"China Inside Out" Chapter 4

The environmental concerns that Dodson presents about China in his book “China Inside Out” are really disturbing to me. The sheer disregard that the government and its environmental agencies have for people and environment is shocking to me, and very draconian. Even before I read Dodson’s words comparing their policies to the Industrial Revolution, I was thinking about how it compared to the Industrial Revolution and the filthy conditions that led to health hazards for many citizens. The most compelling information in this chapter to me, however, was how the Chinese government wrote off complaints from the Jilin Connell Chemical Plant. I find this interesting because, according to Dodson, health experts assured workers that their sicknesses were “all in their heads: the convulsions, the vomiting, and the temporary paralysis” and they told patients to “’get a hold of their emotions’” (Dodson 69). These kinds of sicknesses are not caused by mental problems, but when patients are told by health experts that it’s all in their head, it is what they have to believe. What it really is, though, is health experts sweeping the issue under the carpet so that the government cannot be blamed for a lack of safety regulations on chemical factories. This complete disregard for Chinese citizens is shocking and shows just how much the government cares more for power and money than for its citizens.