HOW MUCH HARM COULD 800 MILLION DISGRUNTLED PEASANTS DO?

No well-off farmers, no well-off China (Qiu Xin, 4/;29/05, Asia Times)

"The target of a well-off China will never be achieved unless the rural population lives a well-off life; national modernization will never be completed unless rural areas attain modernization," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proclaimed in a press conference after the closing of National People's Congress.

These remarks, delivered March 14, are evidently a rebuttal of president Jiang Zemin's claim, made in his 2002 work report, that the underdeveloped People's Republic of China (PRC) was already "well-off" on the whole. Jiang, who also was the general secretary of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), announced in his address to the 16th plenary session of CCP National Congress three years ago that China had "generally accomplished [its] aim of [creating] a well-off society". At the same time, he conceded that "the well-off society is [at a] low level, [with] partial and unbalanced development". The alleged "achievement" did add a glorious feather to the nation's cap, and naturally, to that of president Jiang. However, the feather did not fit according to the incumbent premier, who has been showing growing concern for the 800 million disadvantaged farmers inhabiting the vast countryside.

Man, to have the pitchfork franchise there...

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 28, 2005 12:20 PM