China is boosting representation for its dwindling rural population in the national legislature as part of a new push to narrow the urban-rural development gap.
Once an overwhelmingly rural society, China is urbanizing at an accelerating rate, with 43 percent, or 560 million people, now living in the cities, official figures show. The urban population has risen 7 percent in the last five years.
There are nearly 3,000 members of the legislature, known as the National People’s Congress, but members from urban areas represent just one-quarter of the number of constituents as their rural counterparts. That was originally intended as a way of protecting the interest of what had been a small urban minority surrounded by hundreds of millions of farmers.
PHOTO: AFP
An amendment to the election law erasing that distinction will be passed before the close of the National People’s Congress’ annual session on Sunday.
HUMAN RIGHTS
“This change helps fill the need for equal development rights,” Miao Zhi, a delegate from the western, largely rural, region of Xinjiang, said yesterday. “It’s a step forward for the human rights cause.”
National People’s Congress delegates are chosen by assemblies at the provincial level, who in turn are picked by congresses at the city, county, township and village levels. Chinese Communist Party officials preselect many candidates, especially at the higher levels.
The reform move is in keeping with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) pledges to improve conditions for the bulk of the population getting by on the average rural per-capita annual disposable income of 5,153 yuan (about US$750) — or in some areas, much less.
Like many large developing nations, China’s city-countryside divide is vast, with rural residents earning incomes that are on average just one-third of urban ones. Schools, hospitals, recreational facilities and government services lag far behind those in the cities.
RURAL OR URBAN?
While rural residents have been migrating in increasing numbers, they are excluded from subsidized housing and other benefits by their official residency status, or hukou. The system, which designates each citizen as either rural or urban, has been likened by some to a form of apartheid that enforces the gap in income and benefits.
Coveted urban status can be obtained, but only under certain conditions, including investing in property or by marrying a city dweller.
The system was originally designed to control internal migration and ration resources as part of strict social controls when the communists seized power in 1949.
Critics say it is outdated and out of step with the increasingly mobile, cosmopolitan society. In a sign of mounting dissatisfaction, 13 newspapers across the country published a joint editorial last week calling for it to be scrapped.
“Freedom of movement is a human right,” the editorial said.
Officials say they are moving to reform the system, but haven’t indicated they will end it entirely.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was