Rapid Urbanization and How It’s Affecting Rural Lives

By Bennett Tung

On a recent trip, the Xiaohusai team had the opportunity to speak with the only teacher in the village. On the verge of tears, she said, “The environment here is very harsh and the people here endure so much hardship…When I first arrived, [the villagers] said, ‘our school in the village has been without a professional teacher for 10 years and we are very lucky to have you.’”​

​Her words brought the modern hardships of rural Chinese living to light. Rapid urbanization has led many rural citizens to seek opportunity in China’s long list of megacities, making it difficult for the rural villages to keep up. In the last two decades alone, the percentage of the Chinese population living in urban areas jumped from 36% to over 60%.
 
To make matters worse, rural income has been on the decline since 2014. So, while urban economies are booming, rural economies are being left behind, and the dwindling populations of rural villages are only adding to the problem.
 
When speaking to the South China Morning Post, Ma Wenfeng, analyst from the Beijing Orient Agribusiness, stated, “We [society] look down on the agriculture sector and farmers are seen as in the lowest class in our society.”
 
Additionally, when migrant workers move to cities, they often go into low-income, laborious jobs, such as working in factories. With an inadequately severe amount of educational resources in rural areas, the poverty cycle is solidified and social mobility is lacking.
 
Therefore, supporting the children of underprivileged villages is crucial in securing their ability to thrive in a fast-paced world. Education ensures that they remain competent in competitive job markets, especially if they move to urban areas.
 
In the words of President Xi JinPIng at the National People’s Congress, “The country will flourish only when the countryside does and will decline if the rural area does.”

Links: 

1. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=CN
2. https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3034590/chinas-countryside-returning-poverty-lack-reforms-help-fuel