Article 5KRFV ‘Poverty divides us’: gap between rich and poor poses threat to China

‘Poverty divides us’: gap between rich and poor poses threat to China

by
Vincent Ni China affairs corresponent
from Economics | The Guardian on (#5KRFV)

Xi Jinping himself has warned China's wealth gap is not only economic but political and could threaten party's legitimacy

When Wang Zhenyu moved out of his small village in central Henan province to the coastal city of Dalian at 18, he was astonished. It was like a culture shock for me, even though it was just a big city in my country, not a foreign land." A few years later when he was enrolled in Peking University as a graduate student, he found much fewer students in the country's top university coming from a similar background to his.

Growing up in a small village of 2,000 farmers, many of Wang's childhood friends dropped out of school after finishing their nine years of compulsory education. Now with a decent academic job, Wang begins to experience reverse culture shock" every time he goes back to his village for the annual lunar new year.

Related: China has almost wiped out urban poverty. Now it must tackle inequality

Related: China: 'ruthless' campaign to evict Beijing's migrant workers condemned

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