Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
China has done miracles and another is needed
Source: Xinhua |
October 12, 2009, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SIXTY years ago when New China was just founded, Dean Gooderham Acheson, then US Secretary of State, asserted that the Communist government would be unable to feed its 546 million population.
Sixty years on, the 1.3 billion Chinese are not only able to feed themselves, but are also expected to lead the world out of the worst economic recession in seven decades.
Hou Bingxin, a farmer in west China's Shaanxi Province, remembers the bitter days of having nothing to eat in the 1950s.
"We had to squeeze some wild leaves for food when we could no longer endure the hunger," said the 82-year-old.
In 1949, China's grain output was only 113 million tons. Feeding the 540 million Chinese was then top priority for the young government.
Food-rationing coupons had been issued to balance demand and supply in those days when "rice was as precious as gold."
It was not until the late 1970s that the household responsibility system was introduced across the country.
The new system, which allowed farmers to sell their surplus produce in markets after fulfilling their quotas to the commune, was an instant success that quickly lifted people out of poverty.
China's grain output therefore grew by 8 percent annually between 1982 and 1991, making the country the biggest grain producer in the world.
As food is largely secured for the 1.3 billion Chinese, thousands of millions of Chinese were rid of poverty.
By last year, the number of people with an annual per capita income of no more than 785 yuan (US$114.60) had been reduced from 250 million to 14.79 million, while that of those of low income - between 786 yuan and 1,067 yuan a year - was down to 28.4 million.
A World Bank report in 2008 attributed two-thirds of the global poverty reduction efforts in the past 25 years to China.
In the meantime, China's per capital income has increased 77 fold to exceed US$3,000 a year, ranking alongside middle-income countries.
Things are not all that positive, though. As a nation, China as an abundance of natural resources. But the per capita amount is much less than the world's average, especially for resources of strategic importance such as oil, natural gas and iron ore.
Since China's rapid economic expansion has been sustained by the most fragile ecological conditions, the country is now facing its most severe environmental challenges in its history.
As the Economist magazine put it, despite China's huge economic success in the past decade, it still needs the same miracle in environmental protection to make a real China miracle.
Sixty years on, the 1.3 billion Chinese are not only able to feed themselves, but are also expected to lead the world out of the worst economic recession in seven decades.
Hou Bingxin, a farmer in west China's Shaanxi Province, remembers the bitter days of having nothing to eat in the 1950s.
"We had to squeeze some wild leaves for food when we could no longer endure the hunger," said the 82-year-old.
In 1949, China's grain output was only 113 million tons. Feeding the 540 million Chinese was then top priority for the young government.
Food-rationing coupons had been issued to balance demand and supply in those days when "rice was as precious as gold."
It was not until the late 1970s that the household responsibility system was introduced across the country.
The new system, which allowed farmers to sell their surplus produce in markets after fulfilling their quotas to the commune, was an instant success that quickly lifted people out of poverty.
China's grain output therefore grew by 8 percent annually between 1982 and 1991, making the country the biggest grain producer in the world.
As food is largely secured for the 1.3 billion Chinese, thousands of millions of Chinese were rid of poverty.
By last year, the number of people with an annual per capita income of no more than 785 yuan (US$114.60) had been reduced from 250 million to 14.79 million, while that of those of low income - between 786 yuan and 1,067 yuan a year - was down to 28.4 million.
A World Bank report in 2008 attributed two-thirds of the global poverty reduction efforts in the past 25 years to China.
In the meantime, China's per capital income has increased 77 fold to exceed US$3,000 a year, ranking alongside middle-income countries.
Things are not all that positive, though. As a nation, China as an abundance of natural resources. But the per capita amount is much less than the world's average, especially for resources of strategic importance such as oil, natural gas and iron ore.
Since China's rapid economic expansion has been sustained by the most fragile ecological conditions, the country is now facing its most severe environmental challenges in its history.
As the Economist magazine put it, despite China's huge economic success in the past decade, it still needs the same miracle in environmental protection to make a real China miracle.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
