Washington Post political correspondent David Broder published this essay yesterday. He quoted a retired Chinese economist Mao Yushi in his article.
“China is splitting into two countries,” he (Mao) told me and Philip Pan, The Post’s Beijing correspondent. “The cities are developing” under the policies of market capitalism that have been adopted by China’s communist rulers. “But the countryside is unchanged or even worse.” Ambitious young people leave for the cities, if they can, to pursue education or careers. Those left behind are “very poor, ill schooled and often preyed upon by corrupt local officials,” who dun them for taxes that really amount to bribes.
I remembered those photos of poor from a Chinese BBS.
