China vs. America: Which Country is More Developed?

  • News
  • Thread starter infomax
  • Start date
  • Tags
    China
In summary, the conversation discusses the development of the United States and China and how they compare to each other. The term "developed" is defined and it is noted that China is currently considered a "developing" country due to various factors such as pollution and fair trade practices. The conversation also touches on the topic of China's rapid development and how it compares to the US. Some participants mention the lack of transparency in China and the potential consequences of their actions. The conversation concludes with a brief mention of historical perspectives and how people have been trying to write off the US for years.

Which is more developed country?

  • China

    Votes: 1 3.6%
  • America

    Votes: 24 85.7%
  • confused

    Votes: 3 10.7%

  • Total voters
    28
  • #36
russ_watters said:
They are communist.

And that implies they won't? Explain please.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #37
jarednjames said:
Given the current demands on the UK, US and many other countries regarding emissions and global warming, why should China be any different? I read somewhere once they were having to build 2 coal fired power stations a week to keep up with demand.

Interesting however, read this article, it points out that there are 2 power plants a week, but also that their per person emissions are less than a 'rich' country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6769743.stm

You guys just said it's hard to get data from China... why are you choosing to believe this fact? It's from the UK not China.
 
  • #38
infomax said:
Coming to track again
I have always realized that the developing trend of American and european civilization is very reasonable,their bases are firm, they have prepared nice conclusions in every step of their civilization and their development is seem to be more matured
While the chinese with lot of hardship (nearly 20 hrswork) have managed to make frog jump in development , but really is it stable?

That's a good point, infomax. A long history of stabilization is a good indication of future stability.

But even though China's *recent* history has been stormy, I think a good case could be made that they have an incredibly long history, and a successful civilization.
 
  • #39
JasonRox said:
Essentially giving my observation.
How many individuals ? How are they supposed to faithfully represent the entire population of a country as large as China, and how do you evaluate the significance of your qualitative judgement on their behavior ? Can you quantify wastefulness somehow ? Is your sample not restricted to a handful of highly educated individual who in addition benefited from the opportunity to live in a quite richer country than the one they came from ? Jason, no offense, did you actually study statistical tests ?
 
  • #40
JasonRox said:
Um... they are all Chinese born. The one that has been here the longest is 7 years and came here at the age 16 and also travels back during that time. Most have been here only 2-3 years at the age of 19-20 or older. Each and every one of them is less wasteful than fellow Canadians. That means something.

It could mean that they are poorer than the average Canadian, so need to be more careful with their budget. Or, it could mean they are more appreciative of the opportunities they have in a new country. Or, it could mean that they have seen the disastrous consequences of many people being wasteful of resources in their own country, and having the education and opportunity to do differently, they are. None of this means that those who have LEFT China are at all representative of the people who have remained there. It could be their vast disagreement with the way things are done in their homeland that they have chosen to leave it to move to Canada.
 
  • #41
humanino said:
How many individuals ? How are they supposed to faithfully represent the entire population of a country as large as China, and how do you evaluate the significance of your qualitative judgement on their behavior ? Can you quantify wastefulness somehow ? Is your sample not restricted to a handful of highly educated individual who in addition benefited from the opportunity to live in a quite richer country than the one they came from ? Jason, no offense, did you actually study statistical tests ?

I thought this was GD.

I'm stating simple observation of behaviour. They don't ever throw a handful of food in the garbage ever. I see Canadians do that all the time.

Not all are highly educated individuals either. There are older adults as adults... like their parents.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2004/11/23/6445.aspx

http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200916/3464/Chinese-climate-official-hits-out-at-wasteful-and-luxurious-Western-lifestyles [Broken]

There is no doubt in my mind that waste/pollution measured on a per person basis that the USA would lose. And that's even after China producing the junk for the Americans who waste it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #42
Moonbear said:
It could be their vast disagreement with the way things are done in their homeland that they have chosen to leave it to move to Canada.

If they chose to not be wasteful, coming to Canada is a mistake. Very wasteful people here for sure.

By the age of 6 months, the average Canadian has consumed the same amount of resources as the average person in the developing world consumes in a lifetime.
-Recycling Council of Ontario


http://www.wrwcanada.com/download_facts.htm [Broken]

I don't think the numbers will be that different than an American baby. Seriously, Canada and America is the home to the wasteful.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #43
From jasonRox link


study from the University of Arizona in Tucson indicates that forty to fifty percent of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten.

It would be better if they send those food to starving nation like ethiopia and somalia
 
  • #44
infomax said:
From jasonRox link


study from the University of Arizona in Tucson indicates that forty to fifty percent of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten.

It would be better if they send those food to starving nation like ethiopia and somalia

It's funny because a lot of the waste China produces is actually from the demand we put on them to produce all the junk we actually waste. So essentially, it's our waste. China should try to do it cleaner, but really, we are the heart of the problem.
 
  • #45
JasonRox said:
If they chose to not be wasteful, coming to Canada is a mistake. Very wasteful people here for sure.

By the age of 6 months, the average Canadian has consumed the same amount of resources as the average person in the developing world consumes in a lifetime.
-Recycling Council of Ontario


http://www.wrwcanada.com/download_facts.htm [Broken]

I don't think the numbers will be that different than an American baby. Seriously, Canada and America is the home to the wasteful.

Just curious, Jason...has this changed at all in Canada, in the last few months (since the recession)?

Here in the US, I've noticed tremendous change in the way people approach their use of non-recyclable commodities.

Sorry to be a bit off topic :redface:.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #46
yes i agree
 
  • #47
JasonRox said:
It's funny because a lot of the waste China produces is actually from the demand we put on them to produce all the junk we actually waste. So essentially, it's our waste. China should try to do it cleaner, but really, we are the heart of the problem.

yes i agree
 
  • #48
lisab said:
Just curious, Jason...has this changed at all in Canada, in the last few months (since the recession)?

Here in the US, I've noticed tremendous change in the way people approach their use of non-recyclable commodities.

Sorry to be a bit off topic :redface:.

Well, people try to save money but that doesn't mean they are consciously thinking of reducing waste. It's about money all over again. All this waste began because we live in a money hungry economy focused society. It's not all that bad, but it's really hit a breaking point.

I'm actually hoping it gets worse and worse. I hope it hits depression. I think in order for the culture that currently exists here to change, we need something big to happen.
 
  • #49
JasonRox said:
I thought this was GD.
GD means "general discussion", not "you're allowed to make bad arguments".
 
  • #50
JasonRox said:
I'm stating simple observation of behaviour. They don't ever throw a handful of food in the garbage ever. I see Canadians do that all the time.

As your sample is small and not blind or random, it means nothing to me. If it was (somewhat) larger, blind, and random it would be a good measure of how Canadians of Chinese ancestry act wrt waste. But even then I don't know how much it would tell me about China vs. Canada or Chinese vs. Canadians. You're not controlling for income or the differences between expats and the rest of the population.

JasonRox said:
There is no doubt in my mind that waste/pollution measured on a per person basis that the USA would lose. And that's even after China producing the junk for the Americans who waste it.

I'm sure you'd find that waste is higher per person in the US and higher per GDP in the PRC.
 
  • #51
CRGreathouse said:
As your sample is small and not blind or random, it means nothing to me. If it was (somewhat) larger, blind, and random it would be a good measure of how Canadians of Chinese ancestry act wrt waste. But even then I don't know how much it would tell me about China vs. Canada or Chinese vs. Canadians. You're not controlling for income or the differences between expats and the rest of the population.



I'm sure you'd find that waste is higher per person in the US and higher per GDP in the PRC.

Per GDP... I'm concerned about per person here. Cost of living in the US is very high.

We can't justify the amount of waste going on in Canada or the US.
 
  • #52
JasonRox said:
Per GDP... I'm concerned about per person here. Cost of living in the US is very high.

We can't justify the amount of waste going on in Canada or the US.

We cannot justify the amount of wastage going on in Canada or the US because cost of living in US is very high? I don't think that's what you meant but yet I am interested to know what's wrong.

I only read this post and skipped over few others where you only stating your concern about the wastage.
@OP:
You can go to many statistics websites to see where China, US, others are:
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP-Growth.aspx?Symbol=CNY
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php

The question being asked was stupid so I provided stupid answer :) - China!
You stated somewhere in the beginning that you lack economics knowledge for the reason you asked this question. So, I would ask you to get some knowledge of economics before you use its terms for discussions among your friends.
 
Last edited:
  • #53
rootX said:
The question being asked was stupid so I provided stupid answer :) - China!
You stated somewhere in the beginning that you lack economics knowledge for the reason you asked this question. So, I would ask you to get some knowledge of economics before you use its terms for discussions among your friends.

why does it really bothers you, cannot I quench my thirst ? It is my right
 
  • #54
infomax said:
why does it really bothers you, cannot I quench my thirst ? It is my right

That is similar to crackpot. You will find some extremely ignorant/stupid economics news during both booms/recessions. Spreading/accepting wrong information is bad. (Even more dangerous than physics because ignorant people will accept the information for granted)

Do whatever you want as far you have the right information.
 
  • #55
rootX said:
We cannot justify the amount of wastage going on in Canada or the US because cost of living in US is very high? I don't think that's what you meant but yet I am interested to know what's wrong.

I only read this post and skipped over few others where you only stating your concern about the wastage.



@OP:
You can go to many statistics websites to see where China, US, others are:
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP-Growth.aspx?Symbol=CNY
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php

The question being asked was stupid so I provided stupid answer :) - China!
You stated somewhere in the beginning that you lack economics knowledge for the reason you asked this question. So, I would ask you to get some knowledge of economics before you use its terms for discussions among your friends.

Lots of waste can not be justified period. That's what I meant. High cost of living or not. GDP ratios. Who cares. Should be on a per person basis.

The waste we produce here is ridiculous and everyone here is trying to find some reason to justify it and point at people from other countries who produce less waste per person. Seriously, get real.

There is no reason why a person here should be able to waste more than a Chinese or European or anyone. None at all. It's one planet.
 
  • #56
JasonRox said:
Per GDP... I'm concerned about per person here. Cost of living in the US is very high.

We can't justify the amount of waste going on in Canada or the US.

I don't understand your first paragraph.

I think waste per GDP is a reasonable measurement to consider. As you pointed out, much of the waste produced in China is due to goods destined for export: this credits them with that production. As I see it, there are only two sensible measures here: waste produced per GDP (how efficiently does the country make stuff?) and consumption waste per person (counting waste for imports but not waste for exports; how much waste is caused by each person?). The US fares well, even very well on the first, but poorly on the second.
 
  • #57
Personally, I'm much more concerned about resource depletion than waste.
 
  • #58
JasonRox said:
Eventually I'm sure China will pass a clean air act just like England and LA did. What leads us to believe they won't?...
Because despite their development pace it is still a totalitarian dictatorship?
 
  • #59
mheslep said:
Because despite their development pace it is still a totalitarian dictatorship?

We are not discussing how they choose to run THEIR country. We are talking about waste.

Totalitarian dictatorship or not says nothing about whether or not they would enforce clean air.
 
  • #60
JasonRox said:
We are not discussing how they choose to run THEIR country. We are talking about waste.

Totalitarian dictatorship or not says nothing about whether or not they would enforce clean air.
That's fallacious JR. There is no "THEIR" country in an totalitarian state.
There is no carrying a 'clean air now' placard in the streets, there's only prison.
 
  • #61
infomax said:
I am sorry to state ,please I beg sorry if it hurts
The reality is also that America's development is open at the media level
And the china most work inside without showing outside much to the world

I've been to China. Ningbo and Shanghai. The US is more developed.
 
  • #62
JasonRox said:
Lots of waste can not be justified period. That's what I meant. High cost of living or not. GDP ratios. Who cares. Should be on a per person basis.

The waste we produce here is ridiculous and everyone here is trying to find some reason to justify it and point at people from other countries who produce less waste per person. Seriously, get real.

There is no reason why a person here should be able to waste more than a Chinese or European or anyone. None at all. It's one planet.

If you make more money you can afford to waste more. Also, you have more stuff, so it's more difficult to waste the same absolute quantity
 
  • #63
Office_Shredder said:
If you make more money you can afford to waste more. Also, you have more stuff, so it's more difficult to waste the same absolute quantity

So, more money gives you the right to waste more. Hmmm... :rolleyes:
 
  • #64
JasonRox said:
So, more money gives you the right to waste more. Hmmm... :rolleyes:
No, it certainly does not give you the right, and that's not what's written in the quote you reply to.
 
  • #65
JasonRox said:
So, more money gives you the right to waste more. Hmmm... :rolleyes:

Yes.

- If there is someone managing the waste
- We have resources for managing the waste
- People are charged for what they wasteIf I buy something I have the right not to consume it.
 
  • #66
JasonRox said:
We are not discussing how they choose to run THEIR country. We are talking about waste.

Totalitarian dictatorship or not says nothing about whether or not they would enforce clean air.

Actually we were comparing development......:wink:
 
  • #67
JasonRox said:
And that implies they won't? Explain please.
Communist countries operate on a perverted form of the Utilitarian principle where the individual exists to service the state. Their governments don't care about the welfare of their citizens, much less the environment. That's the reason the former USSR is an environmental disaster and China is almost certainly no different.
 
  • #68
JasonRox said:
You guys just said it's hard to get data from China... why are you choosing to believe this fact? It's from the UK not China.
The Chinese government likes to brag about their accomplishments, and the rate with which they are building power plants is something they consider an accomplishment. Their environmental nightmare, on the other hand, is something to suppress.

...I know I said it before, but you are aware that China is communist, right?
Totalitarian dictatorship or not says nothing about whether or not they would enforce clean air.
Yeah, it really does. Do you remember the controversy over air pollution during the olympics? That's what they do!
 
  • #69
Communist is that system where people are force to be machines lacking life, entertainment ,mostly boring and opposing reanimation in individual life
 
<h2>1. What factors determine a country's level of development?</h2><p>A country's level of development is determined by a variety of factors, including its economic growth and stability, technological advancement, social welfare and infrastructure, education and healthcare systems, and overall quality of life for its citizens.</p><h2>2. How does China's economic growth compare to America's?</h2><p>In recent years, China's economic growth has surpassed that of America, with a higher GDP growth rate and a larger economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). However, America still has a higher overall GDP and a more diverse and advanced economy.</p><h2>3. Which country has a higher standard of living?</h2><p>This is a difficult question to answer definitively, as it depends on how "standard of living" is defined and measured. In terms of GDP per capita, America has a higher average income than China. However, China has made significant progress in improving the quality of life for its citizens, with improvements in healthcare, education, and infrastructure.</p><h2>4. How do the education systems in China and America compare?</h2><p>Both China and America have highly developed education systems, but they differ in structure and focus. China's education system is known for its emphasis on rote learning and standardized testing, while America's system places more emphasis on critical thinking and creativity. Both countries have high literacy rates and prestigious universities.</p><h2>5. Which country has a stronger technological presence?</h2><p>Both China and America have strong technological capabilities, but they differ in terms of their focus and strengths. America is known for its innovation and development of cutting-edge technologies, while China has a strong manufacturing and production capacity. Both countries are leaders in different industries and collaborate in many areas of technology.</p>

1. What factors determine a country's level of development?

A country's level of development is determined by a variety of factors, including its economic growth and stability, technological advancement, social welfare and infrastructure, education and healthcare systems, and overall quality of life for its citizens.

2. How does China's economic growth compare to America's?

In recent years, China's economic growth has surpassed that of America, with a higher GDP growth rate and a larger economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). However, America still has a higher overall GDP and a more diverse and advanced economy.

3. Which country has a higher standard of living?

This is a difficult question to answer definitively, as it depends on how "standard of living" is defined and measured. In terms of GDP per capita, America has a higher average income than China. However, China has made significant progress in improving the quality of life for its citizens, with improvements in healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

4. How do the education systems in China and America compare?

Both China and America have highly developed education systems, but they differ in structure and focus. China's education system is known for its emphasis on rote learning and standardized testing, while America's system places more emphasis on critical thinking and creativity. Both countries have high literacy rates and prestigious universities.

5. Which country has a stronger technological presence?

Both China and America have strong technological capabilities, but they differ in terms of their focus and strengths. America is known for its innovation and development of cutting-edge technologies, while China has a strong manufacturing and production capacity. Both countries are leaders in different industries and collaborate in many areas of technology.

Similar threads

  • General Discussion
2
Replies
45
Views
4K
Replies
22
Views
1K
Replies
20
Views
672
Replies
7
Views
602
Replies
1
Views
971
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • General Discussion
Replies
3
Views
890
  • General Discussion
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • General Discussion
Replies
3
Views
2K
Replies
27
Views
5K
Back
Top