China's staggering grouith ouer the last 20 years has strained much of its resource base, but nothing more than freshwater supplies. On June 8,1988,1 boarded a midnight train bound for Zhengzhou from Beijing, where my trip to research China's land andwater challenges had begun just three days before. My senses were already brimming with the sights and sounds of the capital city and its surroundings—horse-drawn carts piled high with bricks, waves of wheat awaiting harvest, bustling markets along dirt roads, and bicycles, bicycles everywhere. Under China's "responsibility system," farmers were now allowed to sell whatever they harvested above their quota to the state. Colorful roadside stands laden with melons, fruits, vegetables, and meats were sprouting like weeds after a long winter. Many farmers suddenly had money to build new houses, and signs of a construction mini-boom were unmistakable. This, of course, was just the tip of the iceberg: soon enough China's cities would catch the market-economy wave and ride it headlong into the globalized world of the 21st century.
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