Chinese people used to have a tradition that valued the fair distribution of wealth rather than wealth itself.

In recent years, as the economy steams ahead, the Chinese have enjoyed ever greater and more rapid accumulation of wealth. Meanwhile, how national wealth is shared among its citizens has frequently been cast into the spotlight.

Controversy arose when critics claimed the income and wealth gap of the country was expanding to a dangerous level. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income or wealth inequality, has exceeded the internationally accepted warning line of 0.4, according to various studies.

The Gini value itself, however, is not one without controversy. Some domestic researchers have argued that it does not apply to China's reality and that the calculation of the value is flawed.

Tuesday's release of a report on the world distribution of household wealth, compiled by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University, provides new support for those researchers.

Anthony Shorrocks, director of the Helsinki-based institute, said the first global research on the topic found that China fails to be outstanding in the world's super-rich list because "its wealth is evenly spread by international standards."

If Shorrocks is right, China's uneven wealth distribution may not be as serious as it seems and it would not be so urgent, as critics have urged, to accelerate social reforms to narrow the dangerous wealth gap.

It is entirely possible that the difference has arisen from the different research methodologies and sample collection techniques used by those researchers.

An underlying factor, however, may be the different understanding of China's real situation.

China's economic growth has brought huge benefits to its people in general. The well-being of Chinese people has improved, although to a varied degree, in the past two and a half decades.

That is why the public have stood by the reform and want it to continue, even if it has also brewed some problems.

This is an undeniable fact that is accepted even by those who criticize the country's expanding income and wealth gap.

On the other hand, compared with the early years after the reform and opening-up drive, our income gap and wealth has, unfortunately, widened continually.

Both the official statistics and our impressions can lead to the conclusion that the country is facing a harsh income distribution problem, although people are yet to reach a consensus, on a quantifiable level, of the inequality.

This is a basic understanding that is nearer to the realities, with or without the support of the Gini value.

Policy-makers must take heed of the wealth distribution problem. The reform must continue and be fine-tuned so that the majority of people can have a fair share of the fruits of reform and economic development.

(China Daily 12/09/2006 page4)