There are about 20 million urban poor in China, 5-6 percent of the
urban population. From 1999, the central government invested in
setting up a system to enable a minimum standard of living for city
residents. Although the system has been a great success, problems
still exist in the spiritual and psychological life of the less
fortunate. This should receive the government's full attention as
these people are integrated back into society.
The Guangming Daily recently interviewed Tang Jun, vice
director of the Social Policy Research Center under the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, on urban poverty. The text of the
interview is as follows:
Reporter: When I read the Report on Chinese Urban Poor
and Anti-poverty, which was published by Huaxia Publishing
House, I felt sad. I know that there are many people in different
fields working hard to help the needy out of poverty, including the
writers of the report. As the main draftsman of the report, when
did you begin to pay attention to the urban poor in China?
Tang Jun: About 10 years ago when the phenomenon of laying
off workers and unemployment appeared in China. At that time, I
thought that urban poverty would become a big problem and I turned
my key research to the urban poor. I finished my book, Research
on Poverty Line of Chinese Urban Residents in 1997. Then, there
was an idea in my mind that a draft of social policy should be
based on the voice of the public. We sent out 3,000 to 4,000
questionnaires to ordinary people in Shanghai, Wuhan, Tianjin,
Lanzhou and Chongqing and interviewed more than 300 people randomly
with in-depth questioning during the research for "Chinese Urban
Poor and Anti-poverty". Some opinions came directly from the 300
volunteers we studied.
Reporter: We noticed that you mentioned in your report the
concern that the system of a minimum standard of living for city
residents would make people lazy.
Tang Jun: Actually, it is a misunderstanding amongst the
public. In many people's minds, only those that lost their work
abilities should receive aid from society. However, now 75 percent
urban poor are laid-off workers, unemployed people and employees in
enterprises with difficulties. They are poor because of a lack of
labor opportunities. Actually most of them hope to be re-employed
as soon as possible. However, with the swarm of rural workers,
although they still have labor ability, the competition at the
labor market made their re-employment not so optimistic.
Reporter: How are the Chinese urban poor now?
Tang Jun: Thanks to the government's policies which carry
out the system of a minimum standard of living for city residents,
life for the needy is protected. However, medical treatment is the
biggest problem for them now. Another problem is their children's
education fees. According to relevant rules, education fees of poor
families should be canceled. During our investigation, we found
that many places didn't carry these rules out. Some children
suppress the truth of their families because of pride.
The needy's spiritual life and psychological problem should be
focused on. For example, the needy usually like to exclude
themselves from society because of poverty. This will enlarge the
estrangement between the needy and society. The needy will get less
help from society. So we should try our best to help them go back
into the community.
Reporter: From 1999, about 668 cities and 1,638 counties in
China have set up the system of a minimum standard of living. Could
you evaluate the efforts our nation has made on
anti-urban-poverty?
Tang Jun: We underestimated the urban poor at first. In
1992, government only condoled with the needy on some economic aid
during festivals. In 1993, Shanghai firstly fixed a minimum
standard of living line. In 1999, the line was carried out
throughout the nation. In 2001, the central government invested
more money on urban poverty relief and the population of urban poor
who received aid from the government had increased to 12 million
from 4.5 million in 1999. Till 2002, almost all 20 million urban
poor were overcastted in the system. With the development of our
nation, China will invest more money on the reemployment and social
security.
More efforts should be done especially on the social insurance. Now
we still adopt the insurance pattern in the 20th century. It arose
in the middle of the 20th century and the employer had to buy
insurance for all his employees. Now it is not fit for the
developing society. We have to work hard to find better insurance
pattern for nowadays society.
The system of a minimum standard of living is not simply a
temporary policy. It is the "last safety net" in an unripe social
security policy and greater effort should be made on perfecting the
protection system including medical treatment, housing and
education.
(China.org.cn translated by Wu Nanlan, July 12, 2003)