Farmer Zhao Jiqing nearly doubled his family's normal income last year with extra work in a nearby magnesium factory, but the factory has since closed down. The Chinese government is hoping new spending by farmers like Zhao will help the economy. (Kathleen E. McLaughlin/GlobalPost)

Farming (and spending) their way to recovery?

As economic woes continue, China hopes rural farmers can play a new role.

By Kathleen E. McLaughlin - GlobalPost
Published: March 3, 2009 22:24 ET
Updated: March 4, 2009 23:03 ET

YANGQU, China — With a raft of subsidies and thousands of new stores to spur spending, China is eyeing its poorest people — farmers — to kick-start the economy with a buying spree.

Trouble is, most Chinese farmers, already burdened with rising health care costs and school fees, don’t have extra yuan to spend. In the past decade, their vast migration to factory boom towns sent new wealth back to families in the countryside. But with 20 million of those boom-era jobs gone in recent months and 5-6 million more expected to be on the chopping block, most in rural China find themselves slipping economically.

In other words, Beijing's new hope of depending on the country’s 700 million rural residents to replace the sudden loss of spending by comparatively rich U.S. consumers is a risky proposition.

Per person income average in rural China is about $700 per year, less than one-third of that in the cities. Though rural earnings have increased dramatically in the past decade, most farmers are far from able to buy a houseful of appliances.

Yet the government is banking that $3 billion in aid for rural residents to buy televisions, refrigerators and air conditioners will help make up vastly slowed American and European demand for Chinese exports. It’s just one part of the government’s massive economic stimulus plan that is targeted at rural areas.

Guo Gaiying, a 42-year-old dairy farmer near Yangqu, makes slightly less than the average farmer in central China. She is in no position to spend on luxuries for her two-room, dirt-floor farmhouse. Three years ago, Guo broke her leg and had to have it set with steel pins. The pins were supposed to be taken out after the break healed. She cannot afford to see a doctor, let alone spend more than half the family’s yearly income on a second surgery, so the pins remain.

Most of Guo’s family income comes from three cows, 10 pigs and roughly 15 acres of corn. With a third of that income gone to school fees for two children and the rest spent on basic living expenses and animal feed, Guo laughs at the idea of buying a new electrical appliance. She washes the family’s clothes by hand, has no running water and depends on a filthy open coal stove to warm the house and cook the meals. She does, like most every other Chinese farmer, have a television set — the family’s lone luxury.

Buying one appliance wouldn’t change Guo’s life.

“I don’t dare take a bank loan,” she said. But if she could, “I’d build a whole new house and save some of the money for my son’s wedding.”

Comments:

No Comments.

Login or Register to post comments

Recent on China and its neighbors:

Analysis: Obama in China: It's about the money

Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 18, 2009 10:57 ET

How, and why, Obama is treating the dragon differently.

Silicon Sweatshops: A promising model

Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 18, 2009 06:54 ET

There's no easy way to police supply chains in Asia. But one US high-tech firm and its Taiwan supplier are taking a creative approach that might just work.

Special report: Silicon Sweatshops

Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 15:05 ET

Despite strict "codes of conduct," labor rights violations are the norm at factories making the world's favorite high-tech gadgets.

What do you think about Silicon Sweatshops?

News Desk - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 15:04 ET

Are high-tech supply chains in Asia good business or exploitation? You decide.

Silicon Sweatshops: Shattered dreams

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:24 ET

Migrant workers making gadgets at Taiwan's high-tech parks sign deals that make them modern-day indentured servants.

Silicon Sweatshops: The China connection

Kathleen E. McLaughlin and Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

For migrant workers, an electronics factory job can be a ticket into China's booming middle class. But for many, it turns into a nightmare of poor working conditions and indifferent bosses.

Silicon Sweatshops: The China connection

Kathleen E. McLaughlin and Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

For migrant workers, an electronics factory job can be a ticket into China's booming middle class. But for many, it turns into a nightmare of poor working conditions and indifferent bosses.

Silicon Sweatshops: Disposable workforce

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

Laid-off Taiwanese workers accuse their firm of violating industry codes even when times were good.

Silicon Sweatshops: A gallery

Sharron Lovell and Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 06:48 ET

Video: The Chinese on Obama

Josh Chin - China and its neighbors - November 16, 2009 19:16 ET

Asia's pushback to big tobacco

Patrick Winn - Thailand - November 15, 2009 12:30 ET

The cigarette industry wants a bigger slice of Asia. Activists want them to butt out.

Obama in Japan: Reassuring an old friend

Justin McCurry in Tokyo - Japan - November 14, 2009 16:58 ET

America's first "pacific president" extends a hand. But it's not all smiles.

Obama in Beijing: What you will see. And won't see.

Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 14, 2009 15:56 ET

In China, anything is possible. Nothing is easy.

How other US presidents handled the dragon

Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 14, 2009 11:31 ET

From Nixon, to Ford, to Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes, dealing with China has never been simple.

In Taiwan, where cows fly

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 9, 2009 07:20 ET

Photo essay: Yes, those are cows attached to a crane.

China and Costa Rica move toward free trade agreement

Alex Leff - Costa Rica - November 7, 2009 11:01 ET

China wants ties in the region, Costa Rica wants Chinese goods. But not everyone's pleased.

In Taiwan, pro baseball is all mobbed up

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 1, 2009 10:27 ET

For some professional players, losing is an offer they can't refuse.

Michael Jackson lives. In Beijing.

Dinah Gardner - China and its neighbors - October 27, 2009 17:04 ET

The Chinese are obsessed with the late gloved one. Why?