How does China feed its 1.3 billion people everyday?

I just took a trip to China over the past summer and noticed that food costs were really high. Real estate, cars, and now food have become large expenses in China. I'm wondering if economics is playing a role in this equation. Chinese told me that they come into the cities to find work because there is little or no money in agriculture and there is a division between the east and west. Most of the west is very poor and it is agricultural and the west is industrious and has most of the money and people are leaving their homes in the west for a better life in the east. I'm wondering if that is the reason food prices have gone higher, the Chinese government said it rose 12% last year. I'm just wondering how they can feed so many people, how do they do it?

How does China feed its 1.3 billion people everyday?
The food costs of that is in the city and what is in the countryside is not the same.





Food costs are much higher in the city.





In the countryside also people also grow there own food, or they raise there own chickens, hens, pigs etc..
Reply:Have you every read 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls' by Judith Barrett?


You should...then you'll understand...


Thats how China gets fed everyday, food falls from the sky, it's awesome! sometimes it' Rice Noodles, sometimes white rice with a little beef, and sometimes been curd with a little stir fry vegetable. The end is always followed by a nice shower of tea...


unfortunately, the city air can be polluted, some people die of what the US calls 'Starvation', when all it really is...is that the person's food just went through the wrong air.
Reply:Well, like you said, the East are wealthier so they can afford the food. The Western part of China are poorer but they grow their own food there. So, everybody is fed.





It is an amazing that China is managed to feed its 1.3 Billion people. No other country has done it.
Reply:Considering a food crisis going on, it is no small achivement to keep 1/5 of world population from hunger. Much more difficult to lift them out of poverty.
Reply:a really big cafeteria?
Reply:They use food.
Reply:When I went there for a year I saw that there are actually several ways they grow food to support their population.





1. Use the land effectively. If you travel around you will see plans growing in any space large enough to spread some seeds. In the small town I was in, if there was any dirt it was used.


2. Schedule. I saw them plan corn really early in the spring and harvest it between 90-120 days later. Then they would plant summer wheat and harvest that around the end of Oct. That way they got more food per acre.


3. Import. I heard on the news that China was having a food surplus and that they did not have to impost as much corn and wheat for the US and other countries.





Those are what I actually saw there. I am sure there are other things like in the South where they raise rice it is warm year round and so they can raise it year round. Also out west is where most of your plains (like the mid west in America) are so they can grow lots of food there since it is not as heavily populated as Eastern (the oldest part) China.