In scanning over the weekend stories, we found this one from the Guardian about China. The United Nations Development Programme reports a large gap between the rich and poor. Some areas of China as as developed as Europe, while others are as underdeveloped as Africa.Tania Branigan, a reporter for the Guardian who is station in Bejing, reported on the issuance of the study. The gulf between rich and poor in China is affecting growth by deterring consumption and holding down productivity, according to a report released by the United Nations Development Programme.It tracks the vast and increasing gaps between rural and urban areas and regions of China - warning that differences in income are matched by disparities in social welfare, education and elderly care.While Beijing and Shanghai have...
In response to the tens of thousands of peasant protest taking place in China each year – nearly half of them related to controversial land grabs – the Communist Party has recently announced alleged “breakthroughs” in its thinking about the countryside. It is not yet entirely clear what these “breakthroughs” amount to since the details for now remain classified, but many hope that the Party has finally recognized, and reconciled itself with, the importance of private land ownership to the country’s development.
Collectivization of land is the cornerstone of communist ideology; however, it hasn’t quite been the reality in China since the post-1978 reforms. The grassroots movement of peasants insisting that they should be able to farm their own plot of land has been so...
If you remove China from global poverty statistics, increasing poverty somewhere nearly wipes out decreases everywhere else. Since 1981 China on average has moved 20 million people per year past the dollar a day benchmark. A few economists have documented the process for this progress in great detail, which can be crudely summarized as a near instantaneous decentralization of economic control under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s followed by a decade of cultivating and reaping the benefits from the greater presence of market forces in the economy.
It is easy to assume that China’s ascension to the upper echelon of global economies is due solely to Deng-era reforms, but something else entirely may have taken root beneath the skyscrapers of Shanghai and other fast-rising cities in the...
from the Telegraph By Andrew PierceBritain's international aid budget to 115 countries, which costs more than £6 billion a year, will also be reviewed by a David Cameron administration.But it is the aid budget to China, which this year spent £20 billion on the Beijing Olympics, which will be eliminated first. The money will be redirected to genuinely poorer countries in Africa.Andrew Mitchell, the shadow international development secretary, will make the pledge in his speech at the party conference today."We have just marvelled at the spectacle of the Beijing Olympics and gloried in the success of our brilliant young sport stars. Those games did not come cheap – the price tag was a record £20 billion. Not a great surprise perhaps for a country that is powering out of poverty, had a...
from Reuters India By Ben BlanchardTASHAN, China (Reuters) - Why anyone would choose to work in China's often deadly mining industry must surely be a mystery until you talk to people like Lu Renyan.For him, poverty is the motivating factor, given the potential financial rewards.Lu lives and works just a few hundred metres (yards) from the site of Monday's massive mudslide caused by a collapsed mining slag heap in China's gritty northern province of Shanxi, killing at least 128 people with the toll expected to rise significantly.The official China Daily on Thursday quoted work safety chief Wang Jun as saying there was little hope for hundreds feared buried under the mud. It also cited witnesses as saying the village buried was home to around 1,000 people."I can earn 1,000 yuan ($146),...
Christian Science Monitor features a telling story of Fang Zhaojuan. She launched legal petitions signed by a large majority of her fellow villagers from Huiguan concerning proper compensation for land sold for industrial development by their village council. The commonly held land was sold to a neighboring township and then resold to developers for nearly twice the original price. Suspecting corruption, Huiguan villagers began a process specified by the village democracy law to recall their elected council.
The authorities obstructed the process by raising various formal obstacles such as disputing who had the right to participate in the recall vote. Despite that, villagers conducted the vote as scheduled, gathering the required majority to pass the motion. Still, council president Yuan...
from The Economic Times China is thinking about raising the poverty line, which would double the number of people who are defined as living in poverty in the country. BEIJING: The proposal would increase China's poverty threshold from 1,067 yuan (US$152) a year to 1,300 yuan (US$186), following a decision by the World Bank to raise its poverty line from $1 to $1.25 a day, the state-run paper reported.The change would double to 80 million the number of people considered to be living in poverty, the newspaper said. Tens of millions more live in near-poverty conditions.Those under the poverty threshold would be eligible for more allowances for housing and preferential treatment when seeking jobs or health care.While China's rapid economic development in the last few decades has lifted...
During the last few decades, China has been witnessing the success of unorganized, leaderless grassroots movements in bottom-up expansion of civil rights. Whether resisting the restrictions on freedom of movement or seizing individual liberties gradually conceded by the government, unorganized, non-ideological, and apolitical grassroots movements have fundamentally altered key elements of China’s one-party regime and its society at large.
In this Feature Service article, Dr. Kate Zhou, associate professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, argues that this freedom-seeking spirit of the ordinary Chinese has been driving the country’s booming economy and it has affected many elements of daily life. The Chinese Government reacts rather than leads in this transformative...
Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 2007 (Home Office, August 2008) [text]
Forced Evictions and the Right to Housing of Roma in Russia (Intl. Fed. for Human Rights, July 2008) [text via Refworld]
The Looming Crisis: Displacement and Security in Iraq (Brookings Institution, August 2008) [text]
Manuel pour la protection des déplacés internes (IASC, 2008; English version issued earlier) [text via...
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This summer international business leaders gathered in China to discuss the most recent developments in corporate governance in China and America. A brief video summary of the topics discussed during the conference can be found on the Business Week web-site.
The conference focused on data collected by Risk Metrics Group which surveyed 300 global investors and found that 93% will focus on corporate governance developments in China over the next three years. The primary reason for investor focus on corporate governance in Chinese businesses are the overlapping roles of regulators, policymakers, and owners. Meanwhile, for Chinese firms the incentives of looking at corporate governance have much to do with deep aspirations to be viewed as world-class businesses and desire to better...
It is not uncommon for high school history classes to introduce China as the world’s longest standing state. Aside from a short stint under the Mongol empire (and maybe British opium merchants), it has carried different names but the political entity that we know as China has existed independently and continuously for over six thousand years. Such continuity is remarkable, given China’s officially recognized 56 ethnic groups and numerous dialects - which are incomprehensible to each other in spoken form.
What’s even more remarkable is that all those dialects share a single, common writing system, the Han Zi. All 5,000-plus characters.
This context presents an interesting test for the famed Coase theorem, which states that as long as property rights are assigned,...
from the San Francisco Chronicle Here is a look at the poverty that you won't see during the olympics. - KaleIt is hard to see what the modernization of Beijing and the glitz and glamour of China's Olympic coming-out party are doing for the residents of the city's Suo Jia area.People who don't live in the neighborhood next to the Laiguangying Bridge call it the "countryside," but it isn't in the country. In fact, it is a quicker cab ride from the Olympic Village to Suo Jia (about 20 minutes) than it is to the Forbidden City (about 30).Suo Jia, with its narrow streets, frolicking children, dirt and poverty, is the real forbidden city. It is what much of Beijing used to be when being modern wasn't important. It is the old city, filled with rickshaws and bicycles, pedal carts full of goods,...
from UK ReutersA new project in China is making gains in fighting rural poverty. This story profiles a part of China that has been unaffected by China's economic boom. - KaleBy Alan WheatleyBEIJING (Reuters) - A pilot project with a difference is making a dent in rural poverty and, more significantly, giving villagers a voice in the development of a pocket of southern China bypassed by the country's economic boom.What sets the scheme apart is that public funds to tackle poverty are being channelled through non-governmental organisations, a first in China.In a country where NGOs have long been regarded with suspicion, this is nothing short of a seismic shift, according to the Asian Development Bank, which is meeting their overheads with a modest grant.By sanctioning the project, Beijing...
As China prepares to host the Olympics next month, the communist leadership tries to do everything in its power to cultivate the image of an orderly and well-governed nation it wants the world to see. But the outbursts of anger directed at public officials continue. In two recent incidents, more than 30,000 people rioted in Guizhou province over an alleged cover-up of a teenage girls’ death, and after a migrant worker was allegedly beaten by the police in Zhejiang province, hundreds of other workers attacked a police local station.
While the government’s response to social discontent so far has mostly consisted of heavy-handed practices, Chinese leaders are trying to project a new approach. Recently, the government has told local leaders to be on alert to public grievances and find...
Once again the G8 has come up tragically short on climate change and a host of urgent problems affecting poor people in developing countries. The good news is that they are at least discussing the right topics. The first Hokkaido G8 document, on the World Economy spills lots of ink on relations between rich and developing economies, including for example, reaffirmation of support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The next three policy papers -- Environment and Climate Change, Development and Africa, and Global Food Security -- all address topics that are at the heart of rich world-developing world ties (and, not coincidently, major areas of focus for CGD research and policy work). The bad news is that the G8, representing as it does the interests of the...
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The question of whether democracy helps or hinders economic growth is a hotly debated one today. In a recent Foreign Policy article, Professor Yasheng Huang of MIT addresses this issue in the Asian context. The most obvious case study that comes to mind is the China-India comparison that supposedly gives the former an authoritarian edge of fast economic growth. Many believe that…
Democracies are peaceful, representative—and terrible at boosting an economy. Or at least that’s the conventional wisdom in Asia, where for years growth in India’s sprawling democracy has been humbled by China’s efficient, state-led boom. But India’s newfound economic success flips that notion on its head. Could it be that democracy is good for growth after all? If so, China better watch its back....
Suicide (n) - The most preventable type of death.
This is the ongoing story of a species whose leaders have a death wish, and whose members at large mostly don’t. Also, sometimes they got to wondering what should be done about a large geopolitical concentration of fellow beings operating under the brand name “China”.
(9) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. (10) Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. (11) There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. - Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 (NIV)
Glenn Hurowitz recently wondered who’s going to...
from All Africa Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)By Kester Kenn KlomegahMoscowA 500 million-dollar development assistance package to Africa marks a new move by Russia to catch up with Chinese expansion into Africa."During the Cold War the U.S. and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Soviet Union) competed for influence in Africa by granting development assistance to ideologically sympathetic clients. When the Soviet Union and its economy collapsed in 1991, that competition came to an end," Tom Wheeler, research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs told IPS from Braamfontein in South Africa."As a minerals producer and producer of oil and gas, Russia sees a way of strengthening its role in a multi-polar world by buying into Africa's mineral...
from the Economist Has "a dollar a day" had its day?IN DECEMBER 2007 the World Bank unveiled the results of the biggest exercise in window shopping in history. Scouts in 146 countries scoured stalls, supermarkets and mail-order catalogues, recording the price of more than 1,000 items, from 500-gram packets of durum spaghetti to low-heeled ladies' shoes.This vast enterprise enabled the bank to compare the purchasing power of many countries in 2005. It uncovered some statistical surprises. Prices in China, for example, were much higher than earlier estimates had indicated, which meant the Chinese income in 2005 of 18.4 trillion yuan ($2.2 trillion at then-market exchange rates) could buy less than previously thought. At a stroke, the Chinese economy shrank, in real terms, by 40%.Since...
from the International Herald Tribune By Carol C. AdelmanThe big story of the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar's delta region and the earthquake that devastated China's Sichuan Province in May is not only how the Chinese government outperformed the Burmese military junta in responding to natural disaster. It is also how private citizens, companies, charities and religious organizations from many countries have emerged as a frontline force in helping victims of such tragedies, even within government-dominated states.In the case of China, donations from American corporations alone totaled $90 million, compared to a modest $3.1 million in U.S. government aid. Private giving from British corporations and private citizens to help the more than 368,000 injured and 5 million homeless victims of...
Why did nearly 7,000 schools collapse in China’s earthquake and so many government buildings remained standing virtually intact?
While the Chinese government is investigating, some allege that corruption is at fault. Others have suggested that its simply bad construction - many of the school buildings were simply too old or built by construction companies unable to afford the best materials.
But even if it turns out that corruption is not an issue here, it seems like it still makes the headlines. The government, for example, is growing increasingly worried about corruption in relief efforts. Could it be that public protests are responsible for the growing awareness? Some say its not the fault of the central government:
Li Bai, a shopkeeper, alleged that local officials...
from the Denver PostBy CHRISTOPHER BODEEN MIANYANG, China—Last week's deadly earthquake in China has created more than 4,000 orphans, a Chinese official said.But Chen Kefu, the deputy director for civil affairs in hard-hit Sichuan province, warned at a news conference Wednesday that it will take time to determine the real number of parentless children because of the large number of people still missing and displaced.The May 12 quake has killed more than 41,000 people and left more than 5 million homeless.Thousands of Chinese have called government offices and posted their pleas online to adopt an orphan from the quake."Every day my ministry receives hundreds of calls," Jiang Li, China's vice minister of civil affairs, told a news conference Tuesday.The earthquake also robbed many...
As China and Myanmar’s (Burma’s) death tolls from the recent calamities continue to climb, Will Wilkinson of the Cato Institute offers an interesting perspective on the role that a human hand has in the extent of damage caused by natural disasters. Of course nobody can stop a cyclone or prevent an earthquake. But the high number of casualties in the aftermath of such disasters is at least to some degree man-made.
China’s death toll stands at 41,000 and Burma now has staggering 134,000 people dead or missing. Some part of those figures can obviously be attributed to the shortcomings in the government-managed rescue efforts. But longer-term governmental policies may be as much – if not more – to blame.
The poverty that exposes people to nature’s dangers also kills. And...
from World VisionSome 5 million are homeless following last week's devastating temblor; materials for temporary shelter urgently needed. As China enters three days of national mourning for the now 32,000 confirmed dead following the May 12 quake, World Vision continues to distribute aid and survey the needs of devastated communities in Sichuan Province.Our 12 local staff members in Qingchuan County, who began responding almost immediately after the disaster, are finding that temporary shelter remains the most urgent necessity for survivors in hard-hit areas. Tents and shelter materials, mainly plastic sheets, are in greatest need."In Mianzhu, a hard-hit region, survivors are camping out on streets, and basic needs like food, tents, and water are seriously lacking," said Mei Mei Leung,...
from Reuters UKBy Emma Graham-HarrisonLONGMENSHAN, China (Reuters) - The ribbon of collapsed homes winding up the Jian river valley in southwest China doesn't feature on the picturesque billboards that once welcomed tourists and now help protect its homeless residents from the rain.Lush fields and wooded hills made the area a favourite getaway for affluent urbanites in recent years, and catering to their needs offered many farmers a welcome escape from backbreaking agricultural work or ill-paid casual labour.But the valley was hard hit by China's deadliest quake in decades, which struck southwestern Sichuan province last week and has killed at least 30,000, and locals fear the tremors that took their homes have also destroyed their future."So many years of hard work and now I'm left with...
from News Wire Canada MISSISSAUGA, ON, World Vision is rushing aid to 10,000earthquake survivors in southwestern China, including blankets and tents forchildren and families left homeless. Children, who were buried or trapped in collapsing schools and homes,comprised a high percentage of the casualties. "This disaster is so tragic,especially for children. Many of those who survived the quake learned thattheir parents and classmates had not," said World Vision Canada managerAlice Chin Ho. Ho says that World Vision has more than 700 local staff in China whobegan to mobilize soon after news of the quake broke on May 12. An emergencyassessment team is travelling to the stricken area to assess damages and bringin preliminary supplies. The team is experienced in disaster relief,...
So, cyclone in Burma followed a week later by earthquake in China. Business as usual, I’m afraid - we live in a world of accidents waiting to happen. When an accident does happen, though, how do we know about it?
There’s been a blizzard of coverage in the blogosphere about how Twitter beat the US Geological [...]...
The images were made-for-TV dramatic: Olympic torch-bearers ran through capital cities, encircled by two columns of Chinese guards and local police while protesters dove into their midst, struggling to wrest away the historic torch. The televised scenes in London and Paris early this month appeared to be a worst-case public relations scenario for China, host of the upcoming Summer Olympics, but for the three international corporate sponsors of the round-the-world Olympic torch relay, there was a small blessing: Amid the images of hand-to-hand street fighting, logos for Coca-Cola, Lenovo and Samsung Electronics were not readily visible.With the Olympics still months away, however, corporate sponsors may not remain so lucky. Human-rights activists, celebrities, political leaders and average...