Dorothy Solinger, a political scientist and urban poverty expert from the University of California, Irvine, said she believed there could be as many as 40 million urban people still living below the poverty line in China’s cities. “In the cities there is new poverty and they don’t talk about that,” Solinger said. “The city poor have been pacified [through limited cash handouts] and I think that satisfies the central government … They are not helping them escape poverty. They are helping them stay minimally alive.”

For the full story, please visit http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/27/worlds-most-dangerous-school-run-chinese-children-800m-cliff.