Factories ease plight of poorest - at a price

Rice farmer Zhang Huanan believes his best chance of escaping a life of poverty is a glass factory rising from former farmland near his home.

The factory, run by a company from Fujian, will open this autumn, offering many jobs. It's one of hundreds of industrial projects moving into Heyuan, one of the poorest cities in the mainland's wealthiest province.

Some scholars say there are two Guangdongs: one rich and the other poor. Zhang, 43, lives in Lankou township's Xiushui village, roughly 200 kilometres northeast of Shenzhen but decades behind in terms of economic development.

He says the factory, a 10-minute motorcycle ride from his home, is his last chance to turn his fortunes around.

After more than three decades of rapid economic growth, the mainland is suffering from a yawning wealth gap that is even evident in rich coastal provinces like Guangdong.

Official statistics say the per capita gross domestic product in northern, eastern and western Guangdong in 2009 was between 17,000 and 18,000 yuan (HK$19,950 and HK$21,120) - about a quarter of the Pearl River Delta's 67,000 yuan. During an inspection of Heyuan early last year, provincial party boss Wang Yang said it was a shame that Guangdong had such a huge wealth gap - bigger than in other coastal provinces such as Jiangsu , Zhejiang and Shandong . He said it had to be narrowed so that the province could shed the shame of being home to the mainland's richest region as well as some of its poorest ones.