It was back in 1978 that China embarked on the first steps in
the policies of economic reform and opening up which were to prove
so very successful. In that year, reform began to be piloted in the
rural economy and would later be extended into full-scale
nationwide measures.
The 1978 statistics showed China to have some 250 million
citizens living in poverty and short of food and clothing at that
time. This was about 31 percent of the total rural population.
Inspired by the new opportunities brought through the reforms,
the peasants worked hard to raise themselves out of poverty. As
early as the end of 1985 the number in poverty had already been
halved.
In 1986 the government adopted a new approach of "poverty
reduction through development projects," this placed the emphasis
firmly on fostering self-reliance and sustainable development
rather than on relief handouts.
By 1993, the number of people living in poverty had dropped to
the 30 million mark for the first time.
In 1994 China set itself new challenges in the area of poverty
reduction by pushing the definition of the poverty line up to an
annual income of 625 yuan (about US$75). This had the effect of
boosting the numbers back up to 80 million.
There followed concerted efforts across the nation backed by
annual investments of the order of 10 to 20 billion yuan. By the
beginning of the new century the number was once again at the 30
million mark. Could there be some significance in the number,
perhaps some sort of barrier being encountered, for now there are
signs that the pace of poverty reduction is slowing significantly
in the new century?
A total of 45 million people shook off their poverty from 1986
to 1993 representing an annual poverty reduction rate of 6.42
million over the period. From 1994 to 2000, the number was 48
million at a rate of 7 million people per year. But this has
slumped to 1 million per year since 2001 and only 3 million have
been helped out of poverty from 2001-2003.
Xue Yong, a history PHD candidate at Yale University, draws a
parallel between poverty issues and myopia. False myopia is easily
enough acquired by too much close reading work but is relatively
easy to deal with when compared with true myopia.
?
In the decade long Cultural Revolution, Chinese peasants were
required to work the land within the constraints of a system of
farming collectives. Xue’s view is that 250 million people were
then in a sort of false poverty brought on by inappropriate
guidelines and policies. Given sufficient determination and hard
work coupled with new policies of economic reform this could be
relatively easily reversed.
But just like true myopia, it is much harder to successfully
address true poverty.
Xue sees true poverty as affecting disadvantaged groups like the
old, the handicapped and severely sick people who are unable to
work. It is also evident in areas where the land is unproductive
due to geographical or climatic factors or which are subject to
natural disasters such as flooding. In such cases he suggests that
“poverty reduction through development” may not be a viable
approach.
He suggests that what is required to meet the needs of the old,
the handicapped and severely-sick people is a basic social security
mechanism to provide state funds to take care of their minimum
living requirements. Some disadvantaged rural residents just cannot
work their way out of poverty and have no alternative but to rely
on state relief and on society as a whole.
Though the government has done much to provide large-scale
resettlement projects to help those living in particularly harsh
and unfavorable environments, more still remains to be done.
Xue also suggests another prudent approach which lies in first
providing training to improve the employment skills of young people
in the countryside, and then encouraging them to find work in
cities. Once they have established their new roots in the cities,
they would eventually be joined there by their families. He said,
“This may not offer a quick fix but would be effective in the long
run.”
The global anti-poverty organizations have been revising their
slogans from eliminating poverty to reducing poverty, which may
well reflect their new understanding of poverty issues.
According to the China Village Poverty Reduction and Development
Plan (2001 - 2010), China's overall poverty reduction goals for
this period are to:
·
?? help
those with insufficient food and clothing reach a minimum
acceptable standard of living as soon as possible.
·? ?further improve the production capabilities,
living conditions and quality of life of those in poverty and
strengthen their ability to help themselves
·??
enhance infrastructure facilities in poverty-ridden villages and
improve the ecological environment
·??
improve social, economic and cultural conditions to provide a
better-off way of life.
(China.org.cn by Xu Zhiquan, June 14, 2004)