On September 10, 2010, Xinhua reported that, according to a speech made by an official from China’s Ministry of Agriculture, China’s textile industry uses over 10 million tons of cotton each year, while the average annual domestic cotton production is only 7.06 million tons.

In this century, China has been importing over 2 million tons of cotton per annum. The highest amount of imported cotton recorded was 3.6 million tons. This year, the amount of imported cotton increased more than 60%.

Since the beginning of this century, the cotton plantation area in China has decreased more than 14 million mu (ed. note: 1 US acre = 6.07 mu) compared to the last century, leaving only 80 million mu of cotton plantations.

Source: Xinhua, September 10, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-09/10/c_13489750.htm

On September 10, 2010, Xinhua republished a news report from http://www.gov.cn/ regarding unemployment problems in China. Below are the major points:

There is an oversupply of laborers in the job market. This year in the cities, around 24 million people are in need of employment; there is work for only 12 million of them. There are 6.3 million college graduates this year plus 6 million middle and high school graduates who will not pursue further studies. In the rural areas, there are over 100 million surplus laborers. At the same time, a large number of urban laid-off workers and retired military personnel need to be replaced.

In recent years, it has been found that "recruitment difficulties" and "employment difficulties" coexist. It is difficult to recruit migrant workers in the spring, while college graduates have a hard time finding jobs in the fall, after they graduate. This phenomenon highlights the aggravated structural problem in the area of employment. 

Source: Xinhua, September 10, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-09/10/c_12540420.htm

On September 8, 2010, the International Herald Leader, an official newspaper under Xinhua, reported that 90% of the underground water across China has been contaminated; 60% of the water has been seriously polluted. 

Underground water is an important source of drinking water in China. Nearly 70% of the Chinese people drink underground water.

“In 2005, the EPA conducted an inspection of 206 centralized drinking water sources in 56 cities nationwide. It revealed that the water sources were polluted by 132 types of organic pollutants, 103 of which belong to the category of pollutants that must be controlled either inside or outside of China.”

Source: International Herald Leader, September 8, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2010-09/08/c_13484211.htm

Inflation in China has been driven by constant food price adjustments and a 10%+ food price increase, which puts excessive pressure on low-income residents, resulting in major social upheaval, said a Study Times article.  

The article disagrees with some Chinese economists who advocate a moderate annual inflation of 5% to 6%. While the Consumer Price Index (CPI) may remain low, food prices have increased significantly, pushing the CPI upward.  

The populace can’t adjust to the 5% to 6% CPI increase because of the veiled food price increases. In 2004, 2007 and 2008, the CPI increased 3.9%, 4.8% and 5.9% respectively. “These are the three years when the populace was most unhappy about existing price controls."  

Should food prices increase by more than 3%, "major social problems will ensue," said the article. 

Source: Study Times, September 6, 2010
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2010/09/06/12/12_43.htm