Zhejiang, also known as Che-chiang province (Sheng), conventional Chekiang, is in the south-east of China. It is one of the smallest Chinese units on a political level, but one of the very populated and affluent. This coastal province is located between provinces Jiangsu in the north, Fujian in the south, Anhui in the west, and the East China Sea in the east. At the southwest, there is Jiangxi and at the northeast Shanghai municipality. Its approximate area is 39,300 square miles (101,800 square km). Only one-fifth of its lands surface is arable, because of the provinces hilly uneven landscapes. Almost two-thirds of the arable land is used to harvest the staple food crops of rice, barley, wheat, maize (corn), and sweet potatoes. The capital is Hangzhou. The population is about 45,900,000.

Zhejiang is flourishing in China's province and is one of the first ones in farm productivity in the country. Its agriculture is most varied among different parts of China; its farm output is less than half by value and is coming from food products and growing crops.

Today the cattle farmers in China, as in many other countries as well, face many problems and paradoxes. For example, we all realize the need of meat. It is a wide-spread product, which is required by clients all over the world because of its nutrition and taste. The amount of consumed, and consequently, produced meet is growing every year. In China lately the livestock population is rapidly growing.

Because of the rapid development of beef industry in China, beef output volume increased from the 1.535 million tons in 1991 to the 6.623 million tons in 2012, with the CAGR of 7.2%. The beef output volume in China accounts for over 10% of the global, so China was the third largest beef producer after the U.S. and Brazil.

During this time, as we can read in Research Report on China's Cattle Production Industry and Beef Market, 2012-2013, its proportion of beef output volume in the total national meat output volume got higher (4.4% in 1991 to the 7.9% in 2012).

Some think that one of the many reasons of it being well prepared and organized is a few ongoing advertisement campaigns. It is a known fact that the grazing cattle have better meat tastier, easier to cook, more tender and nutritious; but it is more expensive than meat from the grain-fed cattle. Cattle are raised on the pasture grounds or rangeland usually for 12-18 months, and later they are transported to a feedlot. Most likely, these cattle will spend from three up to six months in a feedlot, gaining 2.54 pounds a day during that time. According to a scientifically formulated ration, the cattle are fed by good amount of grain (70 - 90 percent of all eaten food). Cattle could gain about one pound for every six pounds of consumed food, if this special diet is kept. Cattle live in the feedlot, approximately 100-125 animals in a pen, which gives 125-250 square feet per animal. There is more or less 1 foot of space at the feed bunk per animal. In the feedlot cattle have constant access to water.

Often the prices for cattle raised on pastures are higher. What is the reason? It takes more time for animals to gain the needed weight. That would be the answer as to why grass-fed beef is usually more expensive than beef, which are grain-fed. The abundance of corn helps the economic viability of producing grain-fed cattle.

These questions, maybe surprising for some, are at present a serious concern of the environmentalists: vast majorities of grazing pastures with time are turning into destroyed lands, and as a result it causes a distortion of local microclimate, which in a long run could damage the ecology of the whole continent or even our planet. Though there is a possibility that this problem could be solved gradually through changing opinions of those in charge. Grazing lands could be reconstructed and returned into forests and grasslands, as some scientists believe. Even now in China, like in other countries, there are governmental programs that encourage such practice.

The central government also invested $ 21.59 million to protect and improve natural grasslands in major cattle grazing areas in west China, including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Sichuan, and Tibet. The central government provides $ 14.3 per hectare to herdsmen to prevent them from grazing animals on restricted grasslands. Herdsmen will also receive $ 3.4 if they occupy each hectare with reasonable stocks.

Here should also be mentioned the researches about polluted water. Some elements from manure, such as pathogens and nitrates, impact health of humans through drinking water. Nitrate contamination is found prevailing in ground waters more than in surface waters. From some reports it can be clear that one of the most common contaminants in agriculture is nitrate and it is often found in wells with drinking water. It is quite possible that a number of people exposed to nitrate presence is up to 1.5 million (almost 2 % of the worlds population) from drinking water in the wells.

Another side of discussion is the most beneficial usage of resources. Many activists are convinced that grain, which is fed to the animals, could be used for feeding hungry people; and the water used for growing cattle could be used more efficiently. There are governmental and non-governmental organizations that actively agitate for the change of views of politicians, businessmen and a society in general.

There is also a strong opinion about the untruthfully overemphasized need of such big amounts of meat in our weekly diet. There are many organizations and individuals that prove its falsity. For example, website Global Issues tells us that an idea of the necessity of consuming so much meat was infiltrated into our brains by oligarchs of food industry in the same manner as tobacco industry promoted theirs and succeeded.

There are many sides of this issue. The problems of cattle industry are not only problems of Cheng Kai, but as mentioned above, of the entire population. It has to be discussed widely and openly in every country. Solutions to prevent the environmental damage must be found.