Communism is supposed to make everyone equal ..... well ish
.... to be precise, a theory or system of social organisation, in which all property is owned by the community, and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
Now as the last major 'Communist' state and a recognised superpower , you would expect that China would have a fine welfare system. I don't mean the money for doing nothing welfare system that we practice in the UK and other Western states ... after all, in the Communist system there would be a job for everyone (no slackers allowed).
No I mean, a working poverty catch all, that would prevent the workers at the bottom of the economy .... those on the lowest incomes from falling into absolute poverty. That they would be supported to ensure their children didn't get raised in dire poverty, and would have a chance to beat their poor backgrounds, and make something of themselves.
However, it seems that the although the Chinese communist party (CPP) run the country politically, they have ceded the economy largely to capitalistic business. This has created a real problem with wealth inequality. So much so that a 2018 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), cited China as "being one of the world's most unequal countries" ... it had previously said in 1990, that China was a "moderately unequal" country ... a sign of the changes that have occurred in the country in the past twenty years.
The majority of this wealth inequality, is the difference in earnings between urban and rural Chinese, and as an extreme example of this earnings disparity, figures suggest that the per capita disposable income of a household in the capital Beijing, was 57,229 Yuan ($8,090; £6,300) in 2017. While in one of the poorest regions, rural Guizhou, that figure was around 16,703 Yuan ($2,373.40; £1,834.10) in 2017. Also in 2017, according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, 30.46 million rural people were still living below the national poverty line of US $1.90 a day.
The Chinese government is well aware that they rose to power based upon the support of the rural poor in the 1930's and 1940s, and has previously pledged to end extreme rural poverty for 43 million citizens by 2020 .... a target which seems likely to be missed. For the fact is, that much of China's money is spent elsewhere, such as military expansion in the South China seas, or infrastructure projects in Africa or Central Asia. Social security/welfare funding and state employers/employees salaries have all to often been starved of state funds.
These issues comes to light more often these days, as social media, although controlled and censored can't stop people entirely discussing some subjects (or Chinese teens would turn to foreign Apps). A couple of recent examples of poverty have shocked large parts of the urban population:
Wu Huayan is a 24 year old student who became seriously malnourished, while struggling to both study, and support her mentally ill brother. She was suddenly admitted into hospital after having difficulty breathing, and where she was found to weigh barely more than 20kg (43 pounds; three stones), and was just 135cm (4ft 5ins) tall. She was suffering from heart and kidney problems due to five years spent eating minimal amounts of food. After paying for her brothers medicines, she spent only 2 Yuan ($0.28c, £0.22p) a day on herself, surviving largely off a bowl of chillies and rice.
After the story went viral, donations reportedly totalling some 800,000 Yuan ($114,000, £88,000) came from social media funding pages. As well as these donations from crowd funding platforms, her teachers and classmates donated 40,000 Yuan ($5,700; £4,400), while local villagers collected 30,000 Yuan to help her. Shamed, state officials released a statement saying Ms Wu had been receiving the minimum government subsidy - thought to be between 300 and 700 Yuan a month (which she had apparently used for her brother) - and that she was now getting an emergency relief fund of 20,000 Yuan.
This story was following another recent example of extreme rural poverty, when an 8 year old little boy was photographed by a teacher, arriving to school after walking for over an hour in a thin coat, in temperatures of -9c. A walk he did every day to and from school .... dubbed "Ice Boy" by social media users, "Little Wang" lives in dire poverty with his grand parents, (He is what is known as a "left-behind child" - his father, is a migrant worker who only comes back twice a year - his mother left and never returned), in a dilapidated home, made of mud and brick. But despite his hardships, and the teasing of other children about his inappropriate clothing, the teacher made the point of photographing his dirty chilblained hands, on his near perfect school work (99/100).
As many Chinese social media commentators point out, despite the outpourings of sympathy and help that these two cases generate .... they are but two examples of millions of others like them. As one popular post by 'SurblueDu' summed it up "No-one knows how many poor children there are, helping one is only helping one."
China may have performed an economic miracle, in raising the standards of wealth of many millions in the country, but spare a thought for the millions of others left far behind.
Sad post script: Sadly, Ms Wu Huayan died despite the donations made via Charity 9958, a project under the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children (CCAFC).
Its alleged that corrupt charity officials withheld the money and only a small amount was passed over. Zheng Hehong, a prominent activist and former member of staff at 9958 said "They waited until the patient died so they could take the interest income," she told Phoenix New Media's Ifeng.com. "This income, by law, can be given as a staff bonus instead of charitable aid." One acquaintance told The Cover that Ms Wu didn't even know about 400,000 yuan of the money. The official China Daily admits that online charity fraud has become rife.
As for little Wang, well that's not a happy ending either. Wang Fuman's father told Inkstone News that funds donated to his son were withheld amid allegations the family were being "greedy" and distributed to other "ice boys". "Our family only received a small amount of money," he told the website. Even an offer of a place in a private school was later withdrawn.
It appears that a Socialist paradise is just as elusive as the non socialist version.
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| Communism Promises Much For Intellectuals - Delivers A Lot Less For The Working Man ..... |
.... to be precise, a theory or system of social organisation, in which all property is owned by the community, and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
Now as the last major 'Communist' state and a recognised superpower , you would expect that China would have a fine welfare system. I don't mean the money for doing nothing welfare system that we practice in the UK and other Western states ... after all, in the Communist system there would be a job for everyone (no slackers allowed).
No I mean, a working poverty catch all, that would prevent the workers at the bottom of the economy .... those on the lowest incomes from falling into absolute poverty. That they would be supported to ensure their children didn't get raised in dire poverty, and would have a chance to beat their poor backgrounds, and make something of themselves.
However, it seems that the although the Chinese communist party (CPP) run the country politically, they have ceded the economy largely to capitalistic business. This has created a real problem with wealth inequality. So much so that a 2018 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), cited China as "being one of the world's most unequal countries" ... it had previously said in 1990, that China was a "moderately unequal" country ... a sign of the changes that have occurred in the country in the past twenty years.
The majority of this wealth inequality, is the difference in earnings between urban and rural Chinese, and as an extreme example of this earnings disparity, figures suggest that the per capita disposable income of a household in the capital Beijing, was 57,229 Yuan ($8,090; £6,300) in 2017. While in one of the poorest regions, rural Guizhou, that figure was around 16,703 Yuan ($2,373.40; £1,834.10) in 2017. Also in 2017, according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, 30.46 million rural people were still living below the national poverty line of US $1.90 a day.
The Chinese government is well aware that they rose to power based upon the support of the rural poor in the 1930's and 1940s, and has previously pledged to end extreme rural poverty for 43 million citizens by 2020 .... a target which seems likely to be missed. For the fact is, that much of China's money is spent elsewhere, such as military expansion in the South China seas, or infrastructure projects in Africa or Central Asia. Social security/welfare funding and state employers/employees salaries have all to often been starved of state funds.
These issues comes to light more often these days, as social media, although controlled and censored can't stop people entirely discussing some subjects (or Chinese teens would turn to foreign Apps). A couple of recent examples of poverty have shocked large parts of the urban population:
 |
| Ms Wu Huayan Starved Herself, While Little Wang Struggles Against Poverty To Do Well At School .... |
Wu Huayan is a 24 year old student who became seriously malnourished, while struggling to both study, and support her mentally ill brother. She was suddenly admitted into hospital after having difficulty breathing, and where she was found to weigh barely more than 20kg (43 pounds; three stones), and was just 135cm (4ft 5ins) tall. She was suffering from heart and kidney problems due to five years spent eating minimal amounts of food. After paying for her brothers medicines, she spent only 2 Yuan ($0.28c, £0.22p) a day on herself, surviving largely off a bowl of chillies and rice.
After the story went viral, donations reportedly totalling some 800,000 Yuan ($114,000, £88,000) came from social media funding pages. As well as these donations from crowd funding platforms, her teachers and classmates donated 40,000 Yuan ($5,700; £4,400), while local villagers collected 30,000 Yuan to help her. Shamed, state officials released a statement saying Ms Wu had been receiving the minimum government subsidy - thought to be between 300 and 700 Yuan a month (which she had apparently used for her brother) - and that she was now getting an emergency relief fund of 20,000 Yuan.
This story was following another recent example of extreme rural poverty, when an 8 year old little boy was photographed by a teacher, arriving to school after walking for over an hour in a thin coat, in temperatures of -9c. A walk he did every day to and from school .... dubbed "Ice Boy" by social media users, "Little Wang" lives in dire poverty with his grand parents, (He is what is known as a "left-behind child" - his father, is a migrant worker who only comes back twice a year - his mother left and never returned), in a dilapidated home, made of mud and brick. But despite his hardships, and the teasing of other children about his inappropriate clothing, the teacher made the point of photographing his dirty chilblained hands, on his near perfect school work (99/100).
As many Chinese social media commentators point out, despite the outpourings of sympathy and help that these two cases generate .... they are but two examples of millions of others like them. As one popular post by 'SurblueDu' summed it up "No-one knows how many poor children there are, helping one is only helping one."
China may have performed an economic miracle, in raising the standards of wealth of many millions in the country, but spare a thought for the millions of others left far behind.
Sad post script: Sadly, Ms Wu Huayan died despite the donations made via Charity 9958, a project under the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children (CCAFC).
Its alleged that corrupt charity officials withheld the money and only a small amount was passed over. Zheng Hehong, a prominent activist and former member of staff at 9958 said "They waited until the patient died so they could take the interest income," she told Phoenix New Media's Ifeng.com. "This income, by law, can be given as a staff bonus instead of charitable aid." One acquaintance told The Cover that Ms Wu didn't even know about 400,000 yuan of the money. The official China Daily admits that online charity fraud has become rife.
As for little Wang, well that's not a happy ending either. Wang Fuman's father told Inkstone News that funds donated to his son were withheld amid allegations the family were being "greedy" and distributed to other "ice boys". "Our family only received a small amount of money," he told the website. Even an offer of a place in a private school was later withdrawn.
It appears that a Socialist paradise is just as elusive as the non socialist version.
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