Week 1: Background Information

Much preparatory work was done for the first week of my senior project. For the first several days while I was still in Japan, I took the opportunity to freshen up my understanding of the basics of the US government and the Chinese government. This included reviewing my previous notes from my AP Government course and reading articles online for more specific, relevant, and varied information.

My studies taught me how the US government is far less centralized than the Chinese government, especially regarding the quantitative aspects of presiding over each country. This included not only tax legislation but also a myriad of other rules, such as laws having to do with trading and tariffs.

Nearing the end of the week, I began delving into more profound existing research through articles on JStor to build upon what I had reviewed. This included Raymond Lotta’s 2009 article titled, “​​China’s Rise in the World Economy” and a more recent comparison of the US and China through their military and climate security budgets by Miriam Pemberton in 2016. I printed out the articles I did not finish in time to bring to China.