The Country ‘Side’ of China.docVIP

The Country ?Side? of China China?s first Buddhist gathering attracts worldwide participation Living in the epicenter of Beijing, rarely making it past the second of the six arterial ring roads that encircle this sprawling, swelling city like a dartboard, a person could be forgiven for forgetting that the country of China is mostly countryside. And most of its citizens are country folk. As often mentioned, China has about 900 million rural people, most living in poverty and many in increasing unrest over their living conditions and the injustices that happen to people who are poor and powerless. Which is why there has also been so much talk recently over the construction of China?s “new socialist countryside,” the term used by government officials to describe the investment being made to reduce the staggering disparity between rural and urban residents. China?s leaders are well aware of the problem. Once you make it out of Beijing or any other big city, the problem is there and everywhere. The countryside seems to never end, and, at least outside Beijing, it is shockingly ugly. Dusty brick village after village set in a dead, colorless landscape, inhabitants clumped together on dirt roads with little infrastructure and opportunity. But China is a huge country, and the countryside is complex. Recently, on a trip to southwestern China, I traveled to villages in Yunnan where the beauty of that province, with its lush forests and sweet air, makes it easy to forget that it is also very poor (the mountains and forests are spectacular, but they don?t leave much room for agriculture). The Yunnan countryside is colorful and culturally diverse, and by extension more tourist-friendly. Tourists also see the drab villages outside Beijing on the way to the Great Wall. Going on sheer looks, I find it hard to believe these places are in the same country. So, how to solve the rural problems of these two very different parts of the country with one strategy?