Society

As a consultant in software product development, I have followed trends not only in software development, but in other businesses as well. Software is one of those businesses which changes fairly quickly, since its main output is code. When software engineers decide to retire code or a standard, that code is said to be deprecated. In short, it is no longer supported in the current version, though it may be in previous versions. One of the major reasons for poor performance in consumer software is the support for deprecated systems and code; this causes a performance hit.

The intrinsic problem is that China has become too dependent on its own state-owned enterprises to maintain growth and employment at all costs following the events of September 2008. Because they were so huge and had ready access to capital from the state-owned banks, they were able to keep China’s economy growing, even while the rest of the world headed into a funk. Nearly two years later though, cracks in the dike are beginning to appear.

For one thing, China’s economy has become too dependent on the large corporate enterprise. Both the U.S. and China have been trying to do the same thing: save large corporations at a time when they should be deprecated. This article from the Wall Street Journal, “The End of Management,” says it best:

Photo taken on 17th Apr. 2009

As a 60-mile-long traffic jam on a Beijing-bound “expressway” snails along into its 10th day — either easing up now or destined to drag on into September, depending on which report you read — it is worth taking a second to note how this can happen. Road construction is one of the immediate causes, but that in turn is necessary because of increased cargo traffic on the roadway, reports Global Times. What’s that cargo? Coal, in a country where the vast majority of electricity still comes from coal.

Officials in northeastern China have evacuated more than 50,000 people as floodwaters collapse houses and cut off transportation in some areas, state media reported Saturday.

Heavy rains caused flooding along the Yalu River, which separates China and North Korea, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 230 houses collapsed and at least three people were missing in Dandong City, Xinhua said. The news agency said transportation, communication and power were also cut off in some areas.

Officials suspended train service as floodwaters rushed over railroad tracks, a railway spokesman told Xinhua.

China's National Meteorological Center warned Saturday morning that heavy rains would continue for the next 24 hours in the southeastern parts of Liaoning and Jilin provinces, where the river is located.

The death toll from the mudslides in a northwestern Chinese province now stands at 1,407, state-run Xinhua news agency said Friday, citing the government. At least 358 people are still missing.

The mudslides occurred in Zhouqu County in Gansu province. More than 1,700 mudslide evacuees have been living at schools, but will be relocated as students begin their school year.

Households will be moved to Shachuan Village, in the western part of the mudslides-leveled county, said Yang Jianguo, a government official in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture which administers Zhouqu.