China must close wealth gap, says Xi Jinping on visit to poverty hotspots

[haidian]

China must close wealth gap, says Xi Jinping on visit to poverty hotspots

• President tours Guangdong’s poorer areas after Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge opening, in show of commitment to one of his signature goals

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 24 October, 2018, 11:40am

President Xi Jinping pledged that “no one would be left behind” in his poverty alleviation campaign as he visited an impoverished backwater of China’s southern province of Guangdong after attending the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Tuesday.

His visit was seen as highlighting China’s efforts to eliminate extreme poverty by 2020 by resolving development gaps between rural and urban areas, one of the major national policies Xi has championed.

Guangdong, which has severe income disparity between the affluent Pearl River Delta and rural residents in its west and north, has been targeted because it has one of China’s biggest wealth gaps.

After leaving the opening ceremony of the 55km mega bridge in Zhuhai, Xi headed north to visit the cities of Qingyuan and Yingde on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, he made a stop at Liankou township in Yingde city, where he said that “no one would be left behind” in China’s drive to eradicate extreme poverty.

It was reported that Xi had spent the afternoon with workers in a toy factory and local households. The president reportedly advocated building an all-round well-off society and called on grass roots party officials to speed up modernisation while boosting rural economic development and infrastructure.

“We believe the livelihood of our rural residents will be happier as days go by,” Xi was quoted as saying.

He also made a stop at Qingyuan e-commerce market, where he chatted with students at a training centre. He called for targeted poverty alleviation measures to turn “weakness into potential” while fostering balanced regional development in backwaters of the Pearl River Delta.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/pol...lose-wealth-gap-says-xi-jinping-visit-poverty

 

[haidian]

China plans USD 700 bln investment into rural infrastructure development
CKN
27 minutes ago
Oct 24, 2018

China plans to invest USD 700 billion in its rural infrastructure over the next 4 years. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, will be taking the lead through its 2018 to 2022 Rural Revitalization Plan and will be focusing on the areas of transport, hydraulic engineering, energy and information.

For transport, the NDRC is looking to build more roads to speed up transportation of resources, attract tourists and patch up flaws in current infrastructure. For example, in Fujian, more than 10,000 km of roads in villages will be built and improved by 2020. In addition, 30,000 km of rural roads will receive maintenance over the same period. Finally, 165 transport service stations, which will connect county, town and village, will be set-up in rural areas.

In the area of energy, the NDRC together with the National Bureau of Energy will look towards the use of new energy vehicles in rural areas, as well as optimizing the use of water and solar energy resources in each region.

Lastly, China’s Internet service providers are also increasing their investments into rural areas as they try to expand their outreach. China Telecom has plans to invest USD 2.16 billion in country side to improve 4G network coverage and fiber-optic networks.

Fiscal expenditure, financial support and social capital will be the main sources of funding for this project. The government will be taking a leading role in this endeavor while businesses have been encouraged to invest in the fields of e-commerce and information in these rural areas.

China and the U.S. will continue to suffer from the drag in the trade war. Other countries are not sparred from the tension between world’s two biggest economies as global stock markets feel the burn and uncertainty looms.

https://www.chinaknowledge.com/News/DetailNews/81324/

 

[Yingluck]

A significant China elites have betrayed Mao. They not only loot state wealth like Russian oligarch, but ship every single of them to white man land.

Now Xi is going back the right path.

Only socialism can save China.

 

[8888888888888]

Rural infrastructure seems undeveloped, I can still see people living in caves in some areas.

 

[haidian]

Rural infrastructure seems undeveloped, I can still see people living in caves in some areas.

"Yao dong" is a tradtional housing in a couple of rural provinces in China, they are not all bad now, many local people prefer living in Yao dong than modern housings.

 

[ILC]

Thats good, in rural areas there is big opportunity to see a huge growth.

 

[TaiShang]

President Xi visits e-commerce industrial park in Guangdong

CGTN Published: 2018-10-24 08:00:38

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits an e-commerce industrial park in Yingde, south China's Guangdong Province, October 23 2018. [Photo:Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited an e-commerce industrial park in Yingde, south China's Guangdong Province on Tuesday to better understand how the sector helps targeted poverty alleviation work.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits an e-commerce industrial park in Yingde, south China's Guangdong Province, October 23 2018. [Photo:Xinhua]

The visit comes after President Xi attended the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in Zhuhai City earlier in the day.

 

[Mista]

Rural infrastructure seems undeveloped, I can still see people living in caves in some areas.

They need to be relocated to nearby larger villages/towns with higher density to take advantage of economies of scale. You can't possibly build roads, schools, hospitals in every remote area without a critical mass of population. Education is the number one priority, kids shouldn't have to walk long and dangerous journeys just to attend school.

But many of them, mainly ethnic minorities, don't want to be relocated because they are attached to the land they grew up in. So it can be quite tricky.

 

[Yingluck]

They need to be relocated to nearby larger villages/towns with higher density to take advantage of economies of scale. You can't possibly build roads, schools, hospitals in every remote area without a critical mass of population. Education is the number one priority, kids shouldn't have to walk long and dangerous journeys just to attend school.

But many of them, mainly ethnic minorities, don't want to be relocated because they are attached to the land they grew up in. So it can be quite tricky.

Strategic and national securities take priorities over economics reality in minorities land. The Tibetan land of Medog, Shiquanhe, Yadong...etc are the harshest without any hope of positive economic contributions.

Astronomical monies are invested in all weather roads, schools and hospitals, to keep population there.

It would be insane to vacuum out these people, seducing them using economic opportunities of cities such as Beijing Shanghai. The Tibetan villages will be there forever, as a symbol of sovereignty and custodian of border.

 

[TaiShang]

They need to be relocated to nearby larger villages/towns with higher density to take advantage of economies of scale. You can't possibly build roads, schools, hospitals in every remote area without a critical mass of population. Education is the number one priority, kids shouldn't have to walk long and dangerous journeys just to attend school.

But many of them, mainly ethnic minorities, don't want to be relocated because they are attached to the land they grew up in. So it can be quite tricky.

Exactly. That's one problem. Another problem that may at times occur is irrationality. From my conversation with PhD researchers that do anti-poverty study in rural Mainland areas as part of government's targeted poverty alleviation, I understand that, at times, after the villagers are re-located and given money to kick-start an economy, they simply waste it and, at times, even gamble it away.

So, in some areas, government finds that, even after relocation and compensation, compensation should not always come in the form of paper money, but some machinery, or even some skills and small shops.

China's micro-cultural diversity is quite big, so, it is really a big challenge to find practical solutions to very local problems. No chance for a one-size-fits-all legislation.

It would be insane to vacuum out these people, seducing them using economic opportunities of cities such as Beijing Shanghai. The Tibetan villages will be there forever, as a symbol of sovereignty and custodian of border.

That's for sure. Relocation does not mean putting them in urban centers. Oftentimes, relocation means re-grouping in the same area, or in the most economically optimum area.

Sometimes a local economy cannot start off because people are dispersed across a vast landmass and there is no connectivity. For a market economy, people are required so they can buy and sell stuff and produce and create things.