Chinese are talking about inequality again just a year after President Xi said poverty ended

Source : The Print

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This past week, debate about inequality in China resurfaced after the contact tracing details of a migrant worker were posted on Chinese social media. 43-year-old Yue Mou’s movement that involved him taking up over 31 odd jobs in 14 days before he tested positive in Beijing were posted on social media.

Yue, who was looking for his son he lost in Beijing in 2020, did everything — from construction work to food delivery. “My family can’t afford it with less than 10,000 yuan a month. I raise six people alone. I give my parents about 2,000 yuan a month. My father is 76 years old, and my mother is 66. They are not on the subsistence allowances either. They have heart disease, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and they spend a lot of money on medicine,” Yue told China News Weekly.

The police in Shandong province has now confirmed that Yue’s son died and discovered his body. More than 40 per cent of the Chinese population still live on 1,000 yuan ($140) per month.

Some Chinese netizens commented saying, “Hasn’t poverty been eradicated?”. In February 2021, Xi Jinping announced that extreme poverty had been eradicated from China.