Impact

Wet Markets

In light of the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, Chinese wet markets have been given an increasing amount of negative publicity by various media outlets. This growing negative attention has culminated in the condemnation of wet markets by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ own Dr. Anthony Fauci. However, the poor sentiment amassed towards these markets seems largely misplaced, spread by individuals uninformed of the functionalities of a wet market.

Perhaps most misleading is the mysterious - and conceivably gross - title given to these markets: “wet.” This title, despite its connotations, is derived from the simple actions vendors take to ensure the their products’ freshness. That is, they water produce down to cool them. As it turns out, wet markets are overwhelmingly…normal.

Prevalent across most of Asia - not exclusively China - wet markets can be thought of as synonymous to the local farmer’s market one might find in a nearby park on the weekends, perhaps just larger. These markets are the key to many Chinese citizens’ livelihoods. They serve as opportunities for vendors to sell fresh produce and safely farmed meats, and for individuals to buy said items for an affordable price. And as a secondary function, they are perfect locations for socializing.

While wet markets as a whole are safe and ethical, the negative attention they have garnered is not entirely unfound. A specific subset of wet markets, called “wildlife markets” prove more insidious than their pedestrian counterpart.

As the name suggests, wildlife markets sell living exotic animals such as snakes, curvets, and lizards (and are often located within a wet market). These animals tend either to be purchased for culinary or medical purposes, and often serve as intermediaries for zoological diseases such as the coronavirus. In the case of the current outbreak, it is believed that the disease was transferred from bats to pangolins, and from pangolins to humans via a wildlife market. The cramped enclosure found in wildlife markets are perfect conditions for the propagation of diseases between animals, and then to humans upon purchase.

With the onslaught of problems surrounding wildlife markets, foreign officials have demanded they be disbanded. However, this demand is not so simple, and comes with an onslaught of its own problems.

Since many exotic animals are utilized in traditional Chinese medicines, shutting down wildlife markets is opposed for cultural reasons. China has also had a strenuous history involving famine. This evolved into many of its citizens forming an identity with the ability to eat, which in turn resulted in the consumption of exotic and wild animals. So the battle to shut down wildlife markets, in a way, has also been cast into the same circle as the repression of Chinese culture and identity.

Furthermore, a portion of Chinese citizens rely on wildlife market for their livelihoods. China’s wildlife farming sector is evaluated at over $74 billion. So terminating wildlife markets can also extinguish the livelihoods of many.

An immediate solution to wildlife markets remains unseen. It would take years of cultural reevaluation to even humor the idea of dissolving wildlife markets. Even then, resistance to change is inevitable, and the wildlife market could simply move underground where it may cause even more trouble, be it ethical, legal, or possibly even disease related. And while the solution to wildlife markets is unclear, there should be one thing that he become clear: wet markets are not the problem! They serve as vital economical means for individuals to make ends meet and put food on the table, and are as safe as any farmer’s market. Let us not associate the wet market with its corrupted little brother.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/asia/china-wet-market-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/china-wet-markets-covid19-coronavirus-explained/

China's Economy

Per GDP estimates, China is the second largest economy in the world. This economy grew through the Tienanmen Square crackdown, the SARS epidemic, and even the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. As COVID-19 began spreading from Wuhan to other cities in China, Chinese authorities sealed off Wuhan from incoming and outgoing travel while also placing residents under quarantine. This move was seen by outsiders as an extreme authoritarian response, but similar actions were taken in the rest of China and then the world. As a result of quarantine measures, China’s economy was paralyzed in the first quarter of 2020 and it fell by 6.8% compared to the same time last year.

Underlying Stats (First quarter of 2020)

• The industrial production in china fell by 13.5% which is crucial to the global economy as China makes up a third of manufacturing globally.

• Retail sales in China fall by 15.8% in March compared to a year earlier.

• Investment in China decreased 16.1%

• Disposable incomes in China fell by 3.9%. A survey found that one-fifth of Chinese households could survive for no longer than two to three months without any income, while 40% could not make it past three months.

• The Urban Survey Unemployed Rate in China decreased to 5.9% in March 2020 from a record high of 6.2% in the previous month.

The above statistics fell short of predictions made and as of April 20 it is reported that 98% of large companies in china have resumed operations at around 83% of normal activity levels. Chinese officials have also presented economic support measures which include 3.55 trillion yuan ($502 billion) in low-cost funding provided to financial institutions, 1.29 trillion yuan in approved local government special bonds, and 1.6 trillion yuan in cuts to various fee taxes. However, the rest of the world is also facing similar economic deficits; the pandemic has caused a health care crisis and a financial one. The impact to the global exports market will largely happen during the second and third quarters of 2020. As countries outside of china remain shut down, the external demand for goods will diminish and this is especially important to the Chinese economy as China is the world's largest exporter of goods. Even with China attempting to return to ‘normalcy’ it is very unlikely considering a global recession. So long as human interaction is dangerous, business and the economy cannot return to normal. Even when the virus is tamed, which is an unknown, recovery to the global economy and China’s economy will likely take years

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51706225

https://fortune.com/2020/04/16/china-q1-gdp-2020-coronavirus/?showAdminBar=true

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3080745/coronavirus-chinas-slow-economic-reboot-continues-power-surge

Skepticism

The Chinese government has been scrutinized since the initial outbreak of the COVID-19. A lot of people are cautious when viewing statistics from China, even the ones presented in the previous section. Chinese officials have historically payed careful attention to key statistical measures such as GDP to quantify success. The obsession with numbers has led to falsification of data, as admitted by local governments, in order to elevate the accomplishments of the government. There have also been revelations that national authorities intentionally suppressed initial reporting of the COVID-19 outbreak. All these factors led many to believe that Chinese officials are under reporting the total cases of infections in China. However, this under reporting is true in all parts of the world. Different countries’ health care systems do not have the capacity to test widely and due to the asymptomatic period of the virus there are many cases excluded in reports.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/04/07/china-heavily-criticized-for-its-coronavirus-numbers-claims-no-new-deaths/#5709897b77ad

Wallace, J. (2016). Juking the Stats? Authoritarian Information Problems in China. British Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 11-29. doi:10.1017/S0007123414000106