How Stable is China economically and politically?
This is a difficult question to answer. On the one hand China has an impressive track record for overall economic development, averaging roughly 9% annual Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) growth for over a decade. In the key regional markets of China – the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta (greater Shanghai area), and the Beijing/Tianjin area – per capita income has soared 10% – 15% per year since 1980. On the other hand, this economic growth is uneven. Much of China’s peasant farming population is losing economic ground, and feels increasingly disenfranchised. Because peasant farmers number about 700-800 million people, this presents a formidable challenge to China’s central and regional policy makers. The next five years will likely demonstrate how serious the Chinese government is about paying more attention to the needs of this unhappy and impoverished majority. For the moment, China appears relatively stable politically. In September of 2004 Jiang Zemin resigned his post as
