From: cshi@cs.ulowell.edu (Chunde Shi)
Subject: What is the "big" idea?
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Lowell Computer Science
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 17:55:01 GMT

1. Reroute Yellow River:
   dig a canal which connects root of Wei River across Guan Zhong of ShanXi
   provincen and Yellow River. Look at China's map there is a unamed small 
   river whose root
   almost connects with the root of Wei River and flow to Yellow River before
   LanZhou, which water is still clean. If it is done,
   Yellow River will not carry as much sand as it does right now.
   (Avoiding Yellow Plateu, or cross it on edge)
    Lower part of Yellow River will gradually have river bed eroded and will 
    result a much stable river.(Ther river bed level is about ground level,
    a big time bomb). 
2. Another movement to replace Simplified Chinese Charactor with PingYing,
   like the one during 1920x, to replace ancient Chinese language to modern
   one(Wen1Yan2Wen, Bai2Hua4Wen2). 
   It is so hard to remember Chinese charactors, even after years of
   learning those things you still often forgot them(Did you often find
   yourselve forget a Chinese charactor when you wrote to china in Chinese?)
   If PingYin is used, millions of Chinese will be able to read and write
   in a matter of weeks. There is almost one to one correspondence between
   PinYin and vocal Chinese.(Offcours, to achieve fluence, more pracitice is 
   needed). There is another advantage, it is much easier to type in PingYin
   in to computer than Chinese charactors. As the computers usage spread in
   China, there is a need to use PinYin. Another suggestion is that
   on informal occations(exclude government ducumentation, regulations).
   PinYin and simplified charactors inter mix is allowed, then the transition
   from simplified charactor to PinYin can be not so interruptive.
   I wish some organizations(even oversea Chinese organiztions) push this
   thing right away. 
3. Sattelite Education:
   Not all subjects in high school, college need to be taught in interactive
   maner, or need experiment facilitis. Those subjects that do not need 
   need interaction between teachers and students can be moved to sattelite
   education. To grantee quality of learning of those subjects, standard
   exames can be used to test the proficiency. This will take advantage of 
   modern technology and Chinse tradition of learning at home.
   Let's suppose half of high school's subject move to being taught via 
   sattelite broadcasting, and half of college's subjects being taught via
   sattelite. Then half of high school and college facilities and facultis 
   can be freed to accept more students who passed the standard exames for
   those sattelite taught subjects. High school and college graduates can
   be doubled with little extra investment, and without compromise on
   quality of education. 
4. Get those Siberia forests:
   When Europeans came to North America, there were abundent of forests.
   cut down trees "pile them up", you got a house. Compare to hous
   construction in CHina where bricks and tiles are main building matterials,
   wooden houses are much easier to build. That is why "every family has a
   house" america dream existed when there were so many trees available to be
   cut, and so many homeless when forest are shrinking away. 
   Buy logs from Russia, transport logs through sea, and can access all major
population area's in China with little cost. Sell light idustrial goods to
   Russians for those logs.
   Then housing situation can be improved in China drastically!
5. House "Manufacturing", not construction:
   House is the biggest item of most families, current design of house
   can only allow construction on site, can not be premanufactored and then
   be transported as pieces, assembled by customers.
   If house style can be limmited, modualized, then house construction become
   house manufacturing. This will make massive production possible, then can
   be sold in evry competitive price. China will dominate the world market
   of housing, becuase it is lablor intensive.
   From my brief experience involving Urban Planning, There is chance this can
   be done. Japanese has already done it with steel, cement buildings.
6. shortcut on Urbanization processes:
   As the industralization continues, people will have insentive to abandon
   rule village move to city for jobs and city facilities. After
   industralization process finished, people will go to suburb for better
   environment, and bettter transportation(supperhighway) made this
   decentralization possible too. This process normally takes decades if not
   centries, people did not notice untill after wards. China's
industralization has the benifit of other's experience, China should avoid
   the tramendous waste: abandon villages, build cities, the abandon cities,
   build suburbs(villages?). Instead incourage people move to cities for jobs
   and cities facilities, build superhigh way connecting rural areas and build
   industries near whese villages are, and prvide proper transportation(cars)
   for them to have easy access to cities for service.
   China are currently using administrative method to discourage people move
   to cities. For short term, that may work, for long term, infrastructure that
   made people move from cities to suburbs in the West has to be provided. 


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