economy - China's poor became poorer, in 2002, 2003

A not yet published report by the World Bank on China's economy is causing a stir. That the rich have become richer has not really been a surprise, but what raised the eyebrows was the conclusion that the poorer had become poorer, as All Roads Lead to China picked up from the unlinkable Wall Street Journal. Of course, the differences between the poor and the rich have increased, but that would be manageable when the poor had become less poor.
The Financial Times has more information on this issue and quotes the World Bank chief economist Bert Hofman.

“Preliminary analysis on Chinese data indicates that average income of the bottom decile went down slightly between 2001 and 2003, whereas all other income categories saw significant increases,” said Bert Hofman, the bank’s lead economist in China.
“Our analysis suggests that a considerable number of people below the poverty line were hit by an income shock – they only kept up consumption by spending their savings.”

That is still a serious enough conclusion, although the report focuses on a rather limited period in time, between 2001 and 2003. Since food prices have gone up in the period, the poor have literally been feeding the richer urbanites, as they have done more often in the past.