Worst: China.org.cn
This week we have been instructed to find out environmental news or news relating to energy and or resources for one country, and the country that I have chosen for this blog is China. The two sites that I have decided to focus on are Peak Oil News, a website that has news on just about every country and region, but does contain a lot of Chinese environment and energy news that is easy to search for and find. The other site that I have chosen is China.org.cn, which is a complete Chinese news website that has an entire full-fledged section devoted entirely to China’s environment.
.com site's main imageIn the case of Peak Oil News, there are two Peak Oil News websites that are out there: both work in conjunction with each other, as links on one will lead to links on the other. One is a .com and the other is a .info site. The one I have concerned myself most for the purpose of this blog is the. info site. The .info site's rather low-key appearance is a bit disappointing, (especially considering that I just got done reviewing some rather unattractive websites for last week) with its pages being entirely white save for some red and black splashed here and there, and not to mention the site's car style gas gauge that serves as its logo.
However, unlike last week, there isn't much searching around for what I want; the site thoroughly lives up to its name, and has numerous sections breaking down articles on energy into specific categories, archives going back several months, the ability to contribute articles, message boards...the site is a prolific energy website. Of particular interest to me of course is the information that it has on Chinese environmental news, and typing in “China” into the site’s search engine yields the information that I want (here’s a link for searching for Chinese environmental news.) Among the first results of this search are stories on the UN doubting that China will overtake the U.S. in carbon by 2009, China blaming the west for global warming, and the resistance in Africa to China’s influence.Like some sites before, the Peak Oil News websites are not news websites in their own right, but rather gather information from other sites. This is nothing that detracts from the sites, and it is admirable that these sites exist. One article on the .info site that caught my attention was one about China’s pollution targets for this year and how the country’s plan to reduce major pollutants by 2 percent may be too high. Clicking on the link on the .info site takes readers to the .com site, where there is a write-up for the article, complete with a nice graphic of an old man sifting through papers with the word “policy” at the bottom indicating the category that the article falls into. The article is linked from China Daily, and was posted on Peak Oil on February 13. The actual article on China Daily, written by Sun Xiaohua, is very well done, with no noticeable spelling errors, good grammar, and a great amount of solid facts and figures, such as that when China drew up its pollution reduction and energy conservation plans, it was assumed that the country was growing at a rate of 7.5 percent a year, but that China’s GDP grew 10.7 percent last year, and that experts have suggested that the country will grow at a rate of 9 percent through 2010. As I was talking about graphics, the .com site is the slightly more pleasing site to the eye. The main page has a more stylized logo, with other logos for news, discussions, resources, members of the site, and localized Peak Oil pages. Besides the old man for policy, there are also graphics for technology articles, environment articles, and production articles. Also at the top of the .com website is a graphic for their “What is Peak Oil?” article, where it’s stated that peak oil theory is that “any finite resource, (including oil), will have a beginning, middle, and an end of production, and at some point it will reach a level of maximum output”. The .com site also gives readers the ability to download files, (such as a food storage FAQ, a Peak Oil poster, and a disaster supplies kit) MP3s of songs, and links to other sites. One interesting difference between the .com and the .info sites is that the forums (where members post and read messages from others) on the .com site are hosted by Peak Oil themselves, while the ones on the .info site redirect readers to a different site altogether called Alternative Energy News. One energy article pertaining to China that was posted right around the time that I update this blog on the .com site is one linked from The Standard, a Chinese business newspaper magazine, and it reports that China has just cut thermal coal shipments to Japan and South Korea due to tight supply and high domestic prices. The article, which does not state the writer, also makes light of the possibility of China becoming a net coal importer in the face of the country’s need of energy. Its up to date articles like this that really make Peak Oil (both sites) an ideal place to find news on China’s ( and moreover Asia’s) growing need for energy, and I definitely recommend Peak Oil to people looking for information in this area.
China.org.cn is a very professional looking website, and it should: it is put out by the Chinese government, and besides offering the site in Chinese and English, it also lets readers read in Japanese, Russian, Arabic, German, Spanish, and more. As aforementioned, the site has its very own section for environmental news, and that individual section looks like its own site unto itself. The site’s orderliness is what is striking the most; the front page of the environment section features a host of current up-to-date news stories that are situated right in the middle of the page, with bolded links to them. Below this is a section entitled “Spotlight on,” which highlights things like the impact of global warming on China and the SEPA warning of a crackdown on foreign waste imports. Below this are SEPA press releases and news on ecological disasters, and then to the right of all this is a features section, which has features on things like panda facts, and saving Tibetan Antelopes. Also, in the lower right hand corner of the main page, basic information on things like land area, rivers and lakes, climate, etc. is given. On the very left side of the main page, there are sections for ecology, public endeavors, and international cooperation. So, to state things plain and simple, the site is rife with lots of useful information.
The problem with China.org.cn is yet again that it is a Chinese government website and is biased in the Chinese government's favor. For instance, at the time the website was accessed, the front page of the website featured a current story on China supposedly being no threat to global energy security, which was stated by Ma Kai, minister of National Development and Reform Commission. In the article, Ma goes on to state that this year's GDP growth target of 8 percent is "aimed to encourage the country to focus on transforming the growth mode, adjusting structures and improving the quality of economic development". Right below this article on front page is another story about the US and China trying to resolve industrial subsidy concerns. Since this is an English website for the Chinese government, these articles may perhaps be indicative of China trying to simply improve its image to U.S. readers, as China's growth is not something that Americans are particularly fond of hearing about. In the actual environmental section of the site, the whole right side of the page is devoted to information on the upcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing, which are being touted as the "Green Olympics." Upon clicking the large logo for "Green Olympics," readers are given a list of stories that highlight things about how the city has successfully disposed of 90 percent of its urban sewage and is ahead of schedule, and how the mayor of Beijing has escalated the greening effort to make the city beautiful for the games. From the articles that are featured, it is easy for a reader to believe he or she is being fed what the government wants put out, as articles that are harsh to Chinese matters are not readily seen. Another article indicative of this is one that explains that 131 tons of waste from Japan were intercepted in Hong Kong and and promptly returned.
The actual articles themselves are quite well written, and they feature good factual information from authoritative figures complete with quotes and comments. The site appears free of grammar and spelling miscues, and every article is dated. While the actual writers of the articles are not referenced, the source of the articles and the date they were first published is always made available.
To wrap things up, I would give the Peak Oil websites a collective nine out of ten rating. The only real way I think the sites could improve is if they both got a bit of a web design upgrade. China.org.cn is a very visually attractive website that provides important information, but the feeling readers will get from the site is that they are being told what the Chinese government wants them to know, not necessarily what they should know. I would rate China.org.cn a seven out of ten.
1 comment:
Thank for the editorial about our peak oil website. While it is true that our site collects information from other sources, those sources are most often submitted from other websites. We do not claim to be oil experts. We are trying to provide a resource for others who perhaps do not have their own website but that would like to publish peak-oil related articles. We are always looking for writers to contribute, and we have an article submission form on the site for that purpose.
Keep up the great work!
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