Present conditions of depressed areas in China
In China's depressed areas, there are a total of 1,019 counties, accounting for nearly one half of total number of counties in the country. In 2001, these areas took up 37 per cent of the total population of counties(cities), 77 per cent of total surface land of the country, and 40 per cent of to...01 08 2004 | Read
By Zhang Yi& Lin Jiabin
In China's depressed areas, there are a total of 1,019 counties, accounting for nearly one half of total number of counties in the country. In 2001, these areas took up 37 per cent of the total population of counties(cities), 77 per cent of total surface land of the country, and 40 per cent of total cultivated land. Yet they accounted for merely 1/4 of total GDP of all counties in China. Small economic aggregate and weak strength for development are the basic features of these depressed areas.
1.Lagging far behind average development level of counties(cities) in the country.
In 2001, GDP of counties in depressed areas averaged 1,342 million yuan, about half of the average of all counties(cities) in the country("national average" for short below). Their local financial revenue averaged 60.14 million yuan, 57 per cent of the national average; their GDP per capita stood at 3,874 yuan, merely two-thirds of the national average. In these counties, local financial revenue per capita stood at 174 yuan, which was three-fourths of the national average; per capita net income of farmers was 1,779 yuan, three-fourths of the national average; the number of industrial enterprises of average scale in county 19, 25 fewer than the national average, 57 per cent below the national average. Their industrial structure is low. In 2001, in these counties, the primary industry took up a percentage of 33 per cent, 8 percentage points higher than the national average.
2. Agriculture: inadequate inputs, backward production conditions and low efficiency
According to statistics, in 2001, in depressed areas agriculture expenditure took up 3.9 per cent in fiscal expenditure, as against a national average of 4.4 per cent. Total output of agricultural machinery averaged 1,055 watt per labor, 1/3 lower than the national average. Area of fertile irrigation took up 43.3 per cent in cultivated area, 8 percentage points lower than the national average; consumption of fertilizer, pesticide and mulching film per mu(about 667 m2) cultivated land was 21.80 kg, 0.67 kg and 0.48 kg respectively, which was 23 per cent, 22 per cent and 5 per cent respectively lower than the national average. With regard to production efficiency, in 2001, added value of farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery averaged 4,096 yuan per labor, 16 per cent lower than the national average; rate of land output was 526 yuan/mu, 21 per cent lower than the national average; output of crop area was 267 kg per mu, 14 per cent lower than the national average.
3. Backward infrastructure of transportation and communication
In 2001, density of highways averaged 0.12 km/km2 in depressed areas, 35 per cent lower than the national average; on average there were 1.9 private cars among per hundred households, 17.4 per cent lower than the national average; among 100 households 28.7 households have telephones, 22.8 per cent lower than the national average. For many years, backward transportation and communication has been an important constraint on the development of the depressed areas. Nevertheless, in recent years, road traffic has been improved remarkable in old liberated areas and less developed counties. Meanwhile, in recent years, brisk foreign trade has facilitated the development of transportation and communication in border-area counties, and the ownership of cars and telephones per 100 households has exceeded the national average.
4.Poor human resources
In the depressed areas, illiterate population take up the highest proportion, while those with high school or higher education constitute only a small fraction. Rural population accounts for a high percentage. In recent years, however, border areas have experienced an evident drop in the percentage of rural population. This is mainly because rapid development of border trade driven by the reform and opening program has facilitated the development of small towns and the urbanization process while contributing to the prosperity of the local economy.
Major Problems Existing in Depressed Areas and Causes
1. Poor natural conditions lead to slow economic development
Abominable natural conditions are a major factor impeding the development of depressed areas. Most depressed areas are in regions with foul natural conditions: plateaus, mountainous areas, hills, deserts and karst landscape. These areas are very arid, with small precipitation that comes mostly in summer; or surface water sources are unusable- in karst terrain there is severe percolation of surface water; or due to high altitude and profound coldness, effective accumulated temperature is severely insufficient for farming; or the areas are high mountains with steep slopes, suffering from severe water loss and soil erosion and frequent natural disasters. Inconvenient transportation is also an important constraint on economic development in depressed areas. Being far away from economic centers, these areas do not enjoy convenient transportation or favorable geographical location. In the vast depressed mountainous areas, at least one half to 2/3 of the townships do not have highways, which causes great difficulty in material exchange and commodity export.
2. Inadequate government inputs result in poor education level
In depressed areas compulsory education is in austere predicament, with high dropout rate and large proportion of illiteracy among young and middle-aged people. To most people, education offered at junior high schools is their"ultimate education". Insufficient input in education has severely affected the quality of education and enrollment of children in these areas. On the one hand, simple teaching facilities, inadequate funding for education as well as low and un-guaranteed salaries for teachers cause turnover of teaching staff and severely affect quality of education. On the other hand, rising tuition and related costs impose an unbearable burden on impoverished households. Of the 20 impoverished households surveyed in two villages in Qingjian County of Shaanxi Province, there were 11 dropouts, accounting for 19.3 per cent among all school-age children in the two villages.
3. Depressed areas are still mired in poor infrastructure and heavy debts
For more than a decade, despite the State's efforts to build infrastructure in rural areas through the"Food for Work" program and other poverty relief funds, the inputs for poverty relief have not met the needs of construction due to poor infrastructure and heavy debts. According to investigations, at present 60 per cent of the village roads in China's depressed areas are unsuitable for traffic in rainy days, 55 per cent of the highways linking counties and townships are off-grade roads, and 67 per cent of prime farmland cannot get fertile irrigation.
4. Poor ability to resist natural disasters leads to high poverty relapse rate
Many of the depressed areas suffer from frequent natural disasters, with poor production and living conditions. They are ill-equipped to resist natural disasters; as a result, once a calamity strikes, wide areas will become impoverished again. In mid-June of 2002, for instance, Fujian Province was hit by an unusual severe flood, which affected over 2.3 million people in 31 counties in 5 cities, causing 4.1 billion yuan worth of immediate economic losses. The hard-hit nine counties are all in mountainous areas, and four of them are in the scope of the former Central Soviet Area(a base area under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party during the Second Revolutionary Civil War).
5. Farmers do not have many avenues for increasing income due to a simple industrial structure leaves
In depressed areas, farmers mostly live on planting or go to work in other areas. In 2000, farmers engaged in agricultural production took up a hefty 88.6 per cent of the work force in these areas. Such simple industrial structure, coupled with poor production conditions of agriculture, weak resistance to natural disasters and drop in the price of agricultural products, makes it very difficult for farmers to get higher income through household-based planting operation. Although labor service has always been a principal avenue for raising income, as the secondary and tertiary industries lag behind in most depressed areas, farmers do not have many job opportunities in the local areas. For working in other areas, farmers' quality can be a constraint. Without training of skills or easy access to information on the labor market, they do not enjoy smooth channels of finding employment.
6. Poverty of minorities is not neglectable
China is a multi-national country. After the founding of PRC, unprecedented progress has been made in various undertakings in the minority areas. However, because they started late on a low level, these areas are still lagging behind. Another cause of poverty in minority areas is geographic factors. The minorities mostly live in the northwest and southwest, and most in remote mountains. Massive disafforestation and proliferation of population have aggravated ecological conditions. These people are the most impoverished among poor groups. Until recently, poverty relief projects seldom covered these areas. Moreover, as most of them do not speak Chinese Mandarin, they do not have much contact the outside world. Consequently, they find it very difficult to obtain information on jobs in non-agricultural sectors, and it is even harder for them to get opportunities for export of service.
Thus, we are still facing arduous poverty-reduction tasks in China's depressed areas, and whether the goals are achieved has a direct bearing on the fulfillment of the strategic goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way.
The writers are with National Statistics Bureau and Development Research Center of the State Council respectively.
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