China's cities and the Real China

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Ray

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Delivery duty

The Chinese government is looking to the countryside to help the nation get through the global financial crisis.

It is offering peasant farmers a 13% discount on household appliances.

Chen Xiaolin has been delivering lots of colour televisions, fridges and washing machines to nearby villagers
 

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High cost

The government subsidy encouraged He Zhizhong to buy his first washing machine.


But even with a 13% discount, some appliances cost as much as 2,500 yuan (£266; $365). According to the Chinese Bureau of Statistics, that is over half the annual salary of the average farmer.

Yet people like Mr He say they do not mind splurging once in a while because they want to become more like city folk.
 

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Spending plea

Westerners are not buying as many Chinese goods these days.

That is why the government is trying to entice peasant farmers to spend.

In exchange, they pledge to create a better social security net and health care programme.
 

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Health costs

For peasant farmers like Zou Simao, getting sick can be a death sentence.

When Mr Zou found out his son had a rare blood disorder, he borrowed tens of thousands of dollars to have him treated at a city hospital.

But when the money ran out, Mr Zou said he had no choice but to abandon his son.
 

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Subsistence living

Many villages across China are self-sustaining, like this one.

Residents can only grow enough food for their family.

People who like Mr Zou are without any source of income cannot afford meat, let alone the basic health insurance that cost 10 yuan (£1; $1.4) a year.
 

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Party 'help'

Maintaining social stability is top priority for China as the global financial crisis spreads.

Local Communist Party Secretary Wang Guizhong showed up when the BBC arrived at Mr Zou's house, vowing to do everything in his power to help the family.

As soon as the BBC left, Mr Zou got a call from the party secretary's office to backtrack on the promises, saying they have no power to help them.
 

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Helping hand

Zou Yong, 16, is still alive despite having been abandoned by his father.

A stranger, He Peiqiang, is picking up Zou Yong's medical bills. Mr He says he could not leave Zou Yong to die, but now he too is finding it difficult paying the medical expenses.

The Chinese government says it will build more clinics in rural areas and extend basic health care to cover 90% of its 1.3 billion people by 2011.
 

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New rights

In order to boost rural income, the government is giving farmers the right to lease their land.

Huang Kaiwen has leased his land to a company in Dianjiang county to grow rapeseed flowers as a tourist attraction. Not only does he collect rent from the company, but he also makes money by working on his neighbour's land.

Life for these farmers is slowly getting better.
 

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Young and old

It is common to only see the elderly with their grandchildren out in the countryside.

Most able-bodied workers have left for the cities, where they can earn as much as eight to nine times more than they would if they worked on the farm.
 

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Go home

For years, men and women left their farms to work in the factories. But now China is trying to turn back the flood.

Twenty million migrant workers have lost their jobs already.

The government is enticing them back to the farm with subsidies and promises of free training to help them set up their own business.
 

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Bright lights

Many migrant workers have arrived back at the railway station in Chongqing city.

But millions more are venturing out in hopes of finding a job. It seems that the allure of the city is too great a temptation.

(Text/Images: Quentin Sommerville/Jennifer Pak)
 

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I hope I have been able to give all a glimpse of the real China, instead of the usual put up by the Chinese posters of glitzy skyscrapers, bridges and so on.
 

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