JIANGXI IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR: MILLIONS LEAVE ONE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 013274

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2031
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON ELAB CH
SUBJECT: JIANGXI IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR: MILLIONS LEAVE ONE
OF CHINA'S POOREST PROVINCES


Classified By: Acting Political Section Internal Unit Chief Susan A. Th
ornton. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Millions of residents of Jiangxi province have
left home in search of work in construction, factories
and the service sector in China's coastal boomtowns.
The outflow has both positive and negative aspects,
according to local officials and residents. Brain
drain is a problem, as Jiangxi's comparative
underdevelopment spurs the best and brightest to leave
and seek opportunities elsewhere. Rural areas suffer
from gender and age imbalances as young men depart en
masse for urban centers. One village mayor complained
that returning migrants import bad habits from the
city, such as drinking and gambling. Scholars and
officials asserted that migration out of Jiangxi has
been a net positive for the province, however,
relieving pressure on infrastructure and resources.
Remittances also constitute valuable income for
families left behind. But with nearly one-fifth of
Jiangxi's population on the move, social tensions and
problems are bound to increase. End Summary.

Farewell, Jiangxi
--------------


2. (C) In April 2006, China's State Council released
a report stating that some 120 million rural residents
nationwide have migrated to urban areas in search of
jobs and the actual figure is likely higher.
Landlocked Jiangxi, in southern China, contributes
millions of workers to this flow of mobile labor.
Although the province has a population of some 40
million, about 7 million migrants have departed to
find work in other areas of the country, Jiangxi
scholars and officials told Poloff during a mid-June
visit. The most popular destinations for Jiangxi's
migrants are the coastal boomtowns such as Guangzhou,
Shenzhen and Shanghai, said Ma Zhihui, Director of the
Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences (JASS) Institute of
Economic Research.


3. (C) While the vast majority of these mobile
workers are poor rural residents, Ma said that many
young, educated Jiangxi natives are quick to seize
employment opportunities offered by China's top
cities. About one third of all Jiangxi college
graduates leave, Ma estimated. In addition, newly-
credentialed doctors and teachers, after completing
their studies in Jiangxi, often go to provinces with
better salaries and benefits.


4. (C) The teacher deficit is particularly acute,
said Jiangxi native Ren Bo, who covers rural issues at
Caijing Magazine, an influential national bi-weekly
based in Beijing. "The best teachers all leave," she
said. Ren herself left Nanchang, the province's
capital, in the 1990s to attend college in Beijing,
where she still lives. She complained that for her,
Nanchang was stiflingly conservative -- economically,
politically and in terms of people's outlook on social
issues. She said most of her ambitious friends have
also left Jiangxi.


5. (C) Jiangxi's annual per capita GDP of about USD
1,140 puts it in 22nd place among Chinese provinces in
that category, according to Central Government
statistics. Nonetheless, by official accounts,
Jiangxi's economy is humming, achieving overall annual
GDP growth of 11.6 percent for 2005, said Hu Shizhong,
Vice Director of the Jiangxi Province Development and
Reform Commission (JDRC). However, Hu commented that
Jiangxi's pace of development has not matched that of
China's east coast, prompting the best local
entrepreneurs to leave for more promising markets in
dynamic cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou. When the
Special Economic Zones were established more than 20
years ago, talented people started leaving Jiangxi, Hu
complained. Without its best business minds, Jiangxi
has failed to keep pace with the strong performance of
its neighbors to the east and south. Moreover, as the
coastal areas continue to develop quickly, Jiangxi
seems to lag even further behind, Hu remarked.

Teachers Wanted
--------------


BEIJING 00013274 002 OF 002



6. (C) By far the largest group of migrants leaving
Jiangxi are rural residents who go to large cities to
work in construction or low-skill jobs in the service
sector, said Ma of JASS. The effects of the exodus
are clearly visible in Anyi County, a 45-minute drive
northwest of Nanchang. Anyi has a registered
population of about 250,000, of whom about 70,000 have
migrated to urban areas, said Luo Feng, the Deputy
Director of the Jiangxi Provincial New Socialist
Countryside Leading Group. The Leading Group is
involved in an effort to establish several model "New
Countryside" villages in Anyi County. The residents
Poloff observed on the quiet roads and in the fields
of Anyi were mainly seniors and small children. Each
of the three elderly villagers Poloff spoke with in
Anyi's Huangzhou township had sons and daughters who
had moved to the city for work. Most come back to the
village once a year during the Lunar New Year Holiday,
they said, bringing money and gifts.


7. (C) Huangzhou keeps no detailed statistics about
the number of people who have left, but Hu Yu, the
township's mayor, described the proportion as large.
She added that the out-migration has presented a
number of challenges for Huangzhou. Schools in
particular feel the pinch. Echoing the point Ren of
Caijing made, Hu noted that retaining qualified
teachers constitutes a real problem. The best leave
to seek better pay, benefits and working conditions in
urban areas. In addition, the outflow of young men to
cities has resulted in a gender and age imbalance
among those who stay behind. Most remaining residents
in Huangzhou are children, seniors or single mothers.
In some villages, 70 percent of the inhabitants are
women, said Li Jingzhi, an official at the Jiangxi
Provincial Women's Federation.

Drinking, Gambling -- and Nice Houses
--------------


8. (C) Hu Yu remarked that social problems can arise
when migrants come home, either permanently or for
visits. In the cities, many pick up bad habits, such
as drinking and gambling. "Life is different here,"
Hu said, adding that returning migrants often have
problems readjusting. Part of this may be culture
shock. Jiangxi is a socially and politically
conservative place, Zou Xueyin, a professor who
studies rural issues at the Ministry of Civil Affairs
Training College in Beijing. After a year or two of
exposure to free-wheeling Shenzhen or Guangzhou, the
traditional rural life of Jiangxi will seem dull.


9. (C) Despite such challenges, officials in Jiangxi
said they consider migration a net positive for the
province. Land and other natural resources are
limited, so relief of population pressure serves as a
useful safety valve, said Yang Yuzhu, a professor at
the Jiangxi Province Civil Affairs Training College.
He added that the income many migrants earn elsewhere
and the remittances they send back help reduce the
urban-rural income gap in Jiangxi. Huangzhou mayor Hu
Yu related that returning migrants also bridge the
knowledge gap, bringing benefits to her township by
sharing the lessons they learned in the outside world.
In addition, they have been known to change the
physical landscape of their home villages for the
better. "People who have made it come back and build
beautiful houses for their families," she said.
RANDT