Subscribe to free Email Newsletter  
 
 
   

Opinion / Forum Digests

Spread the wealth
By Sosan Young ( bbs.chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-20 15:43

A glaring symbol for the distance China has traveled from the Mao Zedong years is the Ferrari showroom not far from the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Nor is capitalism neglected in the lobbies of Beijing's five-star hotels, where Hermes, Ferragamo and Tiffany kiosks reign.

No wonder some Chinese joke that the label "communist" in the ruling party's name is already a historical relic, or at least to be changed for a better and world acceptable one.

China's leaders demonstrated again last week that they understand the rising tide has not yet lifted all boats. The nation's wealth, staggering though it is, is concentrated along the coast. It's easy to see the rich in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but they're far more scarce in the west.

President Hu Jintao deserves credit for understanding the problems. His slogan of "harmonious society," a very good one, reflects the need to lessen the disparity between rich and poor, which is exacerbated by high-handed local officials and private developers who demolish simple houses to make way for high-rises with little or no compensation for the tenants.

The party's leaders ended their annual planning meeting last week with a pledge to try to "maintain fast and stable economic growth" while also improving the lives of those who have not benefited from the reform and opening. The demand for change is clear: According to government figures, there were 10,000 public protests in 1994 and 74,000 last year. That shows the anger over corruption, income inequality, deteriorating pollution, and poor and dangerous working conditions.

Hu and his team have tried to address the problems, going out of their way to visit coal mines (still the sites of cave-ins that kill dozens of miners at a time) and helping migrants from the countryside to the cities collect their wages.

World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz told a news conference in Beijing that China had made some advances in listening to ordinary citizens but needed to do more in developing the rule of law and a civil society. He said the World Bank's wide experience in providing funds to developing nations - and China still is one despite its growing pockets of wealth - had taught it that the quality of governance determines the quality of development.

Hu's team should have the courage to do it, and a better governance will yield economic benefits for more people in China.

The above content represents the view of the author only.

 
Comments (total China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World

Sorry, the page you requested was not found.

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Chinadaily.com.cn, try visiting the Chinadaily home page

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
)   Print This Article    E-mail  
 

   
Copyright 1995-2007. All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form.
Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
Registration Number: 20100000002731