I don't know much about China. My world history class in high school barely mentioned Asia and I don't care for politics so I don't read much into the media. The way things are going though, I do know that China will eventually pass the United States as the world's top consumer as well as economic and, as a result, political power. I know that the Chinese built the railroads that connected the east and west coasts of this country. That's about it.
The thing that I would most like to know about China is what they think about the United States and its people. In a country with censored and controlled media, I wonder how much of the outside world is actually available to the people. I would also like to learn more about what everyday life is like in China from the countryside to the cities. I imagine life there is similar to life here, but there are obvious and unknown differences that I would like to see for myself. I also have an interest in China's government structure. There is a reason that China has been relatively poor until recently and there is also a reason that it is growing in economic strength. My first guess at what caused this change would be government. Another subject that I would like to learn more about is China's energy consumption and pollution statistics. I've been wondering for a while now what China will do with its rising energy usage and industrialization. There are so many people there that they can't afford to pollute the air too badly but there is so much fuel being burned that it seems unavoidable. The United States (and I assume the rest of the modern world) is heading toward clean energy and technology. This technology might not be available or affordable in China and the Chinese will run into environmental problems as we have. I'm interested to see what they end up doing about it because I've seen the green movement in this country cause a shift in focus in various technological fields.
