Minor Posts on China

For a listing of all posts on China, please see the Chinese link page

Chinese tax system altered to favor farmers

August 8, 2004

Chinese tax system altered to favor farmers (China Daily, Asia Times). More specifically, PM Wen Jenbao has promised to abolish a large number of fees associated with land use, taxes unique to farmers. These agriculture-specific taxes now account for 8% of farmer income; the China Daily mentions they're centuries old. The promise is, they are to be phased out by 2009—i.e., when Wen's first term in office ends. Please note that this 8% of farmer income is actually on top of the normal income tax burden.

Why is this important? Few, if any, of China's 960+ million rural population read Hobson's Choice. The point, however, is that centuries of Chinese rulers have—like most pre-industrial societies—funded cities at the expense of the farmers. For the most part, this meant a transfer of income from country to city, stimulating the rapid growth of the urban economy...or its concomitant security apparatus. Now the gap between urban incomes and rural incomes is so great, it threatnes the country's social fabric:

China Today: Farmers have long performed a dual duty: producing grain to supply the needs of urban consumption regardless of purchase price, and paying taxes to support urban and industrial development and daily operation of township governments. China is the only country in the world that levies agricultural taxes on farmers. As a result, farmers' agricultural per capita net income between 1998 and 2000 decreased year by year — by 30 yuan in 1998, 57 yuan in 1999 and 43 yuan in 2000. This decrease affected 77.5 percent of rural households that relied mainly on farming. During the same period, the per capita rural income dropped to 35 percent of the per capita urban income. In 2003, this translated to 2,622 yuan.

BBC devotes week to China

August 25, 2004

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is devoting a week to coverage of China ("Changing China: in Depth"). The series is still introducing new installments, but features such as this quick-reference of geography, ethnicity, population, etc. are already in place. If one is familiar with the PRC, then the page and its multifarious links will not be terribly surprising; your humble correspondent was disappointed with the endless "Exotic-looking people in traditional costumes with cell phones" cliché, which is over-used in the business press already. However, it is surprisingly comprehensive (historical links; a handy political guide; recent events timeline) and has some pretty valiant stabs at treatment of major issues.

For readers who regard themselves as more demanding consumers of Chinese news and information, I highly recommend EastSouthWestNorth; here again the anonymous blogger posts a magnificent gallery of photos of China (here are the others). Stephen Frost (Asian Labour News) has another good site I've plumped before; Mr. Frost has evidently directed his efforts to this newer, value-added site (CSR-Asia). I've also just become aware of A Glimpse of the World; host Howard French is a senior correspondent for the NYT. Madame Shutterfly is an outstanding photoblog of China, among many.