Hard sacrifices: Hebei held back by Beijing

(Ecns.cn) -- The wealth gap between Beijing and its surrounding areas has long been considered an alarming example of a huge regional imbalance in China, an imbalance that is still growing despite government efforts to alleviate poverty in recent years.

In 2011, Beijing and Tianjin continued to be marred by the pennilessness of neighboring counties in Hebei Province, many of which lagged astonishingly far behind in terms of infrastructure and income.

Chicheng, a national-level impoverished county in Hebei, typifies the situation in the "poverty belt" around the two cities. Last year, the county's fiscal revenue was 970 million yuan (US$153.8 million), and disposable financial resources were only 1.22 billion yuan (US$193.5 million), according to China Newsweek.

With the disparities between Beijing and Hebei widening, local inhabitants who are anxious to improve living conditions have continued to air grievances about the province's extreme poverty and failure to develop more rapidly.

A mountain away

Since March, Hu Zhijun, Party secretary of Kangzhuang Village in Chicheng, has welcomed waves of guests from higher authorities, most of whom visited to inspect the poverty alleviation program in the area, noted China Newsweek.

Hu revealed that officials from provincial and county governments have sometimes dropped by for several days. The poverty alleviation team has even rented out three rooms in the village in order to conduct further research, he added.

Meanwhile, Huangfu Guilin, an accountant in Chicheng's Xiahu Village, could not hide his envy of life in Beijing's Yanqing District: If we were born on the other side of that mountain, we would be much richer by now, he said.

The disparities are also reflected in the subsidies for the "Rural Communications Project" carried out across the nation. In Hebei, the subsidy for the construction of 1 kilometer of road is 35,000 yuan (US$5,551), while in Beijing the same length of road receives 350,000 yuan (US$55,510) in government support.

Moreover, when making contributions to reforestation projects (which translate from Chinese into "public welfare forests"), the subsidy for Chicheng is 9.75 yuan (US$1.55) per mu (0.067 hectare) annually, but it is 20 yuan (US$3.17) just over the mountain in Yanqing. A professional forest ranger earns a monthly income of 600 yuan (US$95) in Chicheng, yet in Yanqing the same profession brings in between 1,500 and 2,000 yuan (US$238 and US$317), according to China Newsweek.

With such low incomes, many Chicheng residents are forced to live in abject conditions, and driving south along the No. 214 Provincial Highway in Hebei, many dilapidated adobe houses can still be seen on both sides of the road.

Huangfu said he has been living in his family's old house for 33 years, and that the adobe roof was finally tiled last year to avoid leakage on rainy days. He also revealed that the oldest adobe house in his village has a history of about 100 years.

Sacrifices for the capital

Beijing and Tianjin enjoy provincial status and the advantages of respectively being the capital and a major port city. Hebei has received far fewer favors however, yet it and other counties in the poverty belt continue to make sacrifices for the two top cities.

One of those sacrifices is water. (There is a popular saying that one out of every two glasses of water in Beijing comes from Chicheng County.)

Chicheng's three rivers – the Heihe River, Baihe River and Honghe River – all run into Beijing's Miyun Reservoir, the city's main source of potable water. According to China Newsweek, 53 percent of the reservoir's water comes from the three rivers.

However, to protect water sources, Chicheng's industrial development has been restricted to limit pollution, an important factor in the poverty issue.

Ironically, some villages in Chicheng are having difficulty with their own drinking water sources. In 2010, a total of 26,000 local residents had to relocate due to a lack of water.

Wang Guiming, an official in Xiahu Village, revealed that there are no surface water supplies left there. Villagers must now dig more than 15 meters deep and use motor-pumped wells to get water out, he said.

Anxious to get rich

The three main reasons behind Chicheng's poverty include poor natural conditions, the lack of fiscal support from the central government and poor infrastructural development. For the time being, construction of roads is the top priority, a local official said.

Since 2006, officials from the county government have been concerned about proper ways to develop the local economy, but there are too many restraints, the official added.

The local government eventually learned that an underdeveloped transportation system is a major barrier to most possibilities, including turning the area into a tourist destination or promoting an agricultural products processing industry.

For decades, Chicheng was just a small town with a low skyline and a few intersecting roads, but in recent years the government has focused more attention on the construction of infrastructure. Apart from roads, real estate has also become an important source of revenue.

In 2011, the average housing price almost doubled to more than 4,000 yuan (US$635) per square meter in Chicheng, though the county still has 35 villages where people earn less than US$200 a year.

It is hoped that local governments in the poverty belt around Beijing and Tianjin will all find the best approaches to relieve the poverty of local residents, instead of hoarding the wealth for themselves.