Your view is interesting. I think the farmers may not have as much money as people in the city. However, it is their choice and way of life. They like what they are doing and may be happier. I think it would be wrong to assist them too much and speed up the process of migration to cities. It will happen naturally over time. In my country, nobody wants to farm anymore and most of the food we buy is imported from other places.

Nice article, Helen. I found a little spelling problem. Modernization. There should be an i and a t instead of an a and a z. It's pronunciation is like: ma der ni za shun.

I think the best thing you said was the unbalance. When I lived in China some people were incredibly rich and some incredibly poor. I am sure it's the same in Canada, but it seems different. We all have free healthcare. The rich can opt out, however I am a poor teacher and I think that really helps. I watched a photo shoot once in China. Beautiful people, an older woman was cycling by. Like me she was curious and stopped to have a look. We had a conversation of sorts. It is nice to say hi to strangers. She had no teeth. Looking at the beautiful model and the old lady I felt awful. I am not rich. I have lost every tooth but I could afford new teeth implanted. Most of my dental work was done in Germany. How do you feel with no teeth?

well-well. How comes that rural population in China is bigger than urban one. The rate of urbanization is almost sky-high slightly above 50% and steadily going up. And the problem isn't with peasants desperately rushing to towns and cities since salaries there are higher and with your government trying to prevent then from fleeing. The problem is with your officials since they are skulking and some laws even after having been passed through the Parliament are stuck and frozen on practice. That happened almost everywhere: in Guangdong where owners of land are forced to resettle and have to spend hours to reach their fields and where Land reform halts to give new passports to peasants. You were right about consumption. Since you are trying to get rid of dependence on investments via sparking up consumers to buy commodities rural areas could come in handy. But there's a little room to maneuver, you've got a lot of other things to think about. Your growing middle class could help you (almost 40% according to chinese statistics). :D