BOOM times in China

A quarter century ago, most Chinese would have spent their lives growing corn, rice, or wheat under a Communist government that made it difficult for farmers to move to cities or change jobs. The Communist Party tightly controls political power and religious expression. In cities, teenagers dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, play basketball and video games, and listen to their favorite pop singers.

• PRINT
• EMAIL

Every day, young people are moving to China's booming cities as their parents search for work.

In a dusty suburb of China's capital city of Beijing, Yuan He, 10, sits quietly in her fifthgrade class. There are 57 students in the unheated classroom, each dressed in a winter coat to keep warm. These kids are all migrants. Their parents moved to Beijing from 11 different rural provinces in search of work.A quarter century ago, most Chinese would have spent their lives growing corn, rice, or wheat under a Communist government that made it difficult for farmers to move to cities or change jobs. Today, the Communist Party still controls China, yet the country's people are anything but locked in place. More than 150 million migrant workers have left farms and are now doing the grueling work of building modern China.Yuan He is the daughter of a construction worker. She arrived in Beijing five years ago from the vast central province of Sichuan. One of the smartest students in her class. Yuan He is already learning English. Farming does not figure in her future plans.
"I want to be a scientist," she told JS, standing behind her wobbly, wooden desk as her classmates listened. "But my mother says 1 should be a lawyer or a doctor because they make more money."

The Next Superpower?
With 1.3 billion people, China has long been the world's most populous nation. Now it is also one of the world's fastest-growing economies. It is emerging as the next superpower to rival the United States.
Factories along China's coast make clothes, electronics, toys, and many other goods sold in stores in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. Beijing is hurriedly building stadiums, subway lines, roads, and thousands of structures for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Although much is changing in the new China, much remains unchanged. China still has an authoritarian government under which people cannot elect their national leaders. The Communist Party tightly controls political power and religious expression. It also forbids the Chinese news media from criticizing the government and national leaders.

Stark Contrasts
The result is a society of stark contrasts. The Chinese people are freer than ever before to choose where they live, whom they marry, and what job they will do. At one time, all Chinese wore drab suits patterned after the one worn by Communist leader Mao Zedong (mow zeh-dawrig). Now, people wear what they want. In cities, teenagers dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, play basketball and video games, and listen to their favorite pop singers from China, Taiwan, or South Korea.
China has more than 100 million Internet users, a number that grows each year. But the government employs more than 30,000 censors to surf the Web and block out forbidden information.
Anyone who publicly criticizes government leaders still faces the possibility of being jailed. The Communist Party controls China's legal system. Official corruption is widespread. Quality of life in rural areas is much lower than in the cities. China has a new class of millionaires, while more than 500 million people make less than $2 a day.
China's economic growth is astounding, but it has given rise to equally astounding air and water pollution. Air quality is horrific in many big cities, including Beijing. China is rushing to reduce pollution there before the Olympics begin in August 2008.
One reason for Beijing's air pollution is the huge construction boom. The lure of so many new jobs has brought people like Yuan He's lather to do hard manual labor for little pay.

"I Was Ashamed"
Zhou Jing, a sixth-grader, came to Beijing seven years ago from rural Anhui Province, one of China's poorest. Her mother is a janitor, and her father is a cook.
"They want to save money to send me to school." the 12-year-old told JS. "I was ashamed of their jobs when I was little. I thought they were doing low-class work. But I no longer think that."
Migrants are indispensable to China's progress, yet they still face discrimination. Many live in cities illegally, without the residency permits required by the government. Sometimes, bosses do not pay them.
Many parents must leave their children with relatives when they move to the cities to work. Those who take their children must send them to unofficial schools with poor facilities and supplies.
The kids who talked to JS attend such a school-a complex of dusty, gray brick buildings on the outskirts of Beijing. Most of them know little about the contradictions and uncertainties surrounding China's rising influence. All they know is that their parents are doing difficult, dirty work in part so that their futures will he better.
"I want to have a career," said 11-year-old Wu Zhuangxuan, a fifth-grade boy whose family is also from Anhui Province. "When I grow up, I want to go back and build up my hometown. I want to help make it modern."
WuZhuangxuan in hisunheated classroom. Duringthecold winter months, students must bundle up while learning.

As Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games, construction is evident everywhere. So is air pollution. Left: The Five Friendlies will serve as mascots in the 2008 Games.
China is emerging as one of the world's next superpowers.

Words to Know
* authoritaria: favoring blind submission to government officials.
* Communist: a government based on state ownership of land and businesses. The Communist Party typically allows no opposition.
* migrant: a person who moves from one place to another, often in search of employment.
Zhou Jing outside her school, which is in a Beijing suburb. Below: a street near the school.

Think About It
1. What are some of the biggest challenges facing China today?
2. How might China's government change as the country becomes more of an economic superpower?

Cyclone Slams Southeast Asia
A devastating cyclone swept across the country of Myanmar over the weekend, leaving thousands dead and scores of people missing. Tropical Cyclone Nargis slammed into the coast of the Southeast Asian nation early Saturday. Its winds reached 120 miles per hour, causing the sea to surge more than 12 feet.

United Nations
The head of the United Nations is called the Secretary-General. There have been eight Secretaries-General since 1946. Ban Ki-Moon is the current Secretary-General. Secretary-General Ban is from South Korea and took office on January 1, 2007.