Edward Wong Rhetorical Analysis

Climate change is causing problems all over the world. One of the largest examples of this is the desertification of the Northern China. The loss of valuable land is displacing over thirty thousand people. Edward Wong, the another of all three articles discusses three different elements of Chinas problem. Wong uses the different tones in his three articles to convey different messages. The contrasting tones allow him to tailor his writing to fit different themes throughout each article.
The first article about China in The New York Times series is “Living in China’s Expanding Deserts” by Edward Wong. This first articles addresses the struggle of the Chinese people in the expanding deserts that is their home. The series itself is a part of

a The New York Times visual pieces. This article has over fifteen photos of the environment and people living in the deserts. The quote that a picture says a thousand words is true in this case. Depicting the images instead of just writing about what the people are going through powerfully demonstrates the injustices and struggle that the people are going through. The article itself presents the problem in the beginning of the article outlying the reason for writing this article from the very beginning. The main problem is that China is facing rapid desertification, “losing an annual rate of about 1,300 square miles” (Wong). Due to the rapid desertification, which the Chinese government blames on overgrazing not climate change, about “30,000 people, who (the government has termed) ‘ecological migrants’” (Wong) have been relocated. This article spends short paragraphs about stories and interview answers from different people that are indigenous to the places where desertification has and is happening to. This article also incorporates its information into the visuals as u scroll downs pictures appear and then the captions appear in it. The incorporation of the two mediums strengthens the article and keeps continuous attention of the reader because it is interactive. Compared to the following two articles this piece presents the information in a calming tone. The intention of this piece is to introduce the topic, not to alarm the reader, or present opinions, like the other two articles.
The second article, “Resettling China’s ‘Ecological Migrants’” by Edward Wong, also printed in The New York Times series, examines the lives of those effected by the deserts.

This article addresses the how the government has relocated a large group of people and termed them ‘Ecological Migrants’. Throughout the article it portrays the discontent of the people through the pictures, stories and interview answers. Unlike the first article this article spends more time and article space on accounts of the displeased people, giving them a media platform to discuss their discontent. For example, one interviewee says “the work is so exhausting, and I’m dead tired. I never worked like this before… we lived our days on our own schedule” (Wong). Another interview commented that during the relocation, “we all cried, they cried, I cried. We were a family and now we’re separated” (Wong). This article also contrasts the first article in that is paints a picture of the current conditions for the audience. More so it goes greater in depth about the people’s daily lives, causing the audience to feel connected to their struggles. The purpose of this article is to allow the reader to feel more connected to the people and the struggles in order to bring awareness to the general public. It too is a visual article that uses pictures to get its point

across.
The third article, “How China’s Politics of Control Shape the Debate of Control Shape the Debate on Deserts” by Edward Wong, is not a part of the series, however it does mention the other two articles in the beginning paragraph. The article like the first one, addresses the main problem in the first sentence. For instance, “in the coming decades millions of people around the world are expected to be displaced from their homes because of climate change” (Wong).
The visual aids in the first two articles, strengthens them immensely, which is why the third article left me disappointed after reading it. This article is also written in interview format, with responses from Tony Sternberg, a researcher in geography at the University of Oxford. Sternberg has very strong opinions, and he seems agitated in his responses. For example, “all thus controlled by officials, all follow the same script, cite the same numbers” (Wong). Similarly, “they speak if great advances in turning back the desert, but it is make-believe” (Wong). Due to the lack of a conclusion paragraph it leaves you to believe that Wong agrees with the interviewee, Tony Sternberg’s strong opinions.
I am not sure where the story will go next because I am not sure how the world can help stop the desertification of China. I can claim that the government in China can present relocation as a choice but I doubt they will do that. The only thing I can say is that we need to combat climate change. Due to climate change causing the desertification of China, not overgrazing, I can maintain my position that if we reduce human impact on the world we will be able to slow the desertification of China and other places on the planet. Saving millions of people from having to relocate because of climate problems that we are causing.