneurship and field for creation innovation enterprises.

Demographics of Beijing

Beijing is the second biggest city in China by population after Shanghai. Population of all administrative territory of Beijing numbers more than 21 million people according to the latest population count, at that the number increases by 400-500 thousand people annually. And in such a way, population of Beijing is about to exceed marginal data. More than 10 million of the present population of the city are residents of urban zone itself, the others live within the surrounding territory; and approximately 14 million from the mentioned number are official citizens and the rest of them has only temporary permits for living in the city, the latest are labor immigrants mainly from nearby rural area, it is regarded as the most fenceless and discriminating part of society, together with that source of low-paid manpower and criminality. The biggest group by age composition of Beijing’s permanent residents nowadays is group of people of middle age: 9,5% of residents are of age 0-14, 76,6% are permanent citizens in the age of 15-59, the last group of people in the age older than 60 composes 13,9% of the whole population of the city.
Han is the biggest ethnic group of China and Beijing particularly; it counts for 95% from total population of the city. Main national minorities are the Manchu (1,84%), the Huichu (1,74%) and other. Beijing is a home for a great deal of foreigners, mainly businessmen, representatives of foreign companies and students. The majority of them settle in densely populated north, north-eastern and eastern areas of the city. Nowadays in the territory of Beijing live also 0,28% of the Mongols, 0,15% of the Koreans, 0,022% of Tibetans and other. There is even one secondary school for Tibetan children in Beijing. Increasingly greater quantity of influx of immigrants from South Korea is observed during last years.

Economic situation in Beijing

China is the second state after the United States of America by nominal GDP and the first country by GDP within purchasing capacity (starting from 2014). Beijing is a rich city judging by the results of the previous year 2014. It was intense period for Beijing because of the demands of the Chinese government in according with which GDP index of Beijing had to be to 7,5% higher with termination of the year. City authorities reached the goal by increasing an input into infrastructure development and different types of construction. Beijing is also famous now for its high speed railways which are the longest in the world. Net profit per capita in Beijing is more than 7000 yuan which is 9,6% more than that of the previous year.
The most valuable factor of economy of the whole country is export of produced foods into other different countries of the world. Central district of Beijing has a number of shopping centers, elite housing and regional headquarters of foreign enterprises. Fusinmen, Beijing’s financial street is a traditional financial center of the city. City districts are also popular for its pirate production which is a copy of anything one wants, starting from designer’s goods and finishing with DVD with the latest films.
Wheat and corn are the basis of the agriculture of the rural area surrounding Beijing. In districts that are closer to city zone vegetables are bred for citizens of Beijing.
Exportation and importation. The People’s Republic of China maintains trade and economic relationships with 182 countries all over the world. Trade contracts and agreements are signed with 80 of them. The basic trade partners of China are developed capitalists states such as Japan, the United States of America, Western-European states cooperation with which result in 55% external trade turnover. The most competitive production of China (particularly Beijing) are:

Clothes

Footwear
Toys
And the exported goods that become more popular are:
Electronics
Moto-, automotive equipment
Transport and construction mechanical engineering
Starting from 2004 China is the world leading country by volumes of office and telecommunication facilities, and starting from 2005 is a leader by volumes of high technology export. Food commodities. Fruits, fish, seafood are exported (main market outlet are the CIS states, particularly, Far-East Region of the Russian Federation which use 44% of the Chinese food commodities. Besides, the leading agricultural product of China is cotton.
Despite the fact that Beijing is not yet industrialized in such a scale as Shanghai and Shenyang, the city became a large center of production of textile and synthetic fibers, petrochemicals, light and heavy mechanical engineering, equipment production, light vehicles and trucks, agricultural machinery, typography, and radio electronics including computers and televisions. Together with that Beijing remains the main center of development of art folk craft in China. The capital is famous for its cloisonné enamel (one of the most popular art works in Beijing and China, metalwork objects are decorated by a special ancient technique; each Chinese dynasties had its own decorating ornament), lacquer, nephrite and ivory work as well as artistic articles from paper.
Great economic growth makes China more and more dependent on the import of energy sources (oil, gas) and import of food. China imports rice during the last several years and in huge amount. Soy beans, corn, seeds and sugar are also imported. The People’s Republic of China imports weapons, nuclear fuel, and high technologies. Taking into account that China is a world net exporter it still imports production for more than 900 milliard of USD. Among the most important imported production are electric parts, equipment, transport and facilities which count for approximately 43% from the total volume of the import. And a great deal of other production that is imported to the cities of China from abroad. China intends to increase import of raw material and export of inventory materials rather than the majority of other large countries.

Culture

Indigenous citizens of Beijing treat Beijing dialect which is in group of Northern dialects of the Chinese language as their native dialect. The Beijing dialect is a basis of Putonghua (official normative language of the People’s Republic of China. Dialects of residents of Beijing’s rural area differ from language of those living within the city line; the Beijing rural dialect is close to idioms of the neighbor province of Hebei.
There also exist such ancient Chinese schools and Taoism and Confucianism. Concepts of reincarnation and rebirth are brought to the audience. But there the other philosophies which always argued with the already existing ones.
Beijing opera is one of the most popular art forms in Beijing. It is treated in China as one of the main achievements of the Chinese culture. It is a composition of songs together with dialogues and acts which comprise gestures, motion, combat maneuvers and acrobatics. A great deal of dialogues of the Chinese opera sounds in the archaic scenic dialect which is pretty much different than the Putonghua and the Beijing dialects. The last creates obstacles in understanding the scene even for native speakers. In this respect, there are electronic panels where the captions are reflected in the Chinese and English languages.
Beijing cuisine is a popular part of the Chinese cuisine. So far as Beijing during many centuries had been an imperial capital of different dynasties by their origin, the cuisine of Beijing was a result of cooking traditions of the whole China and nearby states. The dishes which were emerged in Beijing are frequently of small plate’s type but not a full lunches or suppers, and they are traditionally sold in small shops or by street vendors. The citizens of Beijing got accustomed to and use frequently while cooking dishes dark soy-bean paste, tahini (sesame paste), jinjily oil and leavened tofu (which is used as a dressing). Contrary to a famous stereotype that rice is very popular in China, Beijing citizens use rice as a side dish much more rarely than the other the residents of the other Chinese cities as the district of Beijing is too dry for its cultivation. In Beijing there is also popular mutton cooked in different ways which is the tradition that has emerged in the period of dynasties of Yuan and Qing.
Probably, the most famous of the Beijing cuisine is a dish which is known all over the world and its recipe is used in different variants by almost each good mistress. It is the Peking Duck which was served to Qing emperors which were ethnic Manchu; thousands of the best cooks served at court from different corners of the country and due to that the influence at the contemporary Chinese cuisine had been made. The dish continues to be popular and the most expensive in the menu of the most local restaurants and other public places all over the world. And entrepreneurs from different corners of the world use the idea of the Beijing cuisine to attract visitors.
There are also a lot of tea cafés in Beijing. The Chinese tea is presented by a great choice of sorts and the most expensive of them are considered to have strong curative action.
Architecture of Beijing is reflexion of Chinese culture as well. Traditional buildings in Beijing are designed and performed in syheyuan style. They consist of a square area where the building is situated with a space for patio inside the area. The patio is usually decorated by pomegranate tree, potted flowers and a fish tank with fish inside (tradition of placing fish tanks inside in patio dates back to emperors periods and golden fish which now is a favorite fish of aquarists, also emerged in the process of development of the Chinese Empire). Borders of two such buildings form alleys which join different parts of the city of Beijing. They are usually straight and start on the East and finish on the West so as the gates of the sectors looked towards the North and the South which is by the Feng shui rules, a Chinese philosophy that demands the people were in harmony with surrounding environment. Feng shui is historically used to orient buildings and other structures. It was suppressed in China during the cultural revolution of the 1960s but feng shui became more popular and contemporary Chinese people try to follow the traditions and main rules of feng shui. The alleys are usually of different width, some of them are such narrow that only several people can walk together. There were times when Beijing consisted of such buildings and alleys only. But contemporary Beijing is full of multistory buildings which replace such old buildings and respectively, the alleys as well.

Ecological situation in Beijing

Construction of a great deal of large main roads and highways in the city line, functioning of industrial factories, dense population and, as a result, increasing of personal transport – all this gives its effect on the level of air pollution. Beijing and other Chinese big cities have probably the most polluted air in the world. Everyday emitted gases fly into the atmosphere of Beijing.
Measures have been taken a number of times (factories were closed for during the week in 2013) but with growth of construction of roads and factories the level of population exceeds its norm. The cloud of mist, which contains injurious substances exceeding its norm 8 times in average. Starting from the 1970s it is impossible to breathe clear air and with time flow the situation gets better. In accordance with the official data published in 2012, 8,5 thousand of Chinese citizens became victims of bad ecology. Reasons of appearance of dangerous smog are injurious emissions from Beijing industrial factories and neighbor provinces. Besides on the suburbs of Beijing people use coal heating.

Major current issues of Beijing

The population growth is always one the main issues of the capital and country itself. During the last period of time the population of China increases 500 people annually which deteriorates the situation. Issues connected with population growth concern all spheres of the Chinese society, including education, society, real estate, health service, municipal authority and social service. It is planned to take special measures for eliminating the root of the problem: registration at a place of residence, clampdown of Beijing registration, deportation of center city citizens to further districts etc. Demographic policy in Beijing concerning and stabilization of the population number is conducted starting from the 1980s using strict administrative and economic measures. Its goal was to decrease the rate of natural increase. There was created State Committee of Planned Parenthood which controlled minimal age for getting marriage which was 22 for men and 20 for women, each new family was proposed to have one child, economic sanctions have even been imposed against this, moreover, those couples signing refusal from more than 1 baby were provided with medical service, higher pension fees and priority in getting accommodation. The families having 2 kinds had to pay additional taxes from their wages.
Ecological issue in Beijing. The majority of contemporary employees of city offices work with closed windows even in summer. Citizens of Beijing cannot drink water from tap because it is dangerous for health; water is bought in 15 leter bottles mainly and foreigners from other countries say that their hair and skin worsened.
Serious four-level air pollution in Beijing was registered in 1998 when city citizens complained of smarting eyes, throat irritation and common worsening of the state. And in 2013 air pollution in Beijing reached sixth level, the reason of it is in geographical situation of Beijing which is circled by mountains from three sides and the city is in hollow and high buildings create a problem for air to circulate freely. Great role is performed by a big quantity of automobiles which emit injurious gases which are dangerous for people’s health.
Among the Chinese cities Beijing is the first by level of air pollution. After 1998 local authorities try to react on the issue, for example, a lot of people participate in annual tree-planting; in order to avoid traffic jams the issue of private transport is solved, one car number can ride in the city only in certain days, besides, authorities call on citizens to use metropolitan and “green transport” which is a bicycle.

Plans for new 2015

In 2009 global economic crisis lowered the demand on the Chinese export which is for the first times for many years but the country has restored rather quickly up to 10% growth rather than the other large industrially developed countries. The Chinese economy, as predicted, will increase in slow but stable rate in 2011-2016 mainly by reason of stimulating policy which has been conducted during global financial crisis.
Twelve five-year Plan approved in March of 2011 contains promises of the authorities which are directed to continue economic growth and government stressed in it that the country should increase domestic consumption with the purpose of making the Chinese economy less dependent on the export.

Works Cited

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"Press Conference on the Beijing Olympics and the Beijing Economy." Chinese Law & Government: 8-17. Print.
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Wu, Fatima, Chun Sue, and Howard Goldblatt. "Beijing Doll." World Literature Today: 55. Print.