Common Prosperity
Xi Jinping's campaign to reduce inequality — and whether it represents genuine redistribution or political control.
The Inequality Problem
China's economic miracle produced staggering inequality. The country's Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality — rose from roughly 0.30 in 1980 (among the world's most equal) to approximately 0.47 by 2020 (more unequal than the United States). The wealth gap was even more extreme: the richest 1% of Chinese held over 30% of the country's wealth. A country whose founding ideology was egalitarian communism had become one of the world's most unequal societies.
The sources of inequality were structural: coastal cities vastly outpaced inland provinces, urban residents earned three times rural incomes, the property boom enriched homeowners while pricing out newcomers, and the tech sector created billionaires while gig workers earned subsistence wages. The education system replicated inequality through a hyper-competitive exam culture that advantaged wealthy urban families.
