About 90 per cent of Chinese believe the polarization between the rich
and poor is "serious" in China, according to a survey conducted by China
Youth Daily.
And more than 80 per cent of the respondents surveyed said something
must be done to narrow the expanding gap between the rich and poor, while
14.1 per cent said it was unnecessary.
The polarization has aroused wide concern among the public in recent
years.
The State Development and Reform Commission said the Gini Coefficient,
a measure of income inequality, had reached 0.47 for China, up from 0.29
two decades ago.
Usually, a country with a ratio exceeding 0.4 is warned to pay more
attention to the inequality
issue.
To find out the people's view, the survey covered 10,250 respondents,
between the ages of 20 and 30 with a college education and a monthly
salary between 1,000 and 3,000 yuan.
Surprisingly, most disagreed with the view of experts who claim the
urban-rural disparity is causing the widening gap.
More than 70 per cent of the respondents believed that "the group of
special interests" is the prime reason for the polarization.
Followed by "people in power" 68 per cent, and "bosses" 50 per cent.
Another unexpected finding almost all agreed that a good educational
background and knowledge were not the decisive factors in gaining wealth.
About 95 per cent said rich people are not necessarily those who are
able to speak English or have a college education.
Today in China, rich people, accounting for 10 per cent of the
population, control 45 per cent of the total social fortune, and poor
people, also 10 per cent of the population, only control 1.4 per cent,
according to an investigation published by the National Bureau of
Statistics last June.
