Shadow of disparity on rural per capita income

• Source: Global Times
• [00:55 January 14 2010]
• Comments

By Chen Chenchen

Publicizing annual income is a recent trend among netizens. As 2009 has ended, people from different industries post their yearly income on the Web for purposes of comparison. Among them are IT elites, real estate developers and marketing specialists who expect higher income in 2010.

As expected, farmers are absent in the raging debate, though they number 800 million in a population of 1.3 billion.

Figures released at the Central Rural Work Conference held in Beijing in late December showed that rural per capita net income in 2009, for the first time, broke through the level of 5,000 yuan ($732.4).

It's heartening that rural reform policies have gained some ground. But the cheer of "5,000" cannot bridge the vast gap between the rich and the poor in rural China.

If two farmers, respectively from Huaxi village in East China's Jiangsu Province (supposedly the richest village in China) and Mujiashan village in West China's Shaanxi Province are invited to reveal their income, two disparate versions of rural lives will be presented. The rural income gap is no less yawning than that in cities.

As the government endeavors to promote urban-rural integration, it is no secret that villages geographically closer to cities but in the economic hinterland enjoy more opportunities.

In China's Yangtze River delta area, it's not hard for a farmer to go to a surrounding city and become a construction worker or a night watchman.

However, a man in a remote mountain village in Sichuan Province remains tied down by the lack of an external network as well as paucity of funds for traveling far.

Global experiences have shown that the poorer sections of the population won't automatically disappear. They get reduced as a result of either government assistance or self-development.

With the rise in the number of the rural rich, many see how contracting combine harvesters or introducing scientific agriculture under government's preferential policies can bring about a better life for larger sections of the poor.

In contrast, those who lack education or a sense of the market economy are still feeding themselves at the lowest subsistence level with an allowance of 30 ($4.39) to 40 yuan a month.

For them, "blood transfusion" from the government will not bring about any sustainable effect. How to prompt their "hematopoietic function" remains an urgent task.

As the central government has proposed, the greatest potential for fueling domestic demand and ensuring economic growth exists in the rural areas. In a bid to drive the economy, creating opportunities for narrowing the rural wealth gap in 2010 is a pivotal issue facing the government