Why do rural Chinese people travel within their own country, and why do they encounter prejudice at work in megacities?
Overview
Although China’s rapid economic expansion has lifted more than 850 million people out of poverty since 1978, it has also been linked to a rise in the income, opportunity, and quality of life gaps between urban and rural areas. Rural dwellers’ average disposable income per person in 2010 was less than one-third that of urban residents.
East of China is where the landlocked province of Anhui is situated. Due to a higher concentration of low-productive agriculture and a weak service sector, its economy lagged behind those of several other eastern provinces. Anhui’s average per capita rural income was significantly lower than the national average in 2010, and the province’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was less than 40% of that of the nearby Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces.
Huangshan, a city known for its magnificent Yellow Mountains and a well-liked tourist destination, faced issues in the rural areas such as a lack of funding for basic infrastructure, low agricultural productivity, few job opportunities, underdeveloped tourism facilities, and a lack of capacity and skills to improve service quality and create economic opportunities.
The Anhui Yellow Mountain New Countryside Demonstration Project promoted Huangshan’s rural development in a number of areas in accordance with the Chinese government’s objective to “create new socialist countryside,” including:
Investment in rural public services and infrastructure will help to close the quality of life gap between rural and urban communities.
To improve the quality of tourism services, draw more tourists, and provide jobs and income-generating possibilities, conservation and development of tourism assets, including tangible and intangible cultural heritage and tourism facilities, as well as skill development for rural communities.
The creation of greener, higher value-added agricultural production bases and market facilities, the improvement of irrigation, drainage, and flood control, and training for farmers to boost agricultural productivity and integrate into the contemporary agricultural value chain.
the improvement of planning and administration of infrastructural assets, the preservation of cultural heritage, the tourism and agricultural industries through institutional capacity building for local government workers.
