China's income inequality grows despite village modernization

Urban-rural wage gap widens 57% as small farms dominate countryside

20210610N China village 1

A woman farms in a village in Qinggang County, part of China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang. (Photo by Shin Watanabe)

SHIN WATANABE, Nikkei staff writers

QINGGANG, China -- Solar panels installed by the local government dot this rural village, where households now have electricity and many residents even sport smartphones.

Life in China's countryside is transforming, as this reporter witnessed during a recent visit to this village in Heilongjiang, the northernmost province. Residents can order goods online and have them delivered to a general store in the village, three hours from the provincial capital of Harbin. Their county, Qinggang, was removed from China's list of impoverished regions in 2020.

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