There are, however, still many Chinese who are suffering from poverty. There
were over 170 million people in the PRC (13.06% of the total population as seen in
Figure 11.3) living under the global poverty line in 2008. Furthermore, inequality
in the PRC has risen sharply in the past 30 years. In particular, the gap has risen
rapidly between urban and rural incomes. The rising gap between the PRC’s urban
and rural residents has contributed to a range of problems, including social unrest
in some rural areas (APCO Worldwide 2010).