• Burmese
Friday, July 11, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
26 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Fake Love Story Reflects Real Divide Between Rural, Urban Chinese

Didi Tang by Didi Tang
March 14, 2016
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Fake Love Story Reflects Real Divide Between Rural

A woman rides past a residential compound in Beijing’s Tongzhou district

2.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

BEIJING — A woman from a big Chinese city visits her boyfriend’s rural hometown and is so appalled by the squalor she sees that she dumps him. The story was fake, but it swept through Chinese media because it highlighted a deep societal gap that the ruling Communist Party has vowed to close.

Rural Chinese not only make less than city-dwellers but also receive significantly fewer social-welfare benefits, worsening a divide that was brought into focus by the fictional breakup, initially posted online as a real-life account.

The Chinese leadership, currently presiding over the country’s largely ceremonial legislature through March 16, has pledged to introduce policies to bring prosperity to the countryside. In a key policy address over the weekend, Premier Li Keqiang pledged to improve countryside infrastructure and access in rural areas to social benefits.

RelatedPosts

Anti-Coup Icon Explains Urgent Call for NUG Reform

Anti-Coup Icon Explains Urgent Call for NUG Reform

July 11, 2025
19
Myanmar Junta Chief Thanks Trump for Shutting Down VOA and RFA

Myanmar Junta Chief Thanks Trump for Shutting Down VOA and RFA

July 11, 2025
136
KIA Denies Rumor Chief Under House Arrest in China

KIA Denies Rumor Chief Under House Arrest in China

July 11, 2025
206

“The core of our job is to bring a society of common prosperity,” said Zhu Liangyu, a delegate to the National People’s Congress from Beijing, “and we can only accomplish the task when the rural peasants are economically prospering.”

Urban dwellers have only recently begun to outnumber rural ones in China, becoming more than half of the population in 2011. But the split between them has been entrenched by the decades-long practice of differentiating them and their rights based on residence registration. The Herculean task of addressing that split was highlighted by the uproar nationwide over the breakup story, which emerged earlier this year.

“The fake love dispute and the ensuing heated discussions are only symptoms of a torn-up society,” observed Tang Yinghong, a psychologist and a popular national columnist.

The female protagonist was from Shanghai, which represents “metropolitan China” and is comparable to any city in a developed country. Her lover hailed from a poor village in the hinterland province of Jiangxi, which could “be worse than Third World countries,” Tang said. They matched two popular stereotypes—the sheltered, well-heeled “peacock” girl of the city, and the self-made “phoenix” man from the hinterland who makes good in the big city.

“The two Chinas have vastly different lifestyles, cultures and ideological thoughts, and the split between the two has reached an astonishing level,” Tang said.

The story as posted on a web forum was from the point of view of the woman, explaining why she immediately fled from her boyfriend’s hometown and from the relationship. Accompanying it was a dimly lit photo of a squalid dinner table with dubious-looking dishes.

The story hit the screens of millions of smartphones across China during the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday. Hardly anyone bothered to check its authenticity, but much of the country jumped to vent their thoughts. Prominent columnists opined, and even the cardinal party-run newspaper People’s Daily and official Xinhua News Agency chimed in.

Some observers bemoaned the woman’s lack of etiquette, while others argued that rural realities would be a shock to any city woman.

Many real-life testimonials of such relationships soon followed, with some rural men wondering aloud whether they should even try for city women—a touchy subject in a country where men outnumber women because of the traditional preference for male children, especially in rural areas.

Relationship gurus snatched the chance to sell their theories on what makes a good match, while state media called for more tolerance and respect.

“The fates of the protagonists are the foam created by the currents of our times,” the People’s Daily wrote. “The media should not feast on their pains but reflect on deeper issues reflected by the foam.”

Public discussions were so vehement that some Chinese journalists sought to find the protagonists and raised red flags when they could not. Eventually, China’s online regulators stepped in, investigated and declared the story was fabricated and the photo pirated. Authorities did not reveal who was the creator.

Wu Qiang, a political scientist at Tsinghua University, said the furor over the break-up has showed the failure of Beijing to deliver the benefits of the past three decades of industrialization to ordinary people, especially those in China’s vast countryside.

“A single photo of a rural dinner table has condensed so many social meanings of our time,” Wu wrote. “What kind of social relationships and social realities have made everyone uncomfortable? Is it the widening gap between the cities and the countryside? Is it the class discrimination against the rural man? Or is it simply the differences in living habits between the rural and the cities?”

Wu argued that China’s rural-urban differences must be addressed. “Only when everyone has equal rights can we make up the feudal gap between the cities and the countryside,” he said.

In 2014, the average yearly income for a Shanghai resident was 47,710 yuan (US$7,300), more than four times the 10,117 yuan ($1,547) a year for an average rural resident in the province of Jiangxi, though costs of living are significantly higher in cities.

Zheng Fengtian, a professor of agriculture and rural development at Beijing-based Renmin University, said the income disparity is not as alarming as inequality in social benefits.

For decades, China’s national policies have favored city residents, who are granted better social benefits, such as health, education, employment and pensions, while rural dwellers are left with reduced benefits on the grounds that they have access to land.

Nearly 55 percent of China’s 1.37 billion people live in cities, and Beijing has shifted its focus from urbanization to rebuilding the countryside, where national policies are aimed at extending more benefits to rural residents, Zheng said.

Plans in the annual work report Premier Li presented to the National People’s Congress include building 200,000 kilometers (124,000 miles) of new roads in rural areas, upgrading power grids and improving drinking water safety. The report also aims to promote farming and to increase investment in rural areas.

“The dual system has been around for decades, and changes will take a long time,” Zheng said. “The key is to narrow the gaps between the cities and countryside. Now we are building the villages, where residents there can one day enjoy the same benefits as everyone else.”

Your Thoughts …
Didi Tang

Didi Tang

The Associated Press

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.5k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.9k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87.1k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
47k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.8k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Burma’s New Stock Exchange Prepares for First Listing

Burma’s New Stock Exchange Prepares for First Listing

Charismatic DKBA Leader Dies at 54

Charismatic DKBA Leader Dies at 54

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

2 days ago
970
Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

2 days ago
967

Most Read

  • Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Deploying Conscripts in Major Push to Reclaim Lost Territory

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Junta Bombing of Resistance-Held Areas in Mandalay, Karenni Kills Seven Civilians

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Two Prominent Myanmar Ex-Political Prisoners Die Hours Apart in Yangon

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.