Oct. 31, 201
Chashan, China — From his home in the mountains of northeast China. Li Zhi has watched from a distance as prosperity has transformed China into a land of high-speed trains, billionaires and skyscrapers. However, the economic boom that made China rich never came to Chashan, a desolate village of 40 people about a six-hour drive from Beijing.
“The country doesn’t care for me,” Mr. Li said as he rolled a cigarette in his home. “Nobody cares for me.”
However, Mr. Xi’s lofty vision clashes with a harsh reality across much of rural China. In many villages, young people have gone, leaving older residents to fend for themselves. Disparities in education, health care, and social services remain stark.
As China works to modernize its economy, it faces the reality that the world’s newest superpower remains a developing nation with a huge poverty problem. Therefore, experts say that a slowing economy and loss of manufacturing jobs could add to strains on low-income families, undermining Mr. Xi’s vision.
Mr. Xi has also used the fight against poverty to strengthen China’s global alliances, financing programs in Africa and Southeast Asia, and urging the world to learn from China’s experience.
Now Mr. Xi faces pressure to deliver.
“Xi Jinping is a prisoner of expectations,” Professor Brown said. “His problem is not the fears of Chinese people but the hopes of Chinese people.” Mr. Xi has instructed officials to focus on alleviating poverty in rural places like Chashan. In other words, farming conditions are poor, access to basic social services is limited. Residents struggle with heart disease and other ailments without a clinic nearby.
For centuries, Chashan, nestled in the mountains about 6,400 feet above sea level, has been home to farmers who plant wheat and yams and raise pigs and sheep on dry terrain.
However, the government is trying to turn the village into a tourist destination, but so far only a trickle of visitors have come. The town is hard to reach and lacks modern facilities.
“It’s impossible to eliminate poverty,” he said.
Some villages have experimented with rural cooperatives, allowing families to raise production by pooling labor and resources. State-owned banks have provided microloans to help villagers tap into China’s e-commerce boom by selling embroidered dresses and other goods online.
However, the hardest work remains ahead. As many as half of the 43 million people who are officially classified as in poverty could be disabled, according to the government. Thus, the campaign must also move into areas that have been chronically poor for generations, including many that are home to ethnic minorities.
After that, there is the fact that Mr. Xi’s campaign is not focused on urban areas. There are more than 200 million rural migrants in China’s cities, where many struggles to receive education, health care, and other benefits because the local government does not consider them residents.
“I can’t live here,” he said. “I don’t know where to go.”
Follow Javier C. Hernández on Twitter: @HernandezJavier.
Iris Zhao contributed research.
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