A news story from China’s state broadcaster about low-cost housing is at the center of criticisms of China’s real estate policies that swept the Chinese Internet over the New Year, the latest example of a growing disconnect between the Chinese government and regular citizens.
The story, broadcast on CCTV last week (in Chinese), showed Chinese president Hu Jintao and a large entourage of men dressed in black visiting a woman who lives in a newly built community for low-income families in Beijing. The woman, Guo Chunping, tells Mr. Hu that she rents her 45-square-meter, two-room apartment for “only 77 yuan ($12) per month.” Upon hearing this, according to an official translation on CCTV’s website, Mr. Hu declares: “The party and the government pay great attention on improving people’s livelihood. Now we’ve adopted series of measures, and more are expected to come to improve lives of low-income families.”
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