Cities going impoverished
Original, GPIG, 04-26-2018
In developing countries, with a great influx of farmers into cities, the cities quickly become too congested. Instead of being a source of wealth, it is now the center for poverty assistance, poverty alleviation, and poverty elimination.
The urban poor live near the international communities on the Maizidian Street in Beijing. This area which covers 6.8 square kilometers is famous in Beijing, for it is located in the prime locations between the East 3rd Ring Road and the East 4th Ring Road. Compared with the CBD in the south, the Maizidian district was more international as it was home to the third embassy district and Yansha commercial circle. Nevertheless, there are still people "who do not have access to the fruitful results of social development". Three years of poverty alleviation projects targeting these people had been carried out by the sub-district offices and enterprises.
A view of urban village
An interviewee from an impoverished household in Maizidian said, "We understand that the government as well as the society are doing a lot for us, but all these should be motivations for us, not pressures". Of course, pressure comes from poverty itself. A decent and inspiring poverty alleviation system is required.
Outside of the windows of Luo Peng's home, we could see a grand building with fancy restaurants on the first floor and luxurious cars on the street. In comparison, the 46 square meter home of the Luos seemed shabby. Built in 1994, the building had long lost its glamour, overshadowed by the wealthy districts nearby, whose price reach 40,000 to 50,000 yuan per square meter. Luo Peng's family used to be better off. In 1998, his parents even spent 10,000 yuan to buy a computer for him. If it were not for the disease that had bothered him for ten years, his family could have bought a new house nearby.
31-year-old Luo Peng would never forget this scene: he had just finished playing soccer at school, when he suddenly felt hot all over and fell on the ground without ever being able to stand up. The hospital diagnosed him as having myeloradiculitis - a severe problem with the spinal-cord, and his legs were paralyzed. After 14 months, Luo Peng went back home. But illness was like a robber, taking everything from this ordinary family. After their savings of 60,000 yuan, a big fortune then was all spent on medication, his parents had to borrow another 60,000 yuan to pay off bills. For a long time, his father was the only breadwinner of the family, but he was only making a meager 700 yuan per month. His mother had to quit her job in order to take care of him. When his expensive 586 computer was finally out of use, Luo knew that they did not have the money to fix it.
"I would always recall what it was like before I was ill", said Luo, "those are my best memories." Although some people hold it that idleness is the key to poverty, in Maizidian, most impoverished households are just like the Luos, who got impoverished because of the high fees of medication. Another important factor is falling below the poverty line due to the high fees of education.
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Maizidian Street dwellers entrusted the Social Development and Public Policy Research Institute of Beijing Normal University to conduct a survey of 93 impoverished household in its 5 resident committees in an attempt to "help the impoverished people who do not have the access to the fruits of social development". Among the impoverished populations in the area, two- thirds of the households have at least one sick family member. The survey found out that "most households have a sick family member who has long suffered from an affliction and therefore could not find a way to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty caused by high medical fees". As a matter of fact, most interviewees had a pessimistic view towards their own health. The average monthly salary of these households is just over 1,200 yuan. Taking into consideration the average salary of Beijing and Chaoyang district, "these statistics show that of the 93 impoverished households, 30 have a salary, but the average is too low to maintain a proper standard of living". At the same time, they did not have access to proper medical care. One third of the people could reimburse at least part of their medical fees, but another 25 sick people chose not to go to hospital because they could not reimburse these fees. Poverty was the reason why they did not go to the hospital.
Original, GPIG, 04-26-2018
In developing countries, with a great influx of farmers into cities, the cities quickly become too congested. Instead of being a source of wealth, it is now the center for poverty assistance, poverty alleviation, and poverty elimination.
The urban poor live near the international communities on the Maizidian Street in Beijing. This area which covers 6.8 square kilometers is famous in Beijing, for it is located in the prime locations between the East 3rd Ring Road and the East 4th Ring Road. Compared with the CBD in the south, the Maizidian district was more international as it was home to the third embassy district and Yansha commercial circle. Nevertheless, there are still people "who do not have access to the fruitful results of social development". Three years of poverty alleviation projects targeting these people had been carried out by the sub-district offices and enterprises.
A view of urban village
An interviewee from an impoverished household in Maizidian said, "We understand that the government as well as the society are doing a lot for us, but all these should be motivations for us, not pressures". Of course, pressure comes from poverty itself. A decent and inspiring poverty alleviation system is required.
Outside of the windows of Luo Peng's home, we could see a grand building with fancy restaurants on the first floor and luxurious cars on the street. In comparison, the 46 square meter home of the Luos seemed shabby. Built in 1994, the building had long lost its glamour, overshadowed by the wealthy districts nearby, whose price reach 40,000 to 50,000 yuan per square meter. Luo Peng's family used to be better off. In 1998, his parents even spent 10,000 yuan to buy a computer for him. If it were not for the disease that had bothered him for ten years, his family could have bought a new house nearby.
31-year-old Luo Peng would never forget this scene: he had just finished playing soccer at school, when he suddenly felt hot all over and fell on the ground without ever being able to stand up. The hospital diagnosed him as having myeloradiculitis - a severe problem with the spinal-cord, and his legs were paralyzed. After 14 months, Luo Peng went back home. But illness was like a robber, taking everything from this ordinary family. After their savings of 60,000 yuan, a big fortune then was all spent on medication, his parents had to borrow another 60,000 yuan to pay off bills. For a long time, his father was the only breadwinner of the family, but he was only making a meager 700 yuan per month. His mother had to quit her job in order to take care of him. When his expensive 586 computer was finally out of use, Luo knew that they did not have the money to fix it.
"I would always recall what it was like before I was ill", said Luo, "those are my best memories." Although some people hold it that idleness is the key to poverty, in Maizidian, most impoverished households are just like the Luos, who got impoverished because of the high fees of medication. Another important factor is falling below the poverty line due to the high fees of education.
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Maizidian Street dwellers entrusted the Social Development and Public Policy Research Institute of Beijing Normal University to conduct a survey of 93 impoverished household in its 5 resident committees in an attempt to "help the impoverished people who do not have the access to the fruits of social development". Among the impoverished populations in the area, two- thirds of the households have at least one sick family member. The survey found out that "most households have a sick family member who has long suffered from an affliction and therefore could not find a way to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty caused by high medical fees". As a matter of fact, most interviewees had a pessimistic view towards their own health. The average monthly salary of these households is just over 1,200 yuan. Taking into consideration the average salary of Beijing and Chaoyang district, "these statistics show that of the 93 impoverished households, 30 have a salary, but the average is too low to maintain a proper standard of living". At the same time, they did not have access to proper medical care. One third of the people could reimburse at least part of their medical fees, but another 25 sick people chose not to go to hospital because they could not reimburse these fees. Poverty was the reason why they did not go to the hospital.
