Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Closing wealth gap will earn trust
Source: Xinhua |
October 29, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
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ZHANG Lan, 43-year-old primary school teacher in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has seen her monthly salary quadruple over the past decade to 4,000 yuan (US$640), but she still has to pinch pennies.
"My monthly income still falls short of the price of one square meter of an apartment," says Zhang. The urban dweller complains that with more than 20 years' of work experience, her income still lags far behind those in the country's monopolized industries and sectors.
Public discontent over income distribution is not confined to cities. The Latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics showed the country's rural per capita cash income in the first three quarters this year was 6,778 yuan (US$1,084), only 36.8 percent of the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the same period.
Although the Chinese economy has grown into the world's second largest, the original goal of China's economic reform- to achieve common prosperity -remains in the distant future, many analysts warn.
"Poverty and backwardness brew social turmoil. The remedy is to put development first to secure economic prosperity, sufficient employment and the smooth flow of wealth," says Ji Zhengju, researcher with the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
The State Council has decided to establish an overall income distribution plan by the end of this year, and observers have put high hopes on the upcoming National Congress of the CPC, scheduled to open on November 8.
Fruit sharing
Zhao Chenggen, a professor in the School of Government of Peking University, expects China's new leadership to elaborate on how to boost the economy and how to make sure economic fruits are shared by all Chinese in a more equitable way.
At a high-profile meeting held in July, widely interpreted as sending a key message to the upcoming five-year CPC congress, President Hu Jintao has urged efforts to deliver more benefits to the people, relieving people's worries and addressing their practical concerns.
Progress should be made in education, employment, healthcare, retirement and housing in order to allocate more benefits to people in a fairer way, Hu made the remarks while addressing the opening session of a workshop for ministerial officials and provincial heads in July.
Unfair income distribution is viewed as a major obstacle to deepening the country's economic reform and transforming the mode of growth.
In 2011, senior company executives earned 4,553 times more than migrant workers, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The rate of increase in executive pay has also vastly exceeded that of regular staff. The income gap clearly is increasing and causing unfair income distribution, the ministry said.
China has been working on income distribution reform since 2004, but people's expectations have not been met. The state-run monopoly sectors have become a major target of public complaints, says Ji.
Aside from improving incomes, capping high wages in state-run sectors will become a focus in the reforms, he says, acknowledging that a slight change in income distribution may affect the whole situation.
Reform should initially focus on the primary distribution phase by putting monopoly law into practice, improving property ownership and bridging the "identity gaps" among rural and urban sectors, according to Ji.
"My monthly income still falls short of the price of one square meter of an apartment," says Zhang. The urban dweller complains that with more than 20 years' of work experience, her income still lags far behind those in the country's monopolized industries and sectors.
Public discontent over income distribution is not confined to cities. The Latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics showed the country's rural per capita cash income in the first three quarters this year was 6,778 yuan (US$1,084), only 36.8 percent of the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the same period.
Although the Chinese economy has grown into the world's second largest, the original goal of China's economic reform- to achieve common prosperity -remains in the distant future, many analysts warn.
"Poverty and backwardness brew social turmoil. The remedy is to put development first to secure economic prosperity, sufficient employment and the smooth flow of wealth," says Ji Zhengju, researcher with the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
The State Council has decided to establish an overall income distribution plan by the end of this year, and observers have put high hopes on the upcoming National Congress of the CPC, scheduled to open on November 8.
Fruit sharing
Zhao Chenggen, a professor in the School of Government of Peking University, expects China's new leadership to elaborate on how to boost the economy and how to make sure economic fruits are shared by all Chinese in a more equitable way.
At a high-profile meeting held in July, widely interpreted as sending a key message to the upcoming five-year CPC congress, President Hu Jintao has urged efforts to deliver more benefits to the people, relieving people's worries and addressing their practical concerns.
Progress should be made in education, employment, healthcare, retirement and housing in order to allocate more benefits to people in a fairer way, Hu made the remarks while addressing the opening session of a workshop for ministerial officials and provincial heads in July.
Unfair income distribution is viewed as a major obstacle to deepening the country's economic reform and transforming the mode of growth.
In 2011, senior company executives earned 4,553 times more than migrant workers, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The rate of increase in executive pay has also vastly exceeded that of regular staff. The income gap clearly is increasing and causing unfair income distribution, the ministry said.
China has been working on income distribution reform since 2004, but people's expectations have not been met. The state-run monopoly sectors have become a major target of public complaints, says Ji.
Aside from improving incomes, capping high wages in state-run sectors will become a focus in the reforms, he says, acknowledging that a slight change in income distribution may affect the whole situation.
Reform should initially focus on the primary distribution phase by putting monopoly law into practice, improving property ownership and bridging the "identity gaps" among rural and urban sectors, according to Ji.
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