DISCUSS THE STATEMENT THAT RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH WILL INEVITABLY LEAVE RURAL CHINA UNDEVELOPED. (25) Samuel Perfect and Alex Proudfoot

RURAL CHINA WILL BE LEFT UNDEVELOPED. Physical factors inhibiting development in rural areas:  Less accessible mountain ranges such as the Himalayas in the south west and the Mongolian deserts in the north restricting development.  Fewer natural resources such as coal/ minerals/ timber are found in predominantly rural provinces such as Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang restricting the development of further infrastructure such as housing/ schools and offices that require these basic resources.  The climate is harsher and more varied temperatures such as freezing temps in the Himalayas a range between -40°C to +50°C in the Gobi Desert. These are unsuitable for sufficient crop growth to support a larger population that would come about as a result of urban development in rural regions.

RURAL CHINA WILL BE LEFT UNDEVELOPED.  Demographic factors restricting development  The current rural/ urban migration (30.7million people  urban areas/ year) results in an unbalanced age/ gender structure.  Decrease in dependency ratio as the independent population migrate to urban areas limits the development that can be carried out by the declining rural labour force.  The skills and expertise required to establish a more developed community in rural areas is restricted to research and technological advancements conducted in eastern SEZ’s that have not yet spread to rural areas in the west.

FINANCIAL ISSUES RESTRICTING DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS  More money is already being invested into coastal regions in the east such as SEZ’s and globally important ports such as those in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beihai whilst less financial support is provide to western and central provinces resulting in a widening gap between poorer rural and richer urban communities.

RURAL CHINA WON’T BE LEFT UNDEVELOPED.  To sustain economic growth the Chinese will direct businesses towards rural areas. When shortages of young, cheap labour in urban areas start to arise, companies will head west looking for young workers in rural areas. When this occurs development will follow as investment will flow to more rural areas.  Trickle-down theory would suggest that economic growth anywhere in China will ultimately lead to development in all areas. If some people are generating lots of money in urban areas it is likely that this wealth will lead to some form of development in rural areas. For example, as the government has made so much money from urban areas in the south and east they have been able to start up a ten billion dollar investment programme for rural areas in the west.

RURAL CHINA WON’T BE LEFT UNDEVELOPED.  Growth in urban areas of China has created a market for a number of goods, these goods can often be produced by TVEs in rural areas. Growth in TVEs will generate wealth for rural areas and promote development. Sitong Electronics is an example of a TVE that was set up in a rural area and expanded into urban areas to create more wealth for the originally rural company.  Millions of people from rural areas migrate to Chinese cities every year to find work, these people often send money back home to rural areas. Remittances to rural areas in China were recently summed at 30.1 billion USD per year. This amount of money flowing into rural areas can only be a good thing and will promote development.

CONCLUSION  We believe that whilst rural China may not be able to develop to the extent [currently] urban China has, it is likely to develop to some extent. A good number of reasons already mentioned have showed why it would be reasonable to assume that development will spread to rural China.