JRShire :
I can’t say for certain how things operate now under Xi Jingping, I imagine there may have been policy reforms and changes on paper or in practices, but when I was living in China under Hu Jintao there was poverty, unhoused and underhoused people, and challenges to accessing social services particularly in rural provinces. Many of the promises made for access to housing, education, healthcare, and basic needs were and maybe still are tied to where a person is registered to live and difficult to access if you were outside your province. In Shanghai, there was a whole population of people who lived in the city but were not registered as residents who could not access social services. They came to the city for better working conditions compared to their home province, but because they are not registered with the city, they were not registered as part of the population, and under Jintao’s government. I used to volunteer at a facility that offered laundry and showering services for people who were a part of that population. Now, perhaps things have changed, and I welcome people to tell me if things have changed, but China like many other countries makes a lot of bold claims, but the reality is often more complicated. This isn’t to say that China has not made great strides in improving the material conditions of it’s people or that it should stop trying to improve people’s lives, but we should always treat what they and any country says with a grain of salt.
2026-11-10 13:56:24