COUNTRY COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS REPORT
Introduction 3
Economy 3
Government 3
Ecology 4
Culture 5
Gender Relations 5
Religion 6
Healthcare and Wellness 6
Food System 6
Education System 7
Housing and transportation 7
Sports 8
Conclusion 8
Reference List 9
Introduction
China and United States of America are considered the two world superpowers, both are fixed members of the Security Council and established official relations since the visit of Richard Nixon to China in 1976. Both countries are leaders in different fields as economy, sports, culture and its influence in the world.
Economy
The China economy is the most important of the world measured in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a value of 19 trillion dollars compared with the United States of America with a GDP of 16 trillion dollars. China overpassed the United States of America as the most important economy (in GDP) in 2014, thanks to the historical growth higher than 6% from the late 1970s's until today. The United States of America is mainly a service economy with more than 79% of the GDP different to China where the GDP is going to a transition from manufacture to services. In 2013, the services overpassed the manufacture with a 46.1% of the GDP; the industry sector in China has 43.9% of the GDP. The United States of America is technologically more advanced than China, but the economy has a more mature condition than China. Labor costs, debt, and inequality, are factors that are affecting the growth rate of the United States of America (Indexmundi, 2015).
Government
The government of the United States of America and its laws has its origins from the English common law except the executive branch which is presidential. The government system was an innovation in the eighteen century and copied by several countries in the world. The government has three branches: an executive with a head of state and government, a bi-cameral parliament, and a Supreme Court. The head of state and the government is elected by a college of representatives of the fifty states every four years. The legislative members: senators and representatives are elected in six and four years respectively. There are two important parties that share the government: Democrat and Republican Party. The Justice members are appointed by the Head of State for life. In China, the system has three branches. The executive branch has a different chief of state and chief of government; the chief of state is appointed by the National People Congress and the head of government by the chief of state. The legislative branch is the National People Congress elected by the Chinese Communist Party. The Judicial branch members are elected by the People National Congress. The Chinese Communist Party, similar to the former Soviet Union is the strongest institution in the country (US State Department, 2015).
Ecology
The United States of America and China are the most important responsible of the climate change in the world. China is the largest carbon dioxide issuer of the world followed by the United States of America. Both countries suffer air pollution with the presence of sulfur dioxide and greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. The extended use of fertilizers and chemical components for agriculture use affected several areas of the country. One fifth of agricultural land since 1949 in China and the western states of United States of America are affected by desertification. Sources of water of both countries are affected by air and soil pollution.
Related to natural disasters and phenomenon's China is mainly affected by typhoons in the South East Area and floods in the center of the country (Albert, 2016). The United States of America suffers tornados in the center of the country and earthquakes in the west, especially near the San Andres failure.
Culture
The United States of America, thanks to the liberal ideas from the United Kingdom and the influence of emigrants in the nineteen and twenty century; the United States of America is a very dynamic country in arts, music, television and cinema. The country has an important hub theater in New York City, a Cinema hub in Hollywood and an influential power of news agencies as CNN, Reuters and Bloomberg. China, thanks to the control of the state, the free speech is limited, and that affect the creativity of artists and the existence of cultural enterprises.
China is a millenary nation. The country, previous to the Republic has been dominated by dynasties. The warriors of the dynasties, the samurais; are very well known in the world, the martial arts are copied by several countries in the world. The United States is a "younger" country with less than 300 years of history (China Daily, 2015).
Gender Relations
The United States of America, according to its constitution and national laws does not support explicitly the same gender relations, but at a government level (Obama Administration) and a dozen of states had approved legislation supporting the same gender relations. China is against the same gender relations according to the constitution and the Chinese Communist party policy (Hitton, 2015).
Religion
The United States of America was colonized by the British adopting its religion. The British were mainly Protestant of the Catholic religion giving to the United States of America a high proportion of Protestant religions as Anglicans, Lutherans, and Quakers. In the United States of America, other Protestant religions took place especially in the state of Utah as Jesus Christ Latter Days Saints. China is "officially" an atheist country, but it is influenced by the Buddhism and the Confucius principles (Berkley Center, 2014).
Healthcare and Wellness
The United States of America have a universal healthcare system: the Medicare that, in theory, offers a welfare protection system to all the employees and non-employees of the country. China has not a healthcare system due to the fact the communist system guarantees, in theory, health care services to all the people.
Food System
The United States of America has very technician agriculture. The USA is a net exporter of food and produces almost all the food required by the population. The food industry is very competitive and has branches and interests in the entire world. The fast-food, a concept created in the world is an important driver of the food industry. China has a less technician food industry but has a food system simpler than the United States of America.
Education System
The USA is known as the country with the most important universities in the world. Students from the five continents send thousands of students each year to study in the United States Universities. The primary and secondary education are free, universal to all the children and teenagers. In China, the education is universal and free with a smaller university campus than the United States of America, but each time is acquiring more relevance in the world scenario (Nation Master, 2015).
Median income and median age of workforce
The median age of workforce in the United States of America is 37.6 years in the United States of America and 36.7 years in China. The gross domestic product per capita in the United States of America is 52,800 USD and 9,800 USD in China.
Housing and transportation
The United States of America developed in the nineteen century a rail infrastructure that connects the country from North to South and West to East. In the twenty century after the Great Depression developed the current highway system by pavement that connects all the important cities of the country. The United States of America has a well-developed air industry having three of the ten most important airports (in traffic) of the world located in Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles. China is a country under development in the transportation sector; nevertheless, the evolution in the past ten years has been overwhelming with the erection of high-speed trains and new air routes in the east coast of China.
Sports
According to the all-time Olympic medal table, the United States of America is the leader in sports with 976 gold medals and 26 participations in Olympic Games. China has 201 gold medals in nine participations. China and United States of America differs in the preference of mass sports. The United States of America has more followers in American Football, Baseball, and Basketball. China has an association with martial arts, but in other sports, China increased the interest by other sports thanks to the participation of the country in the Olympics and other international contests. The football (English origin) is gaining importance in the country with the participation of national sponsors and international players (Olimpia Statistik, 2015).
Conclusion
China was a poor country previous to 1970, but thanks to economic reforms, similar to the United States economy, today China has the highest GDP of the world giving to the country a weight in the world balance power.
Reference List
Albert, E. (2016). China's Environmental Crisis. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from CFR Backgrounders: http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-crisis/p12608
Berkley Center. (2014). Religion in China and the United States. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from Berkley Center: https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/projects/religion-in-china-and-the-united-states
China Daily. (2015). 6 cultural differences between China and the US. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from China Daily: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2015-04/01/content_19834344.htm
Hitton, S. (2015). Social Culture in China. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/social-culture-china-16258.html.
Indexmundi. (2015). China vs. United States. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from Indexmundi: http://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/china.united-states
Nation Master. (2015). Country vs country: China and United States compared: Education stats. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from Nation Master: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/China/United-States/Education
Olimpia Statistik. (2015). Die Olympischen und paralympischen spiele. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from Olimpia Statistik: http://olympiastatistik.de/index.php?mainframe=/og_de/statistics/index.php
US State Department. (2015). US Relations with China. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from US State Department: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm
