Thursday, January 31, 2013

Blog #1: Leader's visit lifts a Village


Recently China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, visited the small town of Luotuowan, China. His visit brought a lot of attention to the severe poverty in that area.  Xi visited the small village of Hebei Province and many of its poor citizens. Mr. Tang, a man visited by Mr.Xi, was in such poverty that he shared his bed with five other family members.

The publicity from Xi’s visit started a great deal of help coming in . To help with their need, the government made arrangements for cooking oil, rice, and $160 cash to be brought to each household. I’m sure the rice was a special treat with corn products being one of the main and only dishes that they eat. After being touched by this story, a businessman drove over 500 miles with more cash and flat screen televisions in hand to give to the people of Hebei Province.

Xi and the Communist Party have promised to take a closer look in to the wealth gap. This gap is causing social instability, but what caused the gap? Income inequality

The article states that “Although official statistics released this month suggested that income inequality has eased in recent years, many outside analysts say it has actually gotten worse, making China among the world’s most unequal societies.”

Is there any hope that China’s Communist Party can help stop the inequality that these rural areas face? Mr. Tang has high hopes that they will. Mr. Tang and his wife honestly believe that under Mr. Xi’s power things will get better.  They believe that Xi will be much different from the previous men who have been in power.

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