The constant stream of news coverage on China’s water crisis hasn’t dampened Beijing’s bid to host the 2022 winter Olympics and the production of a key, water-guzzling component of that bid: snow. The Economist reports.
Sucking Beijing dry
(November 22, 2012) The construction of a massive water-guzzling, water-based theatrical extravaganza in China’s capital, has many questioning the wisdom of such a project in a city as desperately dry as Beijing. Nevermind ‘House of Dancing Water,’ say experts – including Ma Jun and Hu Kanping – the real leisure threats to the city’s parched reserves are golf courses and hot spring pools.
China’s golf mania grows
(October 6, 2011) Golf, the “green opium”, is getting more and more popular in China as a symbol of wealth. New courses continue to be built, despite an official ban, exacerbating China’s urban water shortages.
Water shortage in Chinese cities – what the public thinks
(September 5, 2011) City-dwellers in China say they have an urban water crisis with shortages and pollution posing the gravest threats, a new survey reveals.
Golf courses proliferate in China, defying gov’t ban
(May 22, 2011) Spurred by China’s rapid economic growth and soaring living standards, golf is now enjoying an explosion in popularity in the world’s second-largest economy with a number of golf courses being built in recent years, despite the country’s ban on golf course construction due to land use concerns.
Ski resorts gulp Beijing’s water supplies
(April 29, 2011) In a new report published by the Beijing-based Friends of Nature and Canadian environmental group Probe International, Chinese environmental researcher, Hu Kanping, documents the impact of ski resorts on drought-stricken Beijing.
Beijing’s golf craze
(February 17, 2011) Beijing’s golf craze continues apace. The government’s ban on building new courses is flouted left and right while the city faces a severe water shortage.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 