China, Water and Energy

The UCI Forum talk yesterday about China by Chancellor’s Professor of History Ken Pomeranz was about drought in the north, and the projects to divert water from the south to the north to continue farming.  It was also about plans to go further west to where there is more hydro potential energy in the rivers and to dam them for more energy.  Industries would also be established in the rural areas.  It was also mentioned that China was considering 400 nuclear plants.  The largest number that I had previously heard was 200.  They are currently planning 30.  He was also asked about the one child policy, and said that this was credited for reducing the future (2050?) population down from 2.3 billion to 1.5 billion Chinese.