Many of China's 'resource' towns are dying

[phantom power]

YUMEN, China: Dying towns may seem rare in a booming China, but the expanses of rubble and abandoned homes that ring this formerly wealthy oil center identify Yumen as one of them. And although Yumen is home to just a few thousand people in a country of more than 1.3 billion, Beijing's stability-obsessed government is worrying about their future.

Officials worry because Yumen's poor, disgruntled inhabitants are the thin end of a wedge of discontent that could engulf hundreds of thousands of people within a decade unless the central government can resolve one of the more obscure but troubling legacies of past socialist policies.

The potential troublemakers live in dozens of "resource towns" that were built across China by Mao-era economic planners to exploit energy or mineral deposits regardless of how remote or inhospitable the location. Now, some seams of oil, coal and ore are starting to run out, increasing unemployment and migration while leaving behind shells of towns that are impoverished tinderboxes of unrest.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/17/business/yuan.php

[diane in sf]

1. I think the whole of China seems headed for environmental disaster and they

have the headwaters for a large part of Asia, which they are busy messing with in one way and another. It's very frightening when you think of all the people and places in harm's way.

[hogwyld]

2. Well, they have the money to just move to other

more productive places. And we'll just keep buying their crap...

[Javaman]

3. China will be the largest superfund site come the latter part of this century. nt