China tries to censor data about nearly 1 billion people in poverty
www.newsweek.com
Chinese government censors tried to control discussions about the country's economy this week.

China Tries To Censor Data About Nearly 1 Billion People in Poverty::Chinese government censors tried to control discussions about the country’s economy this week.

  • qooqie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8514·
    11 months ago

    1 billion people in China living in poverty?? I find that almost hard to believe that’s ~66% of their population

    • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.worldEnglish
      424·
      11 months ago

      If it’s propaganda it’s coming from within

      “In his article for the business outlet Yicai, Li cited data from a 2021 research paper by the China Institute of Income Distribution at Beijing Normal University, which placed the number of people living on less than 2,000 yuan a month at 964 million, or nearly 70 percent of the population.”

    • grayman@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3522·
      11 months ago

      Most certainly easy to believe. China is not that far off from DPRK anymore. Look at what they did during covid (welding people in their apartments, killing all pets, arresting people for curfew violations, etc). Look at their typical workday (14x6) and wage (a few $/day). How do think we get cheap products like $25 microwaves and $15 coffee makers. CCP wants a slave population, not citizens.

        • viking@infosec.pubEnglish
          183·
          11 months ago

          I’m in China as well and you’re talking out of your ass, or arrived post-covid.

          I’ve experienced lockdowns, pet killings and welded doors; know plenty of 996 companies, and the local salaries are garbage.

          • ttmrichter@lemmy.worldEnglish
            520·
            11 months ago

            I arrived in China 2001.

            I experienced the harshest and largest lockdown in all of history: Wuhan, January 23rd, 2020. A real lockdown, not the cosplay bullshit you experienced outside of China. (Yes, this is me saying you’ve never fucking set foot in the country.)

            The rest you’re just flat-out lying about. Sorry, Sparky. Did pet killings happen? Yes. They were not the mass shit that the press you’re so obviously reciting acts like they were. Did some doors get welded? Yes. But nowhere near you and, again, nowhere near in the masses the press you’re basing your lies on made it seem like. The local salaries are garbage iff you’re a fuckwit sitting in the west applying western prices to Chinese salaries. (Which, naturally, you are, good little fuckwit liar that you are.) And you’ve changed your tune from 14 hours to 12 hours really fucking quickly there, Sparky, not to mention using the proper slang only after I gave it to you.

            So yeah, you’re just a west-dwelling fuckwit lying about being here. Go toddle off in your China Watcher corners and play with the rest of the intellectual children you belong with. There’s a good boy.

            • viking@infosec.pubEnglish
              113·
              11 months ago

              LOL. Ok champ. You’re just the sorry twat I thought I left behind on reddit, so I’ll withdraw from this exchange.

              • nixcamic@lemmy.worldEnglish
                81·
                11 months ago

                Bro I hate to break it to you but there’s way more CCP apologist tankies on Lemmy than Reddit. That you won’t escape by coming here.

        • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          162·
          11 months ago

          Either way I find it funny that the same anti westerners who say China is fair to its workers, are the same ones who always mention that my phone is made by slaves. Sometimes in the same discussion.

        • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          82·
          11 months ago

          Bruh. Are you smoking crack?

          Your view of how COVID-19 mitigation worked is skewed by breathless, click-baiting media reports (known by most as “lies”) made by people who could not, at a very deep, very primal level, admit to even themselves that brown-skinned people outperformed white-skinned people by orders of magnitude and made up shit to placate their humiliation.

          What are you even talking about?

        • iopq@lemmy.worldEnglish
          63·
          11 months ago

          I was in China during the pandemic. In 2022 everyone got COVID. Literally everyone in every big city.

          So they should have opened up after omega became the dominant variant. No point in locking people down when they lost anyway.

          It was a good response in the beginning, but they doubled down on it for three years

            • Nix@merv.newsEnglish
              8·
              11 months ago

              You need to relax. You can just explain your points without calling people fuckwits etc.

            • iopq@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              11 months ago

              They stopped tracking cases in December, so how do you know it’s one third?

              They literally told us to stay at home and not go to the hospital even if we have it

    • Filthmontane@lemmy.worldEnglish
      133·
      11 months ago

      That’s because it’s being applied to Western standards. China spends a crazy amount of money on social welfare and government assistance. Minimum wage is around or less than 2000 Yuan a month around the country, yes. But, that’s completely ignoring currency exchange rates and cost of living.

      Cost of living in Shanghai and Beijing are around 4,500 Yuan. Which means a couple or two roommates can live on minimum wage in the biggest cities. Compare that to minimum wage and cost of living in New York City or LA which is $1,280 a month, costing $4,300 and 1,342 a month, costing $5,576 respectively.

      Tldr: how much money you make is only relevant when compared to your cost of living. It’s not hard to live in China on $300 a month.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        3·
        11 months ago

        So by relative purchasing power, why would China want to censor information if it didn’t actually put them in a negative light?

        • Filthmontane@lemmy.worldEnglish
          61·
          11 months ago

          Well I think this article and comment section is a clear indication of the power of this information when used for propaganda.

    • ZooGuru@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2313·
      11 months ago

      This was my first thought. Seems unlikely. I’d see this just as likely being propaganda.