Interview: Grace Before Meals post-rocking Shanghai
A big THANKS to all our Independence Day Party sponsors
Around Shanghai: No more airplane temperature checks, but we're getting a Wall St. Bull and Linkin Park!
Chinese media reported yesterday that Guangzhou is set to become the first city in China to be recognised as 'developed' under World Bank standards, which define developed cities as those with a per capita GDP of over US$10,000.
The capital of the Guangdong province, which has long been China's experimental playground for reform and opening up, is closely followed by Shanghai and Shenzhen which recorded per capita GDP's of US$7,600 and US$7,300 respectively in the year 2005 (2006 figures not available yet). Beijing trails behind a distant fourth at US$5,457.
Now before we pop the champagne with our fellow Guangzhouists too quickly, let's look a little closer at the numbers. An article from China Business News tells us the population of Guangzhou stands at 9.94 million while it's hukou population stands at just 7.03 million. Well guess what, the rosy statistics are calculated based on the hukou population.
The same article goes on to tell us that in the early days, Shenzhen led in many statistics because of its peculiar population structure. Although the city's actual population had actually ballooned to 10.35 million, its hukou population stands at a mere 1.71 million, with the rest accounted for by migrant, resident and semi-resident dwellers.
It remains unclear from the article which figure Shenzhen's latest GDP statistics are calculated from, or whether standards have since been applied across the board in the compiling of statistics. Hmm.
*Image of Guangzhou from lamkevin.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Guangzhou? Developed a rash...
Hooray! China is now developed! toot the horns and tell Jesus, the waiting is over and we can all celebrate!
I think your point about the statistics being based on hukou population is an important one. It also leads me to another question: Is the only standard of "developed" to be per capita GDP? Are there not other standards, legal protections, government services, standard of living/quality of life to be considered? What other measures are there?
what other standards are there? A senior cadre simply waving his hand and proclaiming as such.
The hukou population not being counted is typical of the Chinese government. They are in such a hurry.
Yes, it is developing rapidly. But I have not been to one place I would consider 'fully' developed. Not even Shanghai or Guangzhou. Cities in China are 'developed' on the surface (if at all). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least some places are developed in certain cities now versus nowhere in the past. Progress is being made.
I think if they don't recognize that it is only partial development it is going to hurt China in the future.
Can you drink the water in Guangzhou? (or does that not matter?)
The hukou population not being counted is typical of the Chinese government. They are in such a hurry.
Yes, it is developing rapidly. But I have not been to one place I would consider 'fully' developed. Not even Shanghai or Guangzhou. Cities in China are 'developed' on the surface (if at all). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least some places are developed in certain cities now versus nowhere in the past. Progress is being made.
I think if they don't recognize that it is only partial development it is going to hurt China in the future.
Can you drink the water in Guangzhou? (or does that not matter?)
A poor child in Shanghai is, according to international statistics, more likely to live longer, be healthier, and get a better education than a child of the same poverty in New York City.
Statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt, even statitics coming from the so called "developed west".
Aside from guns in NYC, that statistic is bunk. What do the international statisticians consider to be a "poor" child in Shanghai? There's no WIC, food stamps, shelters, food basket or free clinics in Shanghai.
With all the security guards and waitresses and shop staff still making 700 rmb a month, and all those who make even less, what does a figure like this even mean except that there's still an incredible gap between both ends of the wage range? We have slums in Guangzhou!
Guangzhou's greatest attribute is the departures lounge at the international airport.
or the little golfcarts that zip you around the airport for 10 kuai
Those stats on poverty in Shanghai vs NYC are UN ones, they arent bunk. Shanghai does have a range of social welfare measures for the poor.
There are a couple of issues with this news:
1. Stats are relative to a certain extent, and a dollar figure doesnt always give u an indiction of how easy/difficult it is to live somewhere
2. Stats should be based on houkou. When stats are done on any city they are done usually, in this case, on registered residents. Every city, even developed ones, have 'floating populations' of migrants and others who aren't counted. This is not unusual.
3. ‘Developed cities’ (NYC, London, Sydney) have ‘bad parts’- slums, poor areas etc etc. This does not excludfe a city (it seems) from the status of developed.
It’s a credit to the PRC that they have got a few cities close to developed, and this is a really good sign of thigns to come.
Guanzhou and Shanghai are very developed, but at the expense of the countryside. City hukou holders are members of the developed world at the expense of the peasants, who are not. So it's nothing to be proud of really.
Isn't this the same in the west? Certainly in Australia this is true. Yes, the gap is bigger here, but thats a stage of development, a stage the west has gone through. If you were to travel back 80 years or so to the west you would probably find probably a very similar disparity.
Fuck you shanghainest!
how about your "hukou" population?
son of a bitch!you shanghai fucking bitch!
why do you think shanghai is always better than other cities in China?who do u think u r?
if shanghai is the first city set to developed
would you say the same "hukou" population problem to yourself?would you doubt yourself?
mother fucker shanghai dogs!!!!!!!!!