March 24, 2010

  The professor came into the class once again. The students were puzzled when they saw the professor muttering unknown words. The professor stood in front of the students and wrote something on the blackboard. 'National Defense.' The humanities and sciences class in this class were national defense classes. Students thought that they would not be able to hear about demography today. But all of a sudden, the professor started saying strange things.

  "Recently, we have noticed a strange atmosphere on the North Korean side. Some submerines are starting to go down south. I think something will happen in about two days." The students were confused by the professor's sudden joke. He erased the word "National Defense" from the blackboard. "When it comes to defense, there is nothing more effective than watching the news. Watch the news in two days, everyone."

  ...

  Lee was going through some old newspapers. Among them were news about naval battles. He was going through cases of engagement with North Korea. "The Battle of Yeonpyeong... in 1999..." Lee said, throwing away the newspaper. "..There is no way to know about the North Koreans sent to the south except by reading the newspaper.." Lee ignored inspectors who looked at him oddly while he was reading newspapers at work. He was sort of protesting against covering up the incident.

  "That's strange, by the way. There are traces of a man named Gamamusa suddenly disappearing from South Korea and then a man with the same name appearing again from the North Korean side. If he hadn't gone by land, he would have gone underwater. How on earth did he run away at that speed?" Lee Byung-soo opened a newspaper on March 26, 2010. It contained the news of the Cheonan warship that was sunked by north korean submarine.

  ...

  When Professor wrote letters on the blackboard again, the students were puzzled. The word 'economy' was written on the blackboard. It was natural to think, 'Maybe the professor was mistaken for the next class?' The professor turned around and faced the students.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "As of the 2010s, China's gdp has already surpassed Japan. Their gdp is about $6 trillion, which is a very small number compared to $15 trillion in the U.S. Nevertheless, they are tracking at a very high speed." The professor wrote down Chinese and American gdp on the blackboard. "If you look at the current Chinese gdp, they are tracking at a rate that will surpass the U.S. However,..China will never overtake the United States, just like Japan."

  The students were whispering in small voices. Among them, the prevailing mood was that China, which surpassed Japan, would overtake the U.S. The professor taped the first map of the U.S. and China on a blackboard. "This is a map of the climates of the U.S. and China. Northern China and the U.S. Midwest have continental climates, and both southern regions consist of subtropical climates. Moreover, their western regions are a mixture of mountainous and flat land."

  Professor compared the two maps. "The United States has a mainland area of about 8 million square kilometers and a total area of about 980 square kilometers, which is not much different from China's 960 square kilometers. In short, their potential food production is not much different. In fact, the mainland of China can feed more than 1.01 billion to 1.2 billion people, and the United States can feed about 900 million people. Unlike China, the southern part of United States does not produce rice, so the food production is potentially similar. However, their populations are vastly different. China has about 1.3 billion, and the United States has about 300 million."

  The professor wrote the area and population of the two countries just below the gdp. He turned to the students again. "China's food self-sufficiency rate is over 90 percent. But the U.S. is over 300 percent. Given that China has to import about 100 million people's food, the U.S. has a huge advantage of having food left over."

  The professor wrote down the number 90:300 and 40:1 on the blackboard. And he drew two pyramids. A large diamond-shaped pyramid was drawn on the American side and a normal pyramid was drawn on the Chinese side. "Maybe you've heard what happened when humans moved from hunter-gatherers to agricultural societies. In the original hunter-gatherers society, everyone had to produce food. It was because of a lack of food. When it became an agricultural society, surplus production of food was created, allowing farmers to support other industries. Politicians, engineers, construction workers, actors, etc."

  The professor noted the number '40:1' and two pyramids written on the blackboard. "Among the proportion of primary industry, the workers working in the agricultural industry, in other words: farmers, are very different today between those in China's industrial group and those in the United States. While 40% of the working population in China is farmers, only 1% are farmers in the United States," the students stuttered. How could they be so different in the proportion of farmers?

  The professor pointed his finger at the two pyramids. "The middle class in the U.S. is strong right now. Most of them are concentrated in high-income manufacturing and service industries, rather than low-income farmers. And.. In China, low-income occupations dominates over high-income occupations. And this difference cannot be changed. Even if the chinese tried to reduce the agricultural ratio and foster other industries quickly, it will be impossible unless the food self-sufficiency rate follows. In short, China is under the middle-income pyramid that doesnt move, not the middle-income trap that can be escaped through speed."