Analysis on Basic Cognition and Representative Issues of the Income Distribution Pattern in China (Note 1)

Abstract

The analysis and recognition of China’s current income distribution pattern is a major practical issue that involves the idea and essentials of advancing modern state governance in the stage of economic and social transition, and also a controversial issue. In this paper, the author focused on two major points. First, the analysis on the basic situation of the proportion of resident income in the overall income distribution pattern in recent decade in China, which first went down and then rose slightly, is conducted. Then the paper emphasized that the key to solve the paradox formed by two mainstream views was to understand more deeply the institutional causes of the unfairness and non-standardization inherent in high Gini coefficient of income distribution in China, which was an essential real problem. Second, based on an examination of the significance of cultivating and developing the mid-income class in China, the serious shortcomings of official statistics about income quintile information must be pointed out. Thus, it is imperative to recognize the covered contradictions, face the anxiety state and related challenges that the mid-income class in China has been stuck in, and then seek to solve the contradiction and eliminate the anxiety in a targeted manner.