, , , , ,

China’s Poverty Reduction Plan

China's poverty reductionSince 1980, the number of people living in absolute poverty in China has been reduced by 800 million. This has coincided with China’s sustained GDP growth for the past two decades and 8% growth in 2021. However, for China’s poverty reduction to continue, the country needs to address issues of income inequality and lack of human capital development.

How Poverty is Measured

In 2020 President Xi Xing Ping announced the “complete victory” of his campaign to eliminate poverty. He claimed this because everyone had met the Chinese government’s extreme poverty line of $2.25 income per day. But, according to the World Bank, an “upper-middle income” country such as China should use a poverty line of $5.50 a day. At this level, China’s poverty reduction still appears to have performed well, reducing the percentage of people below the poverty line of $5.50 from 98% in 1990 to 17% in 2018.

However, China now has a similar income per capita that the United States had in the 1960s when the US set its poverty line at $21.70 (adjusting for inflation). At this poverty line, the US had less than one-quarter of its population in poverty. In comparison, applying a poverty line of $21.20 to China today over 80% of the population would be in poverty. This suggests that China is far from achieving “complete victory” in eliminating poverty.

Problems with Mass Mobilization

During the last decade, China relocated hundreds of millions of rural people to new city apartment complexes. Unfortunately, many cannot afford the city rents. In fact, the current Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently noted that 600 million people cannot afford city rents. As the New York Times reported in 2013, “Top-down efforts to quickly transform entire societies have often come to grief, and urbanization has already proven one of the most wrenching changes in China’s 35 years of economic transition.”

Lack of Investment in Human Capital Development

Also, according to a 2021 article in The Diplomat, China has not invested in rural education and human capital development. That means 70% of the workforce, which engages in labor-intensive, low-skill jobs, hasn’t completed high school and therefore does not qualify for the retraining programs for better-paying jobs. In 2019, the manufacturing and construction sectors employed 46% of the migrant workforce. In addition to low wages, migrant workers encounter more safety hazards.  They also lack access to social welfare protections available to others.

RCEF: Pushing Quality Rural Education

To continue to reduce poverty, China will need to address these issues. This will become increasingly important as China loses its comparative advantage in the labor-intensive markets, and increasingly relies on innovation to drive growth. Luckily, non-government organizations such as the Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF) are taking the lead to promote quality education in rural areas of China. The RCEF is focusing on helping the left-behind young and elderly.  It innovates with its community-based and student-centered curriculum rather than focusing strictly on test prep.

Access to Education for All through AI Investment: Squirrel AI

On top of this, China’s mass implementation and investment in artificial intelligence (AI) is helping to provide access to education for all. Derek Li’s Squirrel AI is a good example of this. Li found that conventional online training failed because it didn’t engage students for more than a 14-minute stretch. Squirrel AI uses adaptative AI technology to teach, evaluate, test and train students. The AI technology simulates the methods and responses of the highest-rated teachers.

As Li says, “AI technology is at a point where it can disrupt the education industry that has not changed for hundreds of years, by providing every single child with access to the best teacher for that individual child’s needs.”  Squirrel AI also teaches students methods and thought processes anchored in imagination and creativity. It is one of the top two adoptive AI companies globally. The company has also opened 1800 offline learning centers that provide educational access to students in rural areas. This was especially important in times of COVID-19.

Thinking Ahead

If China’s poverty reduction is to continue at a more sustainable rate, further development of quality education and other means of human capital development will be important. Hopefully, this development will also help increase the wages of the lowest wage workers who still live at a level of income that is not viable.

– Reuben Cochrane
Photo: Flickr

, ,

The Jackson Yee Incident and Income Inequality in China

In July 2022, Jackson Yee, a well-known young Chinese actor and a member of the idol group TFBOYS, fell into the whirlpool of online public opinion because he obtained a permanent position in the National Theatre of China. Many netizens questioned the admission results and eligibility of Yee and two other actors. They felt celebrity privilege led to their acceptance. Despite Yee’s insistence on his innocence, he chose to give up the position he received. This incident underlines the social ramifications of income inequality in China.

Jackson Yee and The National Theatre of China

Yee, 22,  rose to fame as a TFBOYS singer, but since then has acted in a number of films including Better Days, nominated for an Oscar in 2019.  He has over 90 million followers on Sina Weibo, the Chinese social media platform.

There are two key doubts about Yee’s acceptance to the National Theatre. First, Chinese netizens questioned Yee’s eligibility to apply for the National Theatre of China. First, to be eligible one had to be unemployed, but Yee obviously wasn’t. In addition, when doubts escalated, the National Theatre of China refused to release interview videos and application details that the government required. Yee’s hire angered so many Chinese people not only because of celebrity privilege in the job market but also because of the overarching issue of huge income inequality in China that has long been a source of concern among netizens.

The Huge Income Gap Between Celebrities and Ordinaries in China

In China, the income of celebrities is unimaginable for ordinary people. For instance, Zhang Yixing, one of the most famous rap stars in China, paid $2.8 million in taxes in 2018.

And the income inequality in China goes beyond the most popular celebrities. Even tepid and unknown stars appearing in a single commercial performance earn tens of thousands of yuan. On the other hand, office workers in big cities may earn between 7,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan a month (equivalent to $1037 and $1482) while in remote counties, wages average no more than 3,000 yuan (equivalent to $44) a month.  In particular, this income inequality has caused outrage on social media.

Efforts To Cap Celebrity Salaries

In response to that netizen outrage, the Chinese government has embarked on a series of measures to correct disparities.  In 2018, China introduced a new mandatory policy that in television production, the salary of the leading actor cannot exceed 70% of the sum of the salary of all artists and 40% of the total production cost. This means that extremely high salaries for actors will be a thing of the past.

Moreover, China is enforcing this rule. For example, Zheng Shuang, a well-known Chinese actress, earned $25 million for appearing in just 77 days of a TV show. After public outcry, an investigation found that the production company did not follow the protocols and that Shuang had evaded taxes between 2019 and 2020. The government ordered the production to not hire Shuang again, and fined Shuang $45 million in back taxes.

Efforts to Raise Income Level of Rural Chinese

In addition to making the income of celebrities more reasonable, the Chinese government is also committed to improving the income level of the general public. This is the key to reducing income inequality in China. The Chinese government plans that by 2035, the rural population with lower incomes today will experience a 157% increase in income. Further, in order to achieve this goal, China will build digital infrastructures in rural areas to make the production and life of rural people more efficient, thereby creating greater economic benefits. If this plan can be carried out smoothly, by 2035 the income inequality in China between celebrities and ordinary people should be significantly reduced.

-Ella Li
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

 

, , , ,

World Bank to Alleviate Rural Chinese Poverty

Rural Chinese PovertyThe World Bank has approved a $200 million loan to support the Chinese province of Hunan in expanding access to public services for rural residents. About 30 million people in Hunan live in rural areas and the loan will deliver equitable and efficient public services to this demographic in an attempt to alleviate rural Chinese poverty.

Rural Inequity in China

China has experienced remarkable economic growth in the past four decades and with it an undeniable drop in extreme poverty. However, the distribution of this poverty alleviation has largely benefitted urban residents over the rural population. More than 500 million of China’s residents live in rural areas and their remote locations in such a massive country have made reducing poverty particularly difficult. Rural Chinese people do not have access to big-city poverty reduction resources like quality education, healthcare and high-paying jobs. It is also harder for the government’s poverty alleviation programs to track down farmers scattered across the vast rural Chinese landscape.

Furthermore, local governments often bear a disproportionate responsibility for trillions of dollars in loans to pay for poverty alleviation programs and this debt hinders rural provinces’ abilities to complete internal improvement projects. Unfinished road construction projects force rural farmers to carry their produce across miles of difficult terrain to reach the nearest major road. Besides obstructing rural commerce, broken roads prevent people from being able to reach quality schools and well-paying jobs. Healthcare and treatment for COVID-19 are also highly inaccessible due to the crumbling infrastructure that keeps China’s rural people in a cycle of poverty.

How New Funding Helps

Hunan’s $200 million loan from the World Bank will serve as a template for other provinces and will help alleviate rural Chinese poverty in a few key ways. First, it will provide funding for rural public schools which often suffer from a lack of resources and staff. It will also increase financing for rural road maintenance and enhance the climate resilience of roads so that storms and flooding do not decimate residents’ main avenues of travel. Road improvement projects have an enormous impact on Hunan farmers as a recently completed 63km road project provided for more convenient transport, opened farmers to broader markets, and in effect, increased Hunan residents’ incomes by about 30%.

Also included in the loan are measures designed to strengthen local debt management, which will allow more of Hunan’s budget to go toward improving living conditions rather than repaying debts. Lastly, the loan will make budget information more accessible to citizens, which should decrease the amount of fraud and fund mismanagement experienced. In the past five years, China has reported more than 60,000 cases of corruption and misconduct in its poverty alleviation programs. In 2018 alone, the government recouped about $112 million of misappropriated poverty spending. With information like this available to the public rather than buried in private documents, Hunan expects a reduction in poverty-related fraud and embezzlement.

Poverty in Numbers

The World Bank loan will certainly create positive changes in the Hunan province but impoverished rural citizens overall still need much more support. The impact of rural Chinese poverty often gets understated as basic statistics do not tell the whole story. While the number of Chinese citizens in extreme poverty living on less than $1.90 a day has decreased by almost 750 million, a quarter of China’s population still lives on less than $5.50 a day. The World Bank sets $5.50 per day as the poverty threshold for upper-middle-income countries like China, so by this measure, a large number of Chinese people still live in poverty, most of whom are likely rural people.

The Road Ahead

The rural residents in Hunan and elsewhere in China have not shared the triumphs of national poverty eradication. In order to effectively assist impoverished rural citizens, China and the international aid community can draw wisdom from the strategy for the allocation of the World Bank’s new loan.

Spending on higher-quality rural education will increase the standard of living and offer rural residents a better opportunity for socio-economic growth. Completing road construction projects and making roads climate resilient will provide rural citizens increased commerce and more convenient access to education, healthcare and job resources. Strengthening local debt management will ease the strain of provincial loan repayment and allow greater spending on internal improvements. Finally, making budget information transparent and accessible for citizens will decrease cases of fund mismanagement and ensure poverty reduction programs are properly using expenditure to alleviate rural Chinese poverty.

– Calvin Nordhougen
Photo: Flickr

, , , , , , , ,

STEM Education Can Reduce Poverty in Rural China

STEM Education Can Reduce povertyEducation has long been proven as a tool for poverty reduction. In fact, UNESCO estimates that if all people in low-income countries had basic reading skills, an estimated 171 million people could escape poverty. Education allows for upward socioeconomic mobility for those in poverty by providing access to more skilled, higher-paying jobs. In particular, STEM education can reduce poverty.

STEM Education

STEM refers to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Because of the shifting focus toward STEM in the job market, millions of STEM jobs are opening up in developing countries. However, many go unfilled because of gaps in the STEM education pipeline. These jobs could be the key to helping the poor to improve their standards of living, but those in poverty often lack the education necessary for these jobs, such as in rural China.

Education Disparities in China

Education in China is becoming more accessible and comprehensive. Since the 1980s, the adult literacy rate has risen from 65% to 96% and the rate of high school graduates seeking higher education has risen from 20% to 60%. However, these gains are not equal across the country. Rural students in China have often been left behind in the education reform movement. More than 70% of urban students attend college while less than 5% of rural students do, partly because urban residents make about three times more than rural residents. Another reason has to do with parental support; a researcher at the University of Oslo found that over 95% of urban parents wanted their children to attend college, while under 60% of rural parents wanted the same.

Rural students also receive lower-quality education than urban students. Despite China’s Compulsory Education Law in 1986, rural schools often lack the ability to put the proposed reforms in place because they do not have the educational resources. Teachers are scarcer in village schools as most qualified professionals flock to the urban areas where there is a higher standard of living and higher pay. As a result, fewer rural students get into top colleges and therefore lose out on opportunities for advancement.

Generational Poverty and the Effect of STEM

Generational poverty refers to families that have spent two or more generations in poverty. This is especially common in rural areas where parents have a harder time generating the necessary income for their children’s education, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty when the children grow up. In rural China, about 5.1 million people live in the throes of generational poverty. This is due to a number of factors but a major one is lack of educational opportunities in the rural provinces.

STEM education can reduce poverty by helping children in rural provinces break the cycle of generational poverty. Since 2016, 248 high schools in poor areas have tuned into live lessons hosted by one of the top high schools in China, giving poor students the ability to receive the same education as their upper-middle-class peers. As a result, 88 of the participating rural students were admitted into China’s top two universities — universities that are estimated to have a rural population of only 1%.

Organizations for STEM Education

Some groups are working to bring STEM education to even younger students. In 2019, Lenovo, a technology company started in China, donated 652 sets of scientific toolboxes to primary schools in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province, an area that is over 90% agrarian. The toolboxes contained materials that helped children perform science experiments and solved the problem of the lack of equipment in rural schools. Each toolbox, spread over 122 schools, helped 12 children at once and was reusable. In total, it enabled about 43,903 primary and secondary school students to become more scientifically literate and will prepare them better for future education and employment.

The Green & Shine Foundation is also helping teachers better instruct their students. It trains rural teachers in teaching necessary STEM skills to help lay the foundation for more STEM education later in their students’ lives. It also helps to develop curriculums and hold exchange programs with STEM schools so that rural teachers can observe and discuss new teaching methods. These efforts have helped 1,411,292 rural teachers and students across China.

STEM for Ending Generational Poverty

China has made strides in alleviating poverty, reducing its poverty rate every year since implementing major reforms. The Chinese government needs to prioritize investment in STEM education in rural provinces to close the education gap between rural and urban students and help bring an end to generational poverty. STEM education can reduce poverty globally.

– Brooklyn Quallen
Photo: Flickr

, , , ,

What You Need to Know About China’s Rural-Urban Education Gap

rural-urban education gap
China has the largest education system in the world, and education investments make up 4% of the country’s annual GDP. But despite China’s reputation of striving for academic excellence, the country’s rural-urban education gap is widening, and those in poverty are being left behind. After a passing a certain grade level in school, there are no guarantees for rural students to continue their education as easily as their urban peers. This rural-urban education gap helps perpetuate China’s large divide between social classes.

Causes of China’s Rural-Urban Education Gap

China’s government has a mandatory nine-year education policy that allows Chinese children to attend school at no cost from grades one through nine. But after completing primary school, impoverished children are at a much higher risk of dropping out than their urban counterparts. The income level for rural regions is three times less than that of urban regions, yet residents from both areas are expected to afford tuition, books and other educational fees. High school becomes the financial responsibility of families, but upon reaching this level, 60% of rural students have already dropped out because of the costs.

Many rural parents play a game of risk when considering their children’s education. When parents ultimately decide to leave for higher salaries in urban areas, around 60 million children are left in villages to live with relatives and attend school. But while parents’ intentions are to earn money for their children’s schooling, this lack of parental supervision for these “left-behind” children accounts for over 13% of school dropouts by the eighth grade.

The COVID-19 pandemic may increase China’s rural-urban education gap. Only 50% of students in rural regions have undisrupted access to online classes, with one-third of those students being completely cut off from learning. On the other hand, only 5.7% of urban students have zero access. The issue stems from households lacking computers and strong internet connections — a problem that hits rural children the hardest. For example, 40% of students in urban regions own a computer, compared to only 7.3% of students in villages.

Local governments are responsible for financing education in their regions, but those in rural areas often experience financial shortages. Without governmental support, families are left to pay for further schooling but lack the means to do so, resulting in dropouts and poor educational quality. Rural schools are usually staffed with fresh graduates, who are cheaper to hire, but who lack the teaching abilities and experience to properly develop young minds. Incredibly low salaries lead to a high turnover rate in rural communities, with educators in one county reported at earning only 2,500 yuan ($358.79 USD) per month.

Classroom instruction is also difficult with inadequate teaching supplies. While urban classrooms use up-to-date technology in large spaces, rural classrooms lack basic resources and include cramped rooms for students to sleep, because most travel far from their villages to attend school. Without experienced teachers and stimulating learning spaces, the few rural students who can pursue higher education do not make it as far as their urban peers. Less than 5% of rural students are admitted to universities, while over 70% of urban students attend, contributing to China’s rural-urban education gap.

International Aid

China’s rural-urban education gap falls directly in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which target unequal education and the disparaging effects of poverty. The U.N. is working with China to end wealth disparities in education and promote inclusivity in classrooms. The World Bank is also financing efforts toward mending this gap, including support for the Guangdong Compulsory Education Project. This project’s mission, enacted in 2017 and set to finish in 2023, focuses on improving classroom equipment and teaching quality in public schools. According to the Ministry of Education, 99% of school-age children complete the mandatory nine-year school policy. The World Bank pledged $120 million for this program, which will advance learning from grades first through ninth, helping rural children receive a more comprehensive education while school is still accessible to them.

With China’s current education system, rural children struggle to finance and pursue higher learning. As a result, the rich remain rich and the poor remain poor, perpetuating intergenerational poverty. China’s rural-urban education gap remains a challenge, and changes must be made. As education in China improves, poverty will decrease and millions of children can hope for brighter futures.

– Radley Tan
Photo: Flickr

, , , ,

7 Facts About Inequality in China

inequality in chinaChina, a vast country harboring nearly 1.4 billion people, is situated in East Asia. In 1944, China, one of the four Allied powers during the Second World War, became a pillar in forming what would later become the United Nations. Furthermore, China has become one of the fastest growing nations throughout the world. Despite its longstanding partnership with the U.N. and its rapid economic growth, widespread inequality and poverty still exist in China. Here are seven facts about inequality in China.

7 Facts About Inequality in China

  1. Income inequality is due to many systemic factors. Location within the country, families, lineage and hukou (home registration) play a vital role in individuals’ income. Another element is the swift economic expansion that has overtaken the country, which many view as a necessity for the country’s development.
  2. Rapid economic expansion has both hindered and helped China. In 1978, China opted to expand its economy, which has made its GDP rise by nearly 10% annually. The swift growth has allowed over 850 million people — more than half of the population — to remove themselves from poverty. However, 373 million people still make $5 a day on average in China. Due to China’s rapid expansion, inequality across social, economic and environmental spheres persists.
  3. The merit-based Hukou system plays a pivotal role in the income gap between urban and rural locations. Moreover, it hinders rural workers from migrating and contributing to the larger urban centers spread across the country. China’s eastern seaboard is home to numerous densely populated cities, which has left the western regions predominantly rural. This system favors the upper echelon of society while discriminating against former farmers from villages.
  4. China has 23 provinces, yet five are autonomous. These self-governing regions include Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Taiwan is considered a province yet it still has its currency, localized government and the national flag. Hong Kong and Macau are considered administrative regions, with the former set to be absorbed by the mainland in the coming years.
  5. In 1979, Mao Zedong, founding father of the People’s Republic of China, implemented a one-child policy that aimed to control the rapidly growing nation. More than three decades later, the country changed the policy to allow for two children per family in 2015. Despite strict efforts to diminish the surge in population, China still has a large proportion of children across all developing nations and a significant child poverty issue.
  6. Child poverty is a big issue in a country of nearly 1.4 billion. China holds one out of every five children across the developing world. Child poverty in China is a generational issue that can be traced back to family dynamics. However, the country is providing social assistance for children attending their education and for being fed an adequate amount. This strategy is known as a conditional cash transfer, and it helps children climb out of poverty.
  7. Healthcare hurts the poor. Nearly 200 million farmers have fled their respective regions to find work in cities, but the China has adopted a “pay first, claim later” form of healthcare. China has aimed to tackle healthcare through its rural poverty alleviation program; however, high medical expenses have adversely affected rural populations.

Despite China’s rapid economic growth, the country has suffered and experienced backlash over its imbalance in the social welfare of its citizens, its impact on climate change and the economy. These facts about inequality in China highlight elements that have played a role in perpetuating inequality and how it has predominantly affected those from rural settings. However, the country is determined to turn the tide on these challenges and has made headway moving forward, supported by the U.N.

– Michael Santiago
Photo: Needpix

, , ,

Winter in Asia: China’s Heating Crisis

china's heating crisisWhile many in the developed world think of heat in the winter as a basic need, many people are impacted by China’s heat crisis and spend every long winter season without a central heating system in their home. A clear geographical line divides those who have basic central heating in their homes and those who do not. Heat was afforded to the northern portion of China whose occupants experienced the coldest and harshest winter seasons. However, though temperatures often dip below freezing in the southern region, many residents suffer from inadequate heating and thin walls that provide them sub-par protection from the frigid temperatures. More fortunate residents can afford to own and power a space heater designed for small rooms and short amounts of time for some comfort, but many without any heating devices report resorting to measures such as turning on their air conditioning since the air it will produce is warmer than the air in their home.

History of Heating in China

The decision to ration heat in China came in the 1950s when officials came to the realization that they did not have the resources or energy capacity to heat the vast and populous country. China’s heating crisis started when the north was perceived as in the highest need because the region experienced lower temperatures and higher levels of snowfall. However, the country failed to factor in the harsh conditions of cities on the east coast of China, such as Shanghai, where, while they don’t see much snowfall, rainfall and wind make for low wind-chills and blustery conditions.

For the homes located in the north, the government controls the heat and keeps every home at a consistent 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Lacking control over their heat consumption can lead to financial strain for the lower-class Chinese residents who struggle to afford the mandated cost of their heating bill. 

“Generally, a 70-square-meter apartment in Beijing costs around 2,100 yuan ($317.36) just to heat every winter, which is quite expensive for low-income families,” a Chinese journalist said when describing China’s heating crisis.

To make ends meet, this may leave them with no choice but to ration in other areas such as regular groceries and other essentials.

Updating the System

For the majority of its existence, China’s central heating system has been operated on a coal-burning based system. To accommodate every home in the north, a great deal of coal has to be burnt every year. Before the 2017 upgrade, in which many systems were converted to burn natural gas, China was one of the world’s largest consumers of energy with the amount of coal used being a large contributing factor. This has come at the expense of several negative implications to the environment which has directly contributed to China’s severe air pollution problem that worsens climate change and public health.

China’s Heating Future

Southern citizens are waiting on the government to construct a central heating plan to warm the homes in the south, but it never seems to be a priority. In response to the lack of government intervention in China’s heat crisis, wealthier Chinese residents have opted to install heating systems in their homes at their own cost. While it may take a while for the government to provide lower-income families with central heat, heat becoming the cultural norm is sure to shift public opinion and put pressure on the government to devise a way to provide every home with adequate heating. In addition, the Chinese government is planning to implement a “New Green Deal” that will make it more affordable to heat homes by using cheaper energy sources and providing government help to pay the bills.

– Samantha Decker
Photo: Pikist

, , , ,

Chinese Farmer Uses Streaming To Make An Income

Using Streaming to Make an Income
For many rural citizens of China, earning a living is an unproductive grind. More than one-third of the country’s working population consists of rural migrant workers. Despite the long and difficult hours of labor, the average income of these jobs is only approximately 45,000 yuan (less than $6,400 USD). That amount is enough to cover the laborers’ expenses and send some money home to their families but is not enough to ensure long-term financial stability.

Not only are the wages low, but the work conditions are poor. Laborers often resort to living in overcrowded dormitories or apartments that cost a large portion of their monthly salaries. There are hardly any welfare benefits in any migrant-based jobs and social insurance is rare. Workers also struggle to acquaint themselves with their new locales. Hardly any have enough free time to truly settle into their new cities and report feeling isolated and out of place.

Such occupations can no doubt feel limiting. That is why some people in bleak working environments make their own careers. With some ingenuity and with technology as simple as a smartphone, impoverished laborers are continually improving their quality of life. Here is the story of a person who used streaming to make an income.

From Working Construction to Streaming Chickens

Liu Jinyin, a Chinese chicken farmer in Luzhou, Sichuan province,  used to struggle with his meager migrant worker’s salary. Making just 48,000 yuan (around $6,750 USD) annually, Liu worked in construction, followed by a facility that manufactured zippers. After that, he worked as a goat breeder. In his former jobs, he was unhappy with both his wages and his quality of life.

In early 2017, he decided to try something new. With his smartphone and a live streaming app, he began sharing everyday life on his family’s rural farm. He wanted to tap into the ever-growing streaming market in China. Liu features his morning chores, various maintenance projects on the farm and descriptions of the flora and fauna that he encounters every day, among other activities. Gradually, he began to amass a following while streaming to make an income. Urban Chinese often commented that they used to live in rural areas and enjoyed the videos because they reminded them of home. People from other areas of the world were simply fascinated with the way of life and liked the casual look into someone else’s routine.

Tapping into his entrepreneurial side, Liu began to develop a regular schedule for his casual streams. His fanbase responded, and he now has nearly 200,000 followers and makes $1,500 USD per month. Best of all, he is able to stay home and work on his family’s farm full-time. While some of the inhabitants of his hometown were apprehensive about his new line of work, Liu paid his critics no mind. “I’m… now able to stay at home to take care of my parents. Everyone’s happy. This has changed me,” he once remarked.

Other Ways Technology Can Share Prosperity

Liu developed a following with nothing more than a good idea and a smartphone. He now makes nearly three times his prior income in a much more comfortable environment. There is no reason why anyone else in his situation could not find the same success if they had the right tools to do so.

Streaming to make an income is not necessarily the only option either. Some people use basic technologies to make and share videos, advertise their handmade goods or seek microloans to own and operate local businesses. With the proper tools, people living in or near poverty can better support themselves, their families and their communities. Remote entrepreneurs do not have to worry about commuting and have the freedom to tend to their homes and young children while working. Often, the global market is better for the sale of specialty items, like jewelry or art pieces. Access to a bigger market generates more profits.

Ways Anyone Can Help

When business people begin their ventures, they primarily need customers to interact with. A person can visit websites that sell fairly-produced handmade goods to offer support. One can also engage with men and women on microloan services, many of whom share interesting and inspirational stories.

From a political perspective, it is also important to support the Digital GAP Act, currently in the U.S. Senate. This bill would allocate funds to give 1.5 billion people first-time internet access by 2020. Not only would this legislation improve educational, political and societal operations, but a huge number of people would have better economic opportunities thanks to its implementation.

Liu Jinyin’s story is a great example of how no career should be off-limits for anyone, no matter their background. It also shows a small glimpse of how the newest generation of impoverished young adults is using modern technologies to improve their lives. Whether it is buying art or watching chickens, one can give these hardworking people support. The story of a Chinese chicken farmer streaming to make an income is truly amazing.

– Molly Power
Photo: Flickr

, , ,

The Process of Fixing China’s Regional Inequality

Regional Inequality
China’s regional inequality has historically been an issue. It is common for developed countries to have regional wealth and income disparity between rural and urban areas. Enormous wealth inequality exists between rural and urban regions of China with 90 percent of all poverty being rural poverty.

The Current State of Regional Inequality in China

Along with China’s regional poverty, an educational disparity has widened within China. The government has supported and subsidized education in urban centers but neglected to invest in opportunities for rural education. Since the 1950s, rural attendance at the Universities of Tsinghua and Peking has declined from over 50 percent to less than 20 percent in 2005 despite the rural population making up the majority of China’s population at that time. The lack of educational opportunities in rural communities in China has fed into the downward spiral of stagnation for such regions, as an educated populace is a crucial asset for creating economic growth.

Previous Efforts to Combat Regional Inequality in China

Recently, the Chinese government has recognized the need to address the growing problem of China’s regional inequality and has enacted a series of relatively new but ambitious policies to tackle the crisis.

China proposed the first of these in 1999. The Great Western Development Strategy is a $1 trillion (Chinese Yuan) development plan that aims at investing in development and growth in the inland Western Regions of the country. The plan slowly began in the early 2000s with spending on infrastructure projects in the west.

One of the most major projects was the construction of the West-East gas pipeline which began in 2002 and ended in 2005. This was a very ambitious project that created numerous jobs and revenue for the west while also benefitting the east coast. Other energy initiatives focused largely on the creation of hydropower plants throughout the region. Other infrastructure projects have focused on transportation. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Southern Xinjiang Railway finished in the mid-2000s as a part of the strategy. These new railways employed many people and improved transportation substantially in their respective regions.

The Great Western Development Strategy also hopes to entice foreign investments in the region. The primary strategies for this objective are environmental conservation and improvement in educational opportunities. The plan has waived tuition fees for compulsory education in west China in hopes of improving the overall education of its citizens. Huge ecological conservation policies, such as Returning Grazing Land to Grassland seek to convert vast swaths of farmland into natural grasslands, as well as protect and expand forestry.

Recent Efforts to Combat Regional Inequality in China

The Northeast Revitalization Plan aims to rebuild traditional industries in the northeast, but with added economic and environmental regulations. The plan has also abolished taxes on agricultural workers and farmers, hoping this policy will be favorable towards the regions declining agricultural industry.

The new proposal, the Rise of Central China Plan, focusses on improving China’s agricultural heartland. Many often refer to Central China as “China’s Breadbasket.” The region has experienced only a fraction of the growth that coastal regions have undergone. As of 2002, the region’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was only 75 percent the national average. The Rise of Central China Plan will promote investment in advancements in agricultural techniques and technology with the hopes of increasing farming efficiency and creating larger yields in the region.

This is especially important for China as the issue of food security has risen for the highly populated nation. The Rise of Central China Plan also focuses on the development of transportation infrastructure in central China. A huge reason for central China’s economic stagnation has been lack of sufficient transportation, which has stifled its growth despite the region’s abundance of natural resources such as coal and its massive population.

Regional inequality in China has deep roots in past policies. The rural-urban divide has prompted a wave of bold new reforms aimed at combatting rural poverty and though the effort has just begun, these programs are showing promising results.

– Karl Haider
Photo: Flickr

, , , , ,

Wealth Inequality in China and the Rural-Urban Gap

wealth in inequality in china
It is a well-known fact that China is one of Asia’s -and the world’s- wealthiest nations. In the past two decades, China has made strides in eliminating poverty by reducing 60 percent of the population living in extreme poverty in 1990 to 10 percent in 2010. However, using the Gini coefficient, an inequality measurement that ranges from 0-1, where 0 means complete economic equality and 1 means the richest person has all the income, wealth inequality in China verges on 0 .5, with 0.4 being regarded as the international warning level of dangerous inequality.

Unrealistic Precedents

The rising average income of 21,586.95 yuan or about $3,142.11 is not as realistic, however. The median income for China is 18,371.34 yuan or about $2,674.06. The downsizing of poverty and growing economy has not impacted all parts of China equally. There is still a large amount of wealth inequality in China. Depending on the region and type of economy, certain areas make more than others. According to 2015 data, Shanghai and Beijing, both very urban areas, make almost 50,000 yuan each, while the poorer, rural areas like Xizang, Gansu, and Guizhou make less than 40,000 yuan combined.

When data like living standards and housing prices are compared by province, there is a stark disparity between the economic conditions of rural and urban areas. Urban areas tend to make much more money than their rural counterparts. Along with this, despite rapid urbanization, 50.3 percent of China’s population, almost half a billion, is rural.

The Role of Education and Finance

One of the underlying causes of wealth inequality in China is the lack of education. Many rural areas lack access to schools and higher education, so although there is a large amount of higher-level jobs available, many Chinese cannot lift themselves up academically in order to access these jobs successfully. Because of this, rural Chinese are more likely to have lower-paying jobs or be self-employed in agricultural jobs. Thus, they will not make as much money.

Another cause of wealth inequality in China is that food costs are more. The Engel coefficient, which works the same as the Gini coefficient but measures food costs, is lower for urban areas than rural areas, even though urban areas have higher gross incomes. Housing is also less expensive in urban areas, leading to a higher surplus of disposable income for already-wealthy urban inhabitants.

According to China’s banking regulator, at least 50 counties in Tibet, Yunnan, and Sichuan are unbanked, which means they even lack access to banks and financial services. Rural Chinese lack a lot of other basic resources like cars and clean water as well.

Hope for the Future

While it may seem like not much is being done to help the rural poor, some policies are being put in place by China to address the issue. In 2013 China started its “35 Point Plan” also known as the Income Distribution Plan. It has goals to increase the minimum wage, spend more on public education and affordable housing, and provide overall economic security. In 2006, the Chinese government also abolished the agricultural tax and prohibited local governments from collecting fees. Social welfare policies and taxation reform, along with policies to improve the equality of education combined have slowly but steadily decreased the Gini coefficient to below 0.5 from 2008, which was its all-time high.

– Nadine Argott-Northam
Photo: Media-Public