Chinese feel the inequality as rich-poor gap widens

Beijing: As the rich-poor divide widens in China after it embraced market economy, large sections of people in the country are feeling a sense of inequality in wealth distribution, according to official surveys.

Results of surveys carried out by People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), showed that the wealth gap is being “widely felt among the Chinese public.”

A similar survey in 2007 had shown that only farmers felt that wealth distribution was fair, possibly because the government rescinded agricultural taxes and began providing tuition waivers to rural students in 2006, Zheng Gongcheng, a professor at Renmin University, was quoted as saying.

But another survey in 2010 said farmers too perceived a wealth gap, Zheng said, adding that China’s social security system should be improved to provide people better expectations of stability and to ease anxieties.

He stressed that wealth gaps are a normal phenomenon in market economies, yet stressed that the government should be wary of the gaps widening and eliminate inequality by cracking down on monopolies and corruption.

According to official statistics, in 2000, the average disposable income of rural and urban families was $354 and $987, respectively, whereas in 2010, the figures stood at $ 930 and $ 3,003 respectively. The gap increased by more than $1,414 over the period.

Moreover, statistics show that the average salary of employees of the country’s public-owned financial companies is more than four times the income of a worker in the agricultural industry.

PTI