Group Discussion
Social Inequality and Poverty
 There are many winners and losers
during the market transition. Who do
you think are the winners, and who
are the losers?
 Winners:
 Officials (political capital)
 Professionals (human capital)
 Entrepreneurs (market rewards + political
connection)
 Losers:
 Migrants (new poor)
 Urban residents: laid-off workers,
seniors/disabled/displaced (new poor)
 Farmers – rural areas (traditional poor)
Inequality
 Gini index=41 in 2007
 Mostly between urban and
rural areas
 Much lower than other LDC
 Beijing: 22
 HK: 53; Manila: 41; Sao
Paulo 61; Mexico city 56;
Johannesburg, 75
 OECD: leveling off due to
migration and government
effort
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The Maoist Era
The Reform Era: Undo Maoism
 Egalitarianism
 Reduce spatial inequalities




 Urban vs. rural (e.g. migration control)
 Coastal vs. inland (e.g. “Third Front” )
Rural: HRS, de-collectivization
Urban: privatization, marketization
Open-door policy: spatially biased
Dismantle “iron rice bowl”  laid-off workers
 Reduce social inequalities
 Socialist Transformation
 Nationalization; collectivization
 Work-unit system
 1978-2000: pro-urban development model
 2000- present: pro-rural, pro-poor
 “Let some get rich first”
 Relative social and spatial equality
The Reform Era
Inequality
 Urban-rural inequality
 Intra-urban, intra-rural inequality
 Regional inequality
 Social:
 Gender
 Education
 Political status
 “Double Divide”
 Urban vs. rural
 Migrants vs. urban residents in cities
Female Participation in
Education
Gender Equality and Women's Development in China, 2005
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Women in the Political Process
Women in the Political Process
 CCP set targets for minimum numbers of women in
government positions
 “State Sponsored Feminism”

Cycles of advancement and retreat in women’s gains
depending on Party priorities
 In 2009, only 20% of CCP members were women
 Little participation by rural women in political
leadership

“Women’s Work” and Family Planning
 All-China Women’s Federation

NGO or Party mouthpiece?
Inequality
 Social:
 Gender
 Education
 Political status
 Gender/education/political status all connected
 Spatial:
 Different regions:
 urban vs. rural
 coastal vs. inland
 Residence: which city/county?
Based on longevity, education and income
Inequality
 Very complex inequality
 Social
 Spatial
 Categorical/ institutional
 Hukou remains the most important factor in defining
status/opportunity
 Employment status/ work unit: some work units remain
powerful/resourceful, and important in employees’
welfare
 Residence of city
 Rising over time
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Group Discussion
Inequality
 What do you think is the potential scenario in
the future if inequality continues to rise ?
 Very complex inequality
 Social
 Spatial
 Categorical/institutional
 What are the social political implications?
 “Getting rich is glorious”; “Let some get rich
first” (Deng, Jiang)  building a “harmonious
society”, “scientific development perspective”,
“people-centered” reform (Hu)  “Chinese
Dream” (Xi)
Poverty
Not One Less
 Three main groups:
 Poor peasants (traditional poor group)
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Poverty
 Three main groups:
 Poor peasants (traditional poor group)
 Rural-urban migrants (new)
 Urban residents (new)
 SOE reform  laid-off workers
 Senior urban residents, disabled people
Poverty
 The size of the poor?
 Which definition?
 Official estimation: 260M poor in 1978 to
42M in 1998, to 29 M in 2003
 World Bank: 100M in 1998
65% in 1981 10% in 2004, more than 500 M
China accounts for nearly all the world’s reduction in poverty
China’s War on Poverty
 1986: State Council’s Leading Group for
Poverty Reduction was established
 Since 1990: set up a fund to assure the basic
needs of people living in poverty-stricken
minority areas, with 141 impoverished
counties
 1994: Seven-Year Poverty Alleviation
Program
 Lift 80 M people out of absolute poverty during
1994-2000
 Eradicate abject poverty by 2000
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China’s War on Poverty
China’s War on Poverty
 2001, Outline for Poverty Alleviation and
Development in China's Rural Areas (20012010)
 Restructuring of poverty alleviation
investments (designated poor counties  poor
villages  poor people)
 Establishing a social security system
 Eliminating poverty in 592 key poverty-stricken
counties by 2010.
 $3.6B annual budget
 Net per-capita yearly income of farmers in the key
poverty-stricken counties increased to 2,611 yuan
($382) from 303 yuan ($80.5) from 1989 to
2008.
 Spend more than 170 billion yuan ($25
billion) on a special fund for nationwide poverty
elimination from 1978 to 2008.
 Urban area:
 Assistance of laid-off workers, unemployment insurance
 Di Bao (Minimum income support) program
 Social insurance programs: pension, medical…
 Rural areas:
 Eliminating agricultural taxes and fees; subsidies to
agriculture and farmers
 Rural social assistance program in 2007
 Basic health insurance system
China’s War on Poverty
The missing link
 Nine-year compulsory education
 Focuses only on the poor in rural
areas, the urban poor with local
registration
 Millions of migrants are not included
yet
 Invest $1.2B since 1995
 no fees for all students in primary and junior high
since 2007
 Western Development Strategy launched in
2000
 12th Five-year plan: “Enrich country” -> “enrich
people”, improve people’s livelihood
 Income reform, redistribution
 Social security, public services
Re-cap
Group Activity
 Rapid increase in inequality
 Unprecedented progress in poverty
reduction
 Changing nature in poverty
 Shift in development philosophy may
facilitate the decline in inequality and
poverty
 What are your policy
recommendations to the Chinese
government to reduce social
inequality and alleviate urban
poverty?
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Building A Harmonious Society
China’s Agenda 21
 Goals: providing adequate social services in
rural areas, correcting regional
development imbalances, addressing labor
dislocation, expanding health services and
education, and placing greater emphasis on
environmental and sustainability concerns.
 Features democracy, rule of the law,
fairness, justice, vitality, stability,
orderliness and harmonious co-existence
between the humankind and nature.
 White Paper on China's Population,
Environment and Development in the 21st
Century
 The first nation to have a national Agenda 21
 Four principle strategies:
 A comprehensive strategy and policy of sustainable
development
 Sustainable social development
 Sustainable economic development
 A strategy of rational resource utilization and
environmental protection
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