A Chinese spring?

[SOHEIL]

A Chinese spring !?

CMOOOOOOOOOOON

 

[shuttler]

China

China’s Economy – What’s in a measure of poverty anyway?

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by shardsofchina in China, Theme: The Economy


While there’s no doubt that China’s economic rise has improved the lives of a billion people, who aren’t going to jump up and down and shake the world for it (it’s a myth anyway – they wouldn’t have the slightest effect on the passage of the earth). There are still an awful lot of people with very little money available to them here in China.

Behind the smiles, poverty is only too real an issue for China's rural poor

In fact according to estimates from the United Nations there are around 300 million people living below the internationally defined line of absolute poverty. That’s $1.25 a day to you and me and works out at just over $450 a year.

The Chinese government disagrees and it uses a different measure to calculate absolute poverty in China. It says that people need a minimum salary of 1,200 RMB a year to live on, and that’s only $190 a year. And they say there are “only” 200 million people surviving on this amount in the country.

Either way you look at it; there are a lot of people in China surviving on very little money. It’s roughly equivalent to every single person in the United States living on less than $500 a year. So if you think money’s tight for you, you might give a moment of thanks that you aren’t living in rural China.

Living conditions can be optimistically described as "basic" if you live on less than $500 a year

But which measure is fairest for calculating real poverty? There’s no simple answer to this question, mainly because it comes down to speculation about the costs of living that people face and what other resources they can access instead of (or as well as) actual money.

There’s no doubt that if you have no occupation then the Chinese government number would be hopelessly optimistic, someone in Niger (which is experiencing famine and drought at the moment) with less than $1.25 a day would be facing very bleak prospects in the short-term and quite possibly would die of starvation if an aid agency wasn’t able to intervene.

But the situation in China is different in most parts of the country, from Niger, in that these very poor people are farmers. And farmers can eat the food they grow. The UN figure allows that the $1.25 includes the necessary income to buy food, as the Chinese farmer can eat the food he or she grows – they may well not need as much money to meet their essential needs.

It’s fair to say that the quality of life of someone who makes 100 RMB a month (roughly $16/17) isn’t going to be the greatest. And for these people it ensures a cycle of poverty that is almost impossible to escape – there’s no free education in China, if you want your child to go to school – you have to pay for it. (This is changing and at least one province has now offered free basic schooling to its hukou holding citizens).

Without education the chances of you breaking away from your farming lifestyle are almost zero, particularly as China already has a surplus of bright young things with degrees and no jobs to go to. It’s even difficult to secure a basic factory working position because illiteracy will block you from most employers hiring criteria.

Now there are people out there that believe if you just “work hard enough” (they never actually specify how hard this should be) you can make a better life and even become rich. These people really don’t know what they’re talking about. Social mobility comes at a price and if you can’t even pay the most basic of entry fees – that of education, you simply cannot advance.

china-raises-rural-poverty-line

india-govt-accused-of-concealing-poverty-by-lowering-poverty-line-to-44-cents-per-day/

 

[Amolthebest]

Anyway CPC is the best option right now even through they have their faults, rushing to democracy won't help either main focus is the economy and modernization. and Xi comes in next year best leader in my opinion since Deng.

Sir, want to know your opinion about what should be the start point of democracy reforms in China.

 

[The bridge]

china-raises-rural-poverty-line

india-govt-accused-of-concealing-poverty-by-lowering-poverty-line-to-44-cents-per-day/

SO, what's your point???? I admit poverty in India but you and your friends brag only about Chinese prosperity and turn a blind eye on the poor poors of your country or that has been the policy of your rulers- eradicate poor not poverty!!!!

 

[Sasquatch]

Sir, want to know your opinion about what should be the start point of democracy reforms in China.

Well depends the Per Captia should be over 10,000 to 15,000, also by the end of the decade 2020 , but my opinion 2020, some democratic reforms are already happening in China.

 

[Amolthebest]

Well depends the Per Captia should be over 10,000 to 15,000, also by the end of the decade 2020 , but my opinion 2020, some democratic reforms are already happening in China.

Like ? (Read democratic reforms)

 

[Sasquatch]

Like ? (Read democratic reforms)

depends everyone has their own opinion but mine is handling the corruption and more accountability.

 

[shuttler]

SO, what's your point???? I admit poverty in India but you and your friends brag only about Chinese prosperity and turn a blind eye on the poor poors of your country or that has been the policy of your rulers- eradicate poor not poverty!!!!

my point is indians are born delusional!

We dont 'brag" about our prosperity. we only state our achievements by facts. we have admitted our poverty in public and try hard to eradict it which is our commitment and that will be translated to our pride when we can eradict poverty from our Country in time

Whereas indians are enhancing their delusions to the next level trying to conceal poverty. I think that is a better way of eradicting indian poverty than smoking raw substance.

indian democracy is a facade for the ill-informed. dont expect nobody knows about the dirt which you have been desperately shoving under your rug because it reeks!

 

[gpit]

think about it. I cant even say that to you. Coz u chinese have no thinking capability. If tomorrow BJP comes into POWER? ITS WE INDIANS WISH THAT SHE IS THERE. WE CAN INSTALL HER so WE CAN ALSO REMOVE HER.

REMOVE CCP.. ooh forget. JUST CRITICIZE CCP. U will be in jail or taken to an unknown place and shot dead.

OK, now you are telling me that it is Indians’ choice to make India a more advanced country with respect to China 60+ ago a now more a country like sub-Sahara Africa, based on your constant playing farce by putting whoever in power.

So be it if it is your Indians’ wish. Then don’t ever hallucinate about catching up to China.

Gee, get real. Millions Chinese criticize CPC on daily bases. Admittedly a few were unjustly treated, but if it were in India, more would be burnt into death, or otherwise starved to death due to their “wishes”.

One Chinese student was doing internship in a village of India, living in a high caste family. He vividly described, in a Chinese forum, how India fake democracy works: It is not that people are evil, rather the tradition is evil. Lower caste has to vote according to high caste’s will, or otherwise village head’s will.

If Chinese system is an evil, which perhaps is, your system is the evilest of the evil.

Save millions of your child's life first, before you can convincing me or others.

Make more literacy than evil China second, before you can convincing me or others.

Thirdly, cause India less corrupted than evil China where allegedly people can change power, before you can convincing me or others. Looks like you only replate more corrupted with less corrupted in your power.


So you think about it.

 

[timetravel]

my point is indians are born delusional!

We dont 'brag" about our prosperity. we only state our achievements by facts. we have admitted our poverty in public and try hard to eradict it which is our commitment and that will be translated to our pride when we can eradict poverty from our Country in time

Whereas indians are enhancing their delusions to the next level trying to conceal poverty. I think that is a better way of eradicting indian poverty than smoking raw substance.

indian democracy is a facade for the ill-informed. dont expect nobody knows about the dirt which you have been desperately shoving under your rug because it reeks!

if u cant enjoy the democratic rights enjoyed by all the countries much superior to CHina like US, Europeans, Indians then at least accept that China needs to change and will have democracy in time. Hiding information is the work of ccp. We Indians dont believe in CENSORING media like you guys.

So you think about it.

sorry u failed to create any impact. keep posting that again.

 

[gpit]

progress look for its meaning in dictionary... U r 20 folds below the US, which is a DEMOCRACY. So u r also behind if u have to look like that. The point is U CAN PROGRESS with full democratic rights also. India is also behind US but progressing, we will also have the things u r saying in due time. COZ WE ARE PROGRESSING. and UR ALSO PROGRESSING.

But we are progressing and enjoying all the freedom... but poor chiense have no freedom and are always told by ccp that u will only be successful if u obey my orders...and keep ur mouth shut...and no mental peace and freedom for common chinese... no difference then a animal fed in a cage..

Don’t BS everybody that your definition of “success of democracy" is lagging more and more behind authoritarianism China.

You are insulting democracy!

Why democracy works for US, but not for you, and in fact your democracy is worse than Chinese authoritarianism?

In your eyes, you only see China is behind US, but blind to see you are getting more behind China year by year.

Don’t you see you have bigger problem even compared with China?

The very existence of India is an insult to democracy.

You defame the democracy, and degraded democracy.

You only successfully make democracy a synonym of starvation, illiteracy and corruption.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Hong Kong spring, ROFL... Maybe the South East Asian maids or the Indian sewage workers...

The majority of HKers support the true democracy with the Chinese socialist characteristics, not the western democrazy.

 

[shuttler]

if u cant enjoy the democratic rights enjoyed by all the countries much superior to CHina like US, Europeans, Indians then at least accept that China needs to change and will have democracy in time. Hiding information is the work of ccp. We Indians dont believe in CENSORING media like you guys.


sorry u failed to create any impact. keep posting that again.

you carry on with your style of democracy whatever you want and stop finger pointing to our system because we dont care a damn sh*t about you until you attack us trying to overpower us with your eulogizing of your democracy upon which we despise

 

[conworldus]

The majority of HKers support the true democracy with the Chinese socialist characteristics, not the western democrazy.

The point is to have a small efficient government and a sound legal system. A Hong Kong spring to kick all the Indian out will be nice though. They smell bad and they scam people on the streets for money.

 

[Götterdämmerung]

and the chinese are super dooper rich.. they are among the top 10 in GDP per capita..
and u mean to say only way to progress is by becoming slaves.

India is progressing so well and we dont need any such restrictions also. Also the world's super duper power USA, their people are also totally free to live. So economic progress will only happen if you are slaves is CCP formula for retaining power over billion chinese incapable of thinking.

When did I say the Chinese are super rich? Are you stupid? At least the Chinese in general are much richer than democratic India and more of them have the freedom to travel outside their country.

Having the right to live, to have education, not to hunger, to have a decent job are the most fundamental rights and freedom of human being and slavery is the exact opposition of it. And India is the exact opposition of that.

You are progressing so well and yet all your social indicators one can find from the UN and other international organisation are decades behind China.

And stop comparing the US with China. Remember the human rights' situation during the US' industrialisation was much worse than in China right now. Go educate yourself a bit of the US' history. It was not until the 1960s when the US was already the richest country for a many decades that African-Americans were granted the same rights as European-Americans.