Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

Introduce your conversation partners (or the podcast participant) to your colleagues –I was hoping  to hear from my contacts ,but have not, and  since I have not yet received a response, I chose the Alternative, which is to go to the website of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/), read about childhood poverty in one country, and share at least three insights or ideas I gained from studying the website. I was very pleased to see that China (one of the country I was listed) was given as a choice.

Share what you have learned so far from these exchanges (or from the podcast and website) three ideas I gained from studying the website about China is that 1.) China receives more foreign investment than any other country in the world except for the US. 2.) An estimated 14.6 million are without a full-time job - an unemployment rate of 12.3 per cent.  In addition to this, inflation in the early 1990s and the introduction of charges for health and education services increased pressures on many households. Liberalizations have also led to massive migration, as over 120 million people have moved to the cities since 1990, in search of better opportunities and 3.)As the structure of the economy has changed, the social security system has had to adapt to protect people from different forms of poverty. Up to 1992, in urban areas, only people without work, with no savings and with no family to depend on were eligible for financial support.  A Minimum Living Standards (dibao) system has been developed since 1997 and by 2002 covered 23 per cent of poor urban households.
 Describe your new insights and information about issues of poverty. The new insights that I learned  about was very interesting and they really brought to light some facts about China that I  was not aware of, such as the fact that they received more foreign investments than any other country. The fact that due to Liberalization, massive migration happened. I thought it was rather interesting that people in China have to be TOTALLY BROKE to receive any kind of financial assistant. China has made major strides in poverty reduction in recent years. By 2001 5 per cent of China's population lived below the national poverty line. Between 4 and 8 per cent of the urban population, somewhere between 15 and 31 million people live in poverty. Much of this decline in poverty is due to far-reaching processes of economic and social transition However; economic growth has been slower in Western China, leading to higher poverty rates. China's transition from a centrally planned to a globalized market economy has helped reduce chronic poverty and disadvantage, but also created new forms of vulnerability and poverty.

Reference:

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/