The graph above shows rural population between 1960 and 2010. As it makes clear, this has decreased rapidly and consistently over the period. Indeed, approximately 200 million rural labourers and their dependants have relocated to urban areas to find work.

Han Jun, of the rural economy department at China’s Development Research Centre of the State Council, recently predicted that the country’s rural population would shrink from the present 900 million to 400 million within 30 years.

There remains a huge gap between the urban rich and the rural poor due to huge incentive and investment programmes targeted at the cities.