Yeah, that rant clearly isn't loaded with bias or prejudice at all. :rolleyese:
Ever venture off the touristy streets and into the everyday neighbourhoods in America? Not a pretty picture, especially in urban areas rather than the suburbs.
I have no idea what "slums" you are talking about, you wouldn't happen to be referring to the historic "hutong" neighbourhoods that the west decries as China destroying its heritage whenever they try to redevelop them would you?
Those might not be to your oh so lofty perfect society standards, but they are a far cry from the true slums of places like Rio or India.
No country or society is perfect or anywhere close to it. You will find poverty and problems in any country or society if you go out of your way to look for it.
Of course, not country is perfect (I never deny that) and slums exist everywhere, even in America (case in point - Detroit!) but China is clearly no where near being a developed country by OECD standard.
Let me put it this way, A unemployed person in Australia is entitled to
and qualify for $121 in rent assistance a fortnight in employment benefit (dole). That's a total of $15953.6 AUD or $11855.36 USD income per year, compare to the average Chinese wage in China which is currently $4,755 per year, so a bum in Australia who doesn't work at all will still be living much better than a hardworking chinese worker in China.
In fact,
The average Chinese private-sector worker earns about the same as a cleaner in Thailand!
That's right, even compare to a third world country like Thailand China comes up short. The chinese workers will be envious of the wages those mexican workers get, and mexico is consider by western standard to be dirt poor.
I would even say that, those who lives on government benefits in the American slums, are still far better off than average chinese workers.
The average Chinese private-sector worker earns about the same as a cleaner in Thailand
Hard work, soft earnings. (Reuters/Stringer)
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Written by
Obsession
January 24, 2014
Chinese internet users are abuzz about an
that calculates how one’s annual wages compare with those around the world. And many of them aren’t happy to know how little they make compared to their peers.
According to CNN’s online global wage calculator, which uses data from the International Labor Organization, the average annual salary of a worker in China’s private sector was
(about $4,755) in 2012, or 38% of the global average. That’s roughly the same as a cleaner in Thailand, according to CNN’s data.
How the average annual salary of a private-sector worker in China compares with the rest of the world.(CNN Global Wage Calculator)
These figures are circulating Chinese social media, generating
posts on Sina Weibo, as internet users complain that their modest wages don’t match China’s status as the world’s second-largest economy. (There is some nuance, of course, related to the purchasing power of a smaller salary in China compared with the same amount in more advanced economies, but this doesn’t get much of an airing in these debates.) One
(registration required), “So China is very rich but Chinese people are very poor.” One called on Chinese president Xi Jinping,
, “China is that poor? Does Big Xi know?” Another simply
, “Where is my money?”
The discussion highlights the uneven distribution of wealth that persists amid China’s rapid economic growth. China has the world’s
after the US, according to
by Wealth-X and UBS. At the same time, 18 provinces have
for per capita disposable income this year, and overall measures of inequality in China only improved
last year, according to government statistics.
Bloggers found that even higher-range Chinese salaries don’t fare very well in the global league tables. The average salary for public-sector workers is around 60% higher than the equivalent in the private sector, but is still only 60% of the global average. Using CNN’s tool, Chinese media plugged in government figures for the country’s “high income” bracket of
(link in Chinese)—and discovered that the closest equivalent is a taxi driver in South Africa.
The average salary of a public sector worker in China.(CNN Global Wage Calculator)
And then there is that news that burns into my mind just how backward China is few years ago - Remember trapped coal-miners in Chile? Chile is consider one of the poorest country in South America, and coal-miners are consider some of the worst job poorest of the poor can get. And yet those Chilean coal-miners who were trapped in were all wearing protective suits and the coal mines all have safety features like escape rooms and oxygen mask, in fact, nobody die in that incident. In fact, in most third world country there were very few coal-mine accident that resulted in death.
At the same time, China leads the world in coal-mine accidents - at least 5000 chinese died in coal-mine accidents
every year, during that same period of Chilean coal-mine accident, few chinese coal-mines exploded and killed more than few hundred chinese miners at the same period. For a country that you guys think is going to be a super power and a "developed country" - that doesn't sit right does it? Chile, one of the most under developed and poor country, is doing better than China.
I am not being bias. I am just not a wide-eye fan-boy like many here who sticks their heads in the sand. These are facts. China is no where near being a developed country. I just gave examples and facts.
