中国平困问题FINAL PAPER ENGLISH US COLLEGE CLASS.doc

HON 322A Ario Xiao Qin Final Paper Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT11 HON 322A FINAL PAPERPoverty in China Student’s Name: Ario Xiao Qin Student ID #: 235423188 Professor: Clark Ford Due Date: May 1, 2012  Urban and Rural Poverty in China The problem of poverty has received attention over the world history, and many are working on finding ways to reduce poverty. What is poverty? On Wikipedia it defines “poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Poverty can usually fall into two categories: absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to the one who lacks basic human needs, like clean water, health care, clothing and education. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live in absolute poverty today. Relative poverty refers to the lacking of a usual or socially acceptable level of resources or income as compared with other within a society or country. (“Poverty”, par.1) However, analysis about poverty in the scope of physical satisfaction is incomplete. Lack of emotional needs, backward believes (lagging behind the society, or the world as a whole), cultural lag are significant performances in poverty as well. China, as the world’s biggest developing country, reveals poverty in both physical and spiritual aspects with his unique characteristics. The amount of people in poverty in China accounts for 20% of world poverty population. According to the population census in 2009, 150 million people are living under poverty line ($1 per day). (“Rural and Urban Poverty in China”, par.2) ‘Since the start of profound and lasting economic reforms in the late 1970s, growth has fueled a remarkable increase in per capita income and a decline in the poverty rate from 85% in 1981 to 16% in 2005’ (“Poverty in China”, par.1). However, at the same time, there have been increases in the inequality of income, health and education outcomes. The gap of wealth increase