China's poor pose threat to wealthy future

By Chris Bowlby - Analysis, Radio 4 - BBC News
March 9, 2006

Look at China from a distance, and those huge new skyscrapers in places like Shanghai may dominate the view.

They symbolise rapid recent growth, glitzy cities and factories flooding the world with consumer goods.

Look beyond, however, and another China comes into focus - where hundreds of millions still live in poverty, and where a communist government struggles with the contradictions of running a capitalist economy.

Last week the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, warned the National People's congress in Beijing of "deep-seated conflicts" and promised to spend more to ease the urban-rural divide.

Resentment and assertiveness

Oxford political scientist Steve Tsang says China is a "brittle" place.

It looks strong from the outside but "the situation can disintegrate very quickly".

The communists hope continued rapid economic growth will permit their continued hold on to power.

But they are now caught between the resentment of those left behind by the boom and the assertiveness of a new middle class.

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