Spatial inequality and urban slum in china

Pub Date: 10/10/2005 Pub: ST Page: 10
Headline: Poverty belt may leave Beijing choking
By: Chua Chin Hon, China Bureau Chief In Hebei

Poor villages in region surrounding the capital a cause for concern

A THREE-HOUR drive north of Beijing, the dusty village of Guojiayao seems
frozen in time, untouched by the changes rippling through China in the past two
decades. Its century-old mud-brick houses still use paper instead of glass for their
windows.
The 30-odd families of Guojiayao in northern Hebei province survive largely
on farming, with an average household income of about 1,500 to 2,000 yuan
(S$310 to S$420) in a good year with no droughts. In contrast, farmers on the
outskirts of Beijing earn more than three times that amount.
Villagers both young and old cannot remember when Guojiayao was first built,
nor do they expect any real changes in the years to come.
'This place has been dirt poor since I first moved here when I was 30,' said
Madam Zhang Yuhua, 77, whose family bought its first television set only last
year.
Together with about 1.8 million other peasants across 3,798 poor villages in
the region, she is part of a 'poverty belt' that now surrounds Beijing and
Tianjin, two of China's biggest and most bustling cities, according to a recent
study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Hebei
government.

Rural poverty is nothing new in China, where uneven economic growth and a
growing wealth gap have created huge disparities in living standards between
the urban and rural areas.
But the proximity of the poverty belt to Beijing and the potential problems
it could cause in China's political nerve centre have now roused policymakers.
Experts who conducted the study on the poverty belt warn that its existence
at the doorstep of the Chinese capital could jeopardise the region's ecological
health and future growth, as well as hurt Beijing's preparations for the 2008
Olympic Games.

'The large number of poor villagers on the outskirts of Beijing will
inevitably result in a low-quality labour force streaming into the city,
forming slums and a new group of urban poor,' according to the study.
'This would not only affect the capital's image as an international city,
but would make it hard to ensure social safety and stability.'
There is no quick fix in sight. The obvious solution would be investment and
job creation. But these are difficult to carry out due to the region's tough
restrictions on heavy industries, which could drain or pollute the water
resources vital to Beijing and Tianjin.

chinhon@sph.com.sg