The Nanfang / Blog

Dongguan struggling to combat severe poverty

Posted: 10/22/2013 1:00 pm

A recent op-ed in South China Morning Post called Dongguan a city “in search of a reason to exist.” The article cited the slowing growth in economic output and the struggling tourist industry.

A feature in yesterday’s Nanfang Daily covered a much more important concern than mere self-image – severe poverty.

Wealth disparity

The rural parts of Dongguan have long been the richest in the province, with per capita income in rural areas at 24,898 yuan, an increase of 9% on the previous year. The city also leads the province in per capita disposable income.

However, inequality remains a huge problem in spite of initiatives such as that to give subsidies to those living below the poverty line. There are some 500 villages and communities in Dongguan, and the 10 poorest have only 1% of the wealth of the 10 richest.

The average per capita annual income is as low as 6,120 yuan, with disposable income at just 15% of that of the average urban resident.

Dongguan party secretary Xu Jianhua said that since 2010, the city has been initiating programs to make sure that the poor are not left behind as Dongguan develops.

However, some areas have not developed significantly during the reform and opening up period and some have even regressed.

Xinwan, a once-thriving fishing village

Xinwan Community on the southern end of Humen was once a thriving fishing village. Now it is just another impoverished part of the countryside.

Xinwan’s party secretary Deng Jianxin said last year, per capita income in the community was less than 7,000 yuan, with net income at less than 1000 yuan.

Rice being cooked on a wood fire in Xinwan, image courtesy of Nanfang Daily

A Lian, 41, has lived in Xinwan all his life. He lives in one of the many 30 square metre homes that was built during the 1960s and 70s in the former fishing village. He has one daughter in primary school and another at university. The family can barely afford the 10,000 yuan a year it costs to put the older daughter through her studies.

A Lian’s monthly income from his electrical repair shop is usually around 1750 yuan. His wife earns 1000 yuan a month at a factory. They are among the lucky families who make just enough to scrape by.

The poverty that exists in rich Dongguan

This year, Dongguan’s minimum wage increased 14% from 1,100 yuan, which in theory means Dongguan should not contain the extremes of poverty found in the nation’s hinterlands.

Try telling that to A Tang who lives in Zhongtang Village with his family of four. Because of a stomach operation he had several years ago, A Tang is unable to do physically demanding work, so to make use of himself he had to act as housewife before going off to help his sister in the local poultry market.

Then he recently landed a job as a security guard which earns him about 1000 yuan a month for 15 days work, and his wife earns 1,000 yuan a month at a local factory.

Together, their income brings them up to the city’s minimum wage, so according to official statistics, they can’t be doing that badly, even though their 70 square metre home is falling apart.

Questions raised over poverty alleviation projects

As a lawsuit that was filed in Guangzhou in June shows, corruption is still a huge obstacle in combating poverty in Dongguan.

Shortly after his tour of Guangdong last December, Xi Jinping said local officials should always bear in mind poverty-stricken groups and work for them with their whole heart and soul.

However, the embezzlement of poverty alleviation funds remains a problem in spite of the president calling it an “intolerable crime.”

A reason to exist

Dongguan needs to find a reason to exist, because poverty alleviation projects cannot be funded or effectively implemented if revenue generators like tourism and manufacturing don’t do well.

Haohao

Eight killed, three injured in fire in Dongguan Taobao building

Posted: 05/8/2013 7:00 am

The scene of the accident

Eight people were killed and three were injured in a fire in a building in Dongguan’s Humen Village on May 6, Southern Metropolis Daily reports. The cause of the fire, which stretched 200 square metres, is still under investigation.

Humen is known nationally as a trading hub for clothes and the first floor of the building in Longquan Subdistrict was used as the location for a Taobao business, the second floor for staff dormitories and the third floor for the family of five who owned the business.

At about 3 a.m., female staff members Qin Xiaoyan, 24, and Zhang Chenxia were woken up by the smell of the smoke. They opened the door of their room and were overwhelmed by the thickness of smoke. They called for help from their room.

A grieving relative

As well as the 20 firefighters that arrived, neighbours helped extinguish the fire. Zhang and Qin escaped with minor respiratory tract burns but five men and three women lost their lives. The dead are being identified.

The area has become known for small fires, but authorities did not do anything about it in time to avert this tragedy.

The reporter from the paper observed that there are no No Smoking signs around. That and the fact that clothes are highly flammable may provide a clue.

Haohao

Nine punished in notorious Dongguan police rape and corruption case

Posted: 02/21/2013 7:00 am

Nine officials have their sentences read out, courtesy of Baidu Images.

After a deputy traffic police chief in Dongguan’s Humen was sentenced to 18 years in prison for rape, accepting bribes, the private use of public money, and embezzlement, nine other officials were also given jail sentences in connection with the case, Anhui Satellite Television reported yesterday.

One of the biggest cases in the history of Dongguan No. 1 People’s Court, the investigation started after Huang Ping raped a female subordinate in 2010. The victim had been married for seven years and had never been pregnant until her husband later discovered that she was seven months pregnant with Huang’s baby.

A subsequent investigation into Huang’s personal and political corruption eventually saw him convicted of eight counts of embezzlement involving a total of 380,000 yuan; three counts of accepting bribes involving a total of 2.15 million yuan; and one count of putting public money to personal use involving 410,000 yuan.

On top of his prison sentence, Huang is expected to suffer 700,000 yuan in personal financial losses.

Other people implicated in Huang’s economic crimes include Dalingshan Deputy Traffic Police Chief Officer Yi, Huangjiang Deputy Traffic Police Officer Han and Xiegang Deputy Police Chief Officer Huang.

A total of nine people have been punished, Sina News reports.

Huang Ping

Haohao
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