The Forgotten China
Since the end of the Cultural Revolution and the collapse of Maoism, the Chinese leadership has been dependent on unparalleled economic growth to legitimize its authoritarian rule. In a matter of two decades, the boom towns of Eastern China have transformed itself from poverty-stricken underdeveloped cities to major international metropolises. Every other day, a new article comes up on BBC or CNN, praising China or at least showing off its newfound wealth. However, this massive growth has not taken root in the countryside or many of China’s Western provinces as these areas are being neglected by the leadership.
In today’s China, there is no longer an “iron rice bowl” which provides social services and a safety net for people to fall back on. Public healthcare and education have deterioriated so much that they have turned into the top two expenses of those that reside in the countryside. Although these problems exist in major cities along the East Coast also, the relative wealth gives the cities a significant advantage over the countryside. In real terms, Chinese people in urban centers make over three times as much as those that reside in rural areas. As urbanites get wealthier, they have also been intruding into the countryside, building houses and freeways on property that is often poorly compensated for. This massive imbalance has been caused by the unfair priorities of the Chinese government and lopsided urban development, sapping natural resources that otherwise would be left for the countryside and diverting it to cities. This year has been one of the worst droughts in the past fifty years, yet city dwellers can’t tell the difference as those in the countryside suffer. Rural suffering has long been a trademark of the Chinese Communist Party since the fall of Maoism as the party no longer pays much attention to equity, instead favoring absolute economic growth. This year’s drought has just been one more event that has clearly proven where the priorities of the central government lay.
As a result of these inequalities, there has been a huge increase in the number of “mass group incidents,” from 8,700 in 1993 to nearly 87,000 in 2005. Although these “incidents” mostly target corrupt local officials and unfair seizures of land by developers, it is very much possible for this animosity to be directed towards the central government if the situation in the countryside doesn’t change. It is important to remember that in Chinese history, most of the major uprisings fomented in the countryside as a result of neglect and poor governance.
Yet as the conditions worsen in the countryside, there may still be hope for China. Earlier this year, Hu Jintao had finally recognized the importance of equity and called for slower, sustainable growth along with more focus on developing the countryside and closing the wealth and quality of life gap between the countryside and the cities. Two of the key features of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan is to “build a new socialist countryside” and promote “balanced regional development.” If the plans are effective, then perhaps China will no longer be characterized by unequal growth and neglect of its countryside. It is imperative for the future of China and the world that this rising superpower is stable and this stability can only come from better governance and better allocation of its resources and attention.
Lake raises an issue that is not exclusive to China, that of inequity and squalor amidst burgeoning prosperity. If nothing at all, this trend is an artifact of capitalism, a problem that has been exacerbated by globalization. It took Hurricane Katrina to reveal America’s socio-economic inequity and we all witnessed on TV the millions of African-Americans who were too poor to relocate and had to bear the brunt of the disaster while government response lagged and little help came forth.
What makes China’s inequity stick out is perhaps its huge population coupled with its non-existent social safety net—a combination that makes poverty resulting from large income inequalities especially visible.
We should not be overly critical of China’s economic inequity; and if we choose to criticize, we must keep our criticism in perspective. I must confess some admiration for China’s efforts at integrating into the global economy as well as its gradual shift from its communist past (in intent if not in practice) Undoubtedly, China needs to do more to mitigate the suffering of its urban poor especially in the areas of healthcare and education, as Lake points out.
Comment by Atta Addo — June 8, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
As an exhibit to the importance of income disparity, I point interested parties toward my section’s feature on Urbanization, specifically the Farthing, Arbona, Kohl article. They paint an interesting picture of wealth disparities through the use of two adjoining cities in Bolivia.
Comment by Omar Abdelsamad — June 8, 2006 @ 11:59 pm