South China Sea Today: China’s Destruction of Biodiversity
It has been said that civilization is born from water. In the beginning, we Americans relied on the Mississippi for nourishment and trade. The Egyptians did the same with the Nile. Several Asian countries, however, face a unique problem regarding the need for water-based bounties. The South China Sea is located just southeast of China and has been a crucial body of water ever since the Babylonians first sailed it in 425 BCE. It was an important ocean, linking Asian civilizations to the world through silk trade and commercial fishing. However, there are seven national claimants to the South China Sea (China, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam), and just like siblings, the biggest has been trying to assert its dominance over the shared resource for over five decades.
Meet the Student: Constance Chen
Constance Chen is a senior from Rochester, Minnesota majoring in Pre-professional-Sciences with a minor in Chinese. She plans to graduate this upcoming spring 2023. She took Approaching Asia originally because she heard good reviews of Dr. Jensen from other Chinese major/minor students and is so glad she listened. This course challenged everyone’s preconceived ideas of what Asia means, encouraged everyone to explore many ethnic and cultural concepts we were foreign to, and allowed everyone to pursue a topic for a final paper that they were passionate about. For Constance, that was exploring the effects of China’s disastrous initiatives regarding resources in the South China Sea, and directly correlating these actions to consequences on the ecological front. Please enjoy and contact cchen22@nd.edu if you have any questions.