Lifting areas from poverty in western China

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Xining, China

This is the third article in a series based on a visit to China by courtesy of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of China.

The pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by coveting more -- Chinese proverb

Chen Weping, 27, wants to rebuild her house, a dream for which she is saving money by working in a state-owned carpet factory while tending to her farm.

"I will be able to realize my dream in five years," she said, sitting on a wooden bench in the factory in this remote Qinghai province, about 1,300 kilometers west of Beijing. Her hands deftly weave the perpendicular array of thousands of white threads hanging in front of her face.

The modest factory, where less than 20 workers are employed, was built a few years ago as part of the government's development program for the northwestern province.

"My husband is a migrant worker. Combining his earnings with mine, we have enough money to support our family," she said, smiling with a pleasant shyness and straightforwardness not unlike villagers in Indonesia.

Chen, who has one child, said she had been working in the factory for a year following a two-month training period.

The factory in She Tai village, about an hour's drive from the Qinghai capital of Xining, offers flexible working hours. She makes carpets for three hours, rushes back to tend her farm, then returns to the factory later.

Chen is part of a team of three workers, and they finish one large carpet a month. For this work, the workers each receive 300 yuan, or about Rp 300,000 (US$30), 20 percent of the carpet's selling price in Europe.

She Tai village is situated in the northern part of Ping An county, which has a population of 120,000 people, soon to decline to 100,000: Thousands are leaving this otherwise cool and scenic montane area to seek jobs in the big cities, often for meager pay and poor working conditions.

The mass migration to urban areas is typical in 24 other poverty stricken counties. Qinghai, comprised of 40 counties, has an area greater than France or equal to that of Italy and the United Kingdom combined.

The factory is part of the government's Go West Program to stem this flight and to close the yawning gap between the rich and poor in a changing China. The per capita income in the more developed southern coastal provinces is nearly $9,000, while villagers like Chen earn about $80 a month.

Local officials are worried that the gap would lead to social unrest, said Guo Gen-wang, director of protocol and information at the Qinghai Foreign Affairs Office.

The Go West Program was initiated in 1999 and focuses on road construction, technical training, carpet manufacturing and sheep farming. One of the program's achievements is a new 200-kilometer expressway connecting Xining and Lanzhou, which was finished this year after four years of work and a $1 billion dent in the government budget.

Ping An county's main source of income is agriculture, but as its long winters bring sub-zero temperatures of minus 20 degrees Centigrade, farmers rely on other occupation for as long as six months of a year.

The information officer of Ping An's Poverty Relief Program, Bae Binghao, said the harsh environment contributed to widespread poverty in the county, 54 percent of which has an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level. The county is also vulnerable to natural disasters, including drought, and another contributing factor is poor education -- although Qinghai has at least one well-established university.

The government rates poverty according to individual income. For example, a farmer is considered poor if they only make between $60 to $100 a year.

In four years, the relief program in Ping An has managed to construct access roads to each of the province's 40 counties and solved its water shortage problem. State figures show that expressways in the province have expanded this year to 300 kilometers, from a mere kilometer in 2000. The program has offered technical training to more than 40,000 people, as well as relocated people to more developed regions that provide an annual income of $500.

A Go West program officer in Qinghai, Pin Zhiqiang, said the gross domestic product (GDP) income per capita of the province was $800 in 2003, compared to the national figure of $1,080. Ping An county, as well the 24 other poverty-stricken counties, received aid from other provinces and government offices, including the tax office.

The Go West Program has alleviated this condition somewhat, increasing the average annual income in Ping An from $120 in 2000 to $190 today.

As Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said in Beijing, China's western regions was home to about half of its population: "It will take a long time before a balance in economic development between the western and eastern regions can be attained."

The number of poor people has steadily decreased, according to government sources, from 600 million people of the 900 million- strong population in 1980 to 200 million poor people out of a population reaching 1.3 billion today.

But absolute poverty, the kind of poverty we often encounter back home in Indonesia, seemed nonexistent along the trip to remote villages in China. A farmer we visited had a satellite dish, two television sets, a telephone, electricity and a full well -- and a four-room house on a 300 sqm plot of land.

Furthermore, the government offers food and medical aid to the poor -- anyone making an annual income of $60 and under is provided a $30 monthly food and health allowance.

Perhaps the real poor are found in more isolated areas that did not appear on our itinerary. From what we observed on our tour, however, the so-called poor people of China do not seem so poor -- and their condition appears to be improving yearly as its government "goes west" to tap and develop the human resources of its remote western region.

Ping An county, Qinghai province:

Ping An lies in the northern part of Qinghai, and has an area of 769 square kilometers -- or slightly bigger than Jakarta. Half of the 123,000 people of Ping An live in towns, with the rest scattered throughout 11 villages.

The county is home to five minority ethnic groups, including Tibetans and Mongolians that together make up about 20 percent of Ping An's population.

The county's main economic activities are agriculture and cattle farming.