An important book, poorly written. The People's Republic of China
Chemicals purports to reveal how the offshoring of American manufacturing to
China helped China become the most polluted country on the planet. It does
achieve that goal, though perhaps in spite of itself. While the title suggests
a discussion on chemicals, the vast preponderance of the book is focused on the
massive air pollution problems in China. This isn’t surprising given the authors’
previous collaboration, a book about the smoggy days of Los Angeles.
The early chapters provide some historical background on
China’s dynastic rule and frequent invasions by the Japanese, the British, and
others, as well as its own political infighting. Their overly rosy
characterization of Mao’s various attempts to control everything once he and
the communists took over is somewhat naïve – or at the very least, incomplete –
but they generally capture the essence of how China came to set itself up as
the world’s factory. The authors’ explanation of how entry into the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and various bilateral and multilateral trade agreements
spurred the rapid growth of industry and economy, while perhaps overly
rancorous, is well done.
In short, the book documents through rapid-fire detail and personal
anecdote the rise of Chinese manufacturing and with it the extraordinary
increase in coal-based pollution. The authors relate how bad the air pollution
has become, and the subterfuge of the Chinese government to deny its existence
even as giant screens in Tiananmen Square broadcast barely visible images of
splendid panoramic vistas through the gritty air. The book does a good job of
showing how China periodically shut down industry and banned automobiles in an
effort to clear the air, usually when foreign dignitaries were in Beijing for
meetings, during the 2008 Olympics, and for other events in which foreign media
were present. Finally, near the end they discuss chemicals other than smog,
though only superficially. They also touch on some attempts by China to do
something about a problem they recognize but can’t solve alone. This last point
deserved much more attention than it got. Still, the information they present
is important for all of us to know and understand.
The biggest negative about the book is the writing. It often
appears that the two authors each took the lead on different chapters. Some
chapters are clearly written and eminently informative. Other chapters are so
full of hyperventilating prose seemingly more interested in hearing its own
breathless recitation of a thesaurus than communicating the information. In
fact, these chapters and sections contain so many clichés (sometimes not even
getting them right, e.g., “pedal-to-the-medal”) and bombastic turns of phrases
that half the sentences carry no meaning whatsoever.
That said, the basic message, though too often lost in the
laborious, self-indulgent writing, is that China became a cesspool of pollution
in part because of our offshoring of manufacturing jobs to them. With global
warming and prevailing air currents, that pollution is coming back to haunt us.
So as difficult as it sometimes is to get beyond the verbal gymnastics, the
book is still a worthwhile read.
