Provide evidence of a gap between rural and

urban societies

By Disdale and Tomlina

Looking at:

• Demographic characteristics

• Development indicators

• Economic differences

• Employment differences

• Ethnic differences

• Other geoggers

Demographic characteristics:• 60% of the Chinese population live in rural areas

• Hukou, meaning household registration, meant that people could not migrate between urban and rural areas, designed under Mao. This can often stop rural workers enjoying the benefits of the East

• Birthrate is higher in rural Western areas than to the East, one child policy enforced here to a greater extent. This could be due to the lack of family planning centres out in these rural areas. Due to the large size of China, it is difficult to have linking infrastructure.

• Population in rural areas is falling, in urban areas is increasing. This is due to the pattern of rural to urban migration.

Rural to urban migration

Residents of rural areas migrate to urban areas due to the economic prospects and over-exaggerated wealth in the East. This means that rural areas become more run down and cause serious problems in the rural areas

Problems:

– Youth move to cities

– Ageing population

– Overcrowding in urban areas

– Poverty increases in rural and urban areas

Development indicators: PovertyEast

High due to overcrowding as everyone comes for work and the infrastructure cannot cope with them all

Stat: 8.5million Chinese peasants move into cities per year

West

Very high as farming isn’t very profitable and government benefits do not always reach the

Stat: 40million farmers live under the poverty line (under $1.25)

Development indicators: EducationEast

More schools in the East and reform is taking place but there is a struggle with the number of migrant children coming in, filling the schools

Stat: Combined gross enrolment Ratio in education – 69%

West

Children are dragged around the country by parents in the search for work. As the rural settlements are so scattered, schools are hard to access for those in isolated settlements.

Stat: Fifty-eight million children are left behind in the countryside by parents who hope that relatives will raise them lovingly

Development indicators: Health and Living StandardEast

As is most of the case in differences in development, the East has more in terms of living standards but more varied. There is more overcrowding etc but there are more services, more hospitals, more retail and improvement in housing.

West

The West suffers from the problem in dispersal. Infrastructure is not as developed in the West, poverty is high.

Economic differences:

• China's western region covers 6 provinces (Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan), 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet and Xinjiang), and 1 municipality (Chongqing). This region contains 71.4% of China's area, but 28.8% of its population, as of the end of 2002, and only 16.8% of its total economic output, as of 2003.

• The difference is what the economy is based on. The Western Provinces tend to be based on agriculture, which is not that profitable. It highly depends on the climate which makes it an unstable economy.

• The economy in the East though is booming. For a start, stifling Communist ideology does not apply in some areas in the East (the SEZs). The cities that have spawned and ramped up economic growth in the East have often benefited from coastal trade.

Employment differences:

In the rural west, the employability is low. By Hukou, farmers are tied to the land. The education is low so there is little social mobility.

However in the East, there are more jobs. The rate of building going on in China demands a large workforce to build up these mega cities. Capitalist ideology also thrives in many Eastern areas such as Shenzhen.

Ethnic differences:

Mongolian to the North central region

Turkic to the North West

Han Chinese to the East

Tibeto Burman to the West

Other geoggers:

Chinese girl

Grinners

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