One first reason why Plastic China should be considered as a comprehensive reflection on the contemporary condition in China is that this is consistent with the directors intention. the mother laughs helplessly. It was followed very selectively. The country once imported nearly half of the planet's plastic recyclables. Either the government is already losing faith in the reality of its implementation, or it needs a bigger budget for advertising. The whenever is ambiguous, as his 11-year-old daughter Yi Jie tells the camera that hes been promising to send her to school since she was five. The smiles that break across their grubby faces belie a bleak existence for the families that scrape by sorting plastic waste. Single-use plastics are also made almost entirely from fossil fuels. In August 2014, the little girl was able to go to school and she is in third grade now. one-child policy, official program initiated in the late 1970s and early '80s by the central government of China, the purpose of which was to limit the great majority of family units in the country to one child each. She is especially protective of him. "Our main products are paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, mixed plastics . of plastic inputs in oceans while putting China at 7%. Since its release, the film has become indissociable from the issue of waste exports, and it gained even more prominence after July 2017, when the Chinese government announced a wide-ranging ban on foreign waste (yang laji) (Liebman 2018). Fish makes up the majority of diets for many people in China. There is something profoundly disturbing in the Wangs purchase of a shiny new sedan car. 0000017854 00000 n His research explores Chinas state project of ecological modernisation from the angle of e-waste reuse and recycling. Andy Wong/AP "Officials would kidnap you if you tried to have two children. The limit in most cases was just one child. China boosts electric car fleet for public transport, Support award-winning independent journalism with 0000439869 00000 n Another factor that justifies adopting a broad interpretation of Plastic China is the wide range of social issues addressed by Wang. His focus on the daily life of two families in a shared domestic space, where exploitation unfolds in an intimate setting, allows him to give an otherwise commonplace phenomenon a particularly raw and emotional dimension. Instead of numbing us with facts like how China has contaminated over 80 per cent of its fresh water through landfills and processing, he gets us to feel bad for Kun, Peng and their kids; if we identified with their plight, perhaps we wouldnt want to send so much trash for them to sort through. Environmental News, Data Analysis, Research & Policy Solutions. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, two major sellers of plastic bottles, have made sweeping sustainability commitments. The ban was initiated in January of this year and undoubtedly the shockwaves are being felt in the international community as countries look to Asia for another foreign landfill. The film clearly belongs to Chinas new documentary movement, which has created an important space for social commentary and critique since the early 1990s (Berry and Rofel 2010). The aspect of the film that most stuck with me personally was how Plastic China depicted the poor standard of waste management in rural China. Alex Wong/Getty Images Interestingly, it does not look further into waste imports, as Wang had originally planned, but instead addresses construction and real estates impact on the surface of the earth, in particular through mineral extraction and the desolate landscapes it produces in China (Wang 2016). 0000018669 00000 n On July 16 that year, as Beijing was gearing up to hold the Summer Olympics, Zhang flagged the sudden increase of infant cases to his hospital's dean, who then reported them to the local health. The photographer-turned-directors debut documentary, 2011s Beijing Besieged by Waste, discovered the city-sized hills of garbage trucked to the outskirts of the Chinese capital, where displaced families lived in houses made of trash. 2014 and Persico 2010) and Zhao Liang (see Sorace 2017), among other leading Chinese independent filmmakers. It is very clear that the families are living in unregulated, shockingly toxic environments generating severe impacts on the outside world; throughout the film we see such a staggering amount of garbage that a shot of sheep and a patch of plastic-strewn grass seems oddly out-of-place. Summaries. "People act in funny ways," she says. The documentary is also a meditation on issues of gender inequality. Chinas decision to focus on domestic recycling in an effort to clean up their own landfills is a slap in the face to our First World consumer culture. The success of the first film got Wang invited to California, where he toured recycling plants as part of his next round of research. China's decision to abolish its one-child policy offered some relief to couples and to sellers of baby-related goods, but the government hasn't lifted birth limits entirely. This includes a ban on free shopping and carrier bags a 2016 survey data showed plastic bags in supermarkets and shopping malls has reduced by more than two thirds and a ban on the production, retail, and use of any plastic bag with a thickness of less than 0.025 mm. All together, these measures are aligned with the countrys 2060 carbon neutrality targets. , resulting in mounting plastic packaging. The daughter of a young plastic factory worker, Yi Jie, looks over a heap of plastic while cradling her baby sibling. Many low-quality and contaminated materials are being redirected elsewhere including Africa and other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, which had arguably less capacity to prevent waste from contaminating their local environments. It has been ten months since China closed its doors to the world's recycling waste. This change will not be easy, but it must be done. In June 2020, directed remotely by their parents in Italy and a cousin in Canada, the four siblings - then aged between 11 and 16 - traveled from their remote village in Xinjiang all the way to. 04:22. Along the belt, human workers pick and channel what is valuable (bottles, cardboard, aluminium cans) into sorting chutes. However, the films relevance extends far beyond the issue of waste management. Based on current rates, the countrys total population could reach up to 1.46 billion by 2028, resulting in even high amounts of waste. The LEGO Foundation is awarding a total of DKK 900 million (approximately US$ 117 Million) to support organisations that make substantial contributions to the lives of children from birth to six years old and spark a global movement to prioritise early childhood development. August 4, 2020 1:46pm. State media celebrated the news. She demurs, her voice growing quiet. The brother of China's last emperor who was pushed off the throne more than 100 years ago has died. Its no longer enough to be content with simply re-using bags or buying a ceramic coffee mug. The new documentary 'Plastic China' plunges into the dirty side of recycling. Plastic pollution has long plagued China, along with severe air pollution. It is a moment that for many observers has come to define strongman leader Xi Jinping's tightening grip on China: his visibly frail predecessor, Hu Jintao, being escorted out of . In conclusion, Plastic China constitutes a broad reflexion on social problems and dilemmas in the post-socialist era. This also explains why Wang Kuns plastic recycling workshop, like many others, relies on manual labour and a couple of unsophisticated and antiquated machines. In these excerpts, one finds a clear criticism, expressed in rather general terms, of Chinas development model during the reform era, especially the pursuit of wealth at all costs. hide caption. When the ancestral temples were destroyed most families lost the records of their extended family. Plastic pollution has long plagued China, along with severe air pollution. The family obviously lives on very little, and Wang Kun, the breadwinner, has a possibly serious affliction that affects his capacity to work, and remains undiagnosed and untreated, partly because he fears that seeking medical attention could result in high expenses. The man wants to remain unnamed because he believes he could be harassed again for speaking of that time. As research on plastic and its detriments on the environment increasingly pop up on our news feeds, its obvious that weve reached a breaking point. She is especially protective of him. You need an active subscription to post a comment. They take her elsewhere, to a place where she can picture a better life, andmost damning of allit looks like this could be abroad. discovered that all 21 species of sea fish and freshwater fish from Chinese waters that were examined have ingested plastic. {&L Q4t)o('aJ. In March 2018, China's environment minister at the time, Li Ganjie, noted that China used to import around 4 to 4.5 million tons of solid, unrecyclable trash. But as these shocking plastic pollution statistics show, the world at large generates at least 350 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, making it one of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime. Its massive local plastic production further contributes to Chinas lion share of global greenhouse emissions mainly from coal production. China had 1 million more births in 2016 than in 2015, following the end of the one-child policy. Until there is a. While more time is needed to analyse the bans impacts domestically, it has had rippling effects across global plastic pollution and management. And so, ironically, now that people are allowed to have more children, they are increasingly reluctant to, because of the high cost of child care and education. This contrasts with the situation of Wang Qiqi, Kuns son, who is sent to the kindergarten so that he can pick up literacy skills early on in the hope that he will get access to a high-earning job later in life, ideally in an office in Beijingit should be noted, however, that Qiqi is not only a boy, but also an only child. Now the world is scrambling to adjust. Meanwhile, mass urbanization and rural migration have changed the financial and social calculus, making . Han Dynasty Emperor Xian of Han, the last emperor of Han dynasty died as a duke. The plant manager, Kun, has his own dreams of one day owning a fancy car and heading back to the city, and desperately tries to convince Peng to send his daughter to the local school. It's margarine tubs, clamshells, deli containers. Lu says he paid a 4,000 yuan fine to have his second son in 2006 (about $500 at the time), after hiding his wife for months. It now collects its community's plastic trash and turns it into fuel. The Yangtze river, the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world, is an important water body in China. "I really feel happy. :v9s];"vE\ j{G=vs=_qq/w?/uynBRBViW)42xP.itM"2HX SJXr/^$,^J_gHIum1$OL@*R*06T4W*[>ypNA-y6J]yPW6VV Image by: Our World in Data. The policy permeates through Chinese society in other, sometimes unexpected ways. 0000021210 00000 n He asks Wang Kun, his boss and the owner of the recycling workshop the Pengs work in, for a raise. One ton of unsorted waste was sold to China for about $9. Initially Feng. 0000022087 00000 n The question remains, however, whether this was worth the enormous sacrifice in financial security, and viewers are left wondering what will happen to the family if Wang Kun is diagnosed with a serious illness. by China's decision to focus on domestic recycling in an effort to clean up their own landfills is a slap in the face to our First World consumer culture. Additionally, China currently tops the list of biggest greenhouse gas emitters though the US overtakes it for emissions per capita. Mao Yin was snatched aged two, while his father stopped to get him some water on the way home. The Yangtze river, the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world, is an important water body in China. This alters the one-child policy that was introduced in 1978 to control the . He frightens viewers with images of the relentless plastic flowing through the small factory, preying on our ability to empathize with these poverty-stricken laborers. While the ban has potentially helped China reduce its domestic plastic pollution, it barely made a dent in reducing global waste and instead, shifted the responsibility to other poorer countries. , where in 2019, it reportedly churned out about 5.3 million tonnes of plastics. 60 Pieces Disposable Plastic Plates Set, Premium Plates for Parties with Real China Design, Red Plates Set - 30 x10.25 Inch Dinner and 30 x7.5 Inch Salad Hard Plates Combo (Warm Red) 189. Parents were not penalized for having twins, at least not according to the letter of the law. Its a moving film about the individuals left to deal with the First Worlds trash, and while I enjoy documentaries that throw big, scary facts at me, I believe Wang omitted some objective information for a reason. Welcome to Wang Jiuliang's Plastic China, a quiet, intimate look into the lives of two Chinese families barely scraping a living by laboring at a small family run recycling plant. CNN . Posted in Article, Work of Arts. In sum, China's exercise of power has been more hard than soft. The U.S., Japan and Germany are all at the top of the list when it comes to exporting their used plastic. 0000039672 00000 n Hand-picked stories once a fortnight. In 2020 alone, China produced about 60 million tonnes of plastic waste, yet only 16 million tonnes of which was recycled, according to the China National Resources Recycling Association. One night, family planning officials approached her husband, intending to pressure him and his wife into ending the pregnancy. But Peng has no money, and anyway, Yi-Jie has to take care of her younger siblings and contribute to the recycling work. Made in China publications are open access and always available as a free download. Inside, a middle-school student completes his homework. Dr. Steven Svehlak and Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Payman Simoni agree. I wanted to find out the origin of the garbage and realized that they were importing waste from the west and other developed countries, even in Asia, like Japan and Korea.. 0000016680 00000 n In this sense, Plastic China has arguably played a key role in the recent evolution of the trade in recyclable waste. That's pushing policymakers to consider raising the official retirement age currently 60 for men and 55 for women for the first time in 40 years. There is one obvious, clear, imperative measure that we all must make a priority- we must reduce the amount of plastics we use every day. What could the family planning officials have done to her? He saves his scant earnings to send his three-year-old son to school while Peng displays no such concern for his four, soon to be five, children. The target . After all, this type of message is consistent with recent official discourse and practice, which lay great emphasis on environmental protection, leadership in global trade, and national sovereignty. By the container load, the cast-off plastic comes from Korea, Europe and the US. Ng Han Guan/AP In 2020 alone, China produced about 60 million tonnes of plastic waste, yet only 16 million tonnes of which was recycled, according to the China National Resources Recycling Association. ", A mother and a grandmother take care of a child in Beijing on Jan. 1, 2016. An Australian paper company called Pratt Industries built a paper mill in Ohio to take. 0000010125 00000 n Yi-Jie, who lives in a spare room at the plant with her parents and siblings, spends her days working and constructing imaginary worlds atop the piles of trash that cover the ground. hide caption. If single-use plastic production remains at the current trajectory of growth, they could account for five to 10% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, further exacerbating climate change. At some point, Wang Kun pushes for Yijie to attend a local kindergarten, even offering to cover the costs, yet Yijies father, Peng Wenyuan, refuses, preferring that she continue to sort plastics, do household chores, and take care of her younger siblings. of the plastic used in China is recycled in some shape or form. Yeah, in China you'll meet tons of people who had siblings born while the one-child policy was in effect. Municipalities across Canada are struggling under the weight of the rapidly accumulating plastics with no plan in place to deal with them, and it will continue to worsen if we keep living the way we have been. He's the youngest of three children this mother had under China's one-child policy. According to the report, his wife was forced to confess that before her marriage, she had spent 60,000 on plastic surgery in South Korea, and looked completely different to how she was born. Without a fundamental cultural shift in our societys grievous over-use of plastic, we will see the same mountains of scraps growing in our pristine backyards just like Peng, Kun, and Yi Jie see everyday. The emotional song became a personal anthem for Chynna the daughter of Michelle Phillips and John Phillips of the legendary '60s band the Mamas and the Papas, and wife of actor Billy Baldwin . A burning armoured personnel carrier on 4 June 1989, near Tiananmen Square. When probed about why he doesnt send his kids to school, his reply is that he prefers to spend money on drinking, musing that his children can attend school for free whenever they return to his home village. Wangs camera catches heartbreaking images of Jie, the preteen with a collapsing weight of responsibility on her young shoulders. This is regrettable, for two main reasons. %PDF-1.4 % According to the census conducted last year, the population is aging and there are fewer young children and working-age people, a major demographic shift that comes with its own economic strains. Moreover, Plastic China contains virtually no direct criticism of any government, state-owned enterprise, or other powerful entitya key difference with Under the Dome (qiong ding zhi xia 2015), another documentary on Chinas environmental predicament that also went viral and disappeared from the Internet in a matter of days. Where Wang achieves sentimentality and awareness at displaying his subjects somber existence, he fails in giving his audience any objective information about the health, social, or environmental impacts of the Chinese recycling process. 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