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7 Income and Consumption of Rural and Urban Residents in the Tibetan Autonomous Region Income and consumption are among the most important indicators of people’s economic lives. Four points are usually taken into account in the study of income and consumption. First, they should be studied together because the level of income affects — even determines — the patterns of consumption. Second, they need to be examined at both the micro and macro levels. Individual and family income (level, stability and sources) and consumption (structure, content and patterns of consumption) provide a basis for understanding a society. In addition, general income and consumption patterns (average level, stratification, and structures of income and consumption) of a nation, a region, a town, an ethnic group, or a social group should also be studied in order to see the larger economic context. Third, a dynamic and comparative point of view should be adopted to examine longitudinal changes and cross-sectional differentials. Income and consumption patterns change over time, accompanying the changes in the social and economic environment. Fourth, attention should be given to the various factors affecting the changes in people’s income and consumption behavior, in order to understand the dynamics. Urban and rural areas form quite different economic patterns or sectors in the process of industrialization and urbanization. Urban and rural areas sometimes are viewed as two types of economies and societies, and nations with differentiated rural and urban areas are sometimes characterized as having a “dualistic structure.” In some studies the process of modernization is described as a process in which labor is transferred from traditional rural sectors into the industrialized urban sectors (Gersovitz, 1983). Other studies focus on the labor transfer between industries and view cities as growth poles of the modern economy (Simmons, 1981: 94). These theories on modernization and urbanization provide a framework for understanding the rural-urban differentials in the case of the TAR and its social changes over time. Local statistical institutions were established in the TAR in the late 1950s and relevant publications became available only in the late 1980s. The first statistical yearbook of the TAR was published in 1989. It was not until the 1980s that Tibet 192 Population and Society in Contemporary Tibet first became open to sociological researchers, allowing our sampling survey to be the first rigorous sociological study of Tibet. A large proportion of our 1988 urban samples were the unemployed (38.5 percent); a small proportion worked in government institutions (33.2 percent). In contrast, the census data suggested that at least 57.8 percent of workers in the Lhasa Urban District1 worked in government institutions. The difference reflects the different target populations included in our 1988 survey and the census. The issue of representation should be kept in mind when rural-urban differentials are discussed based on our survey data. Excluding “unit households (made up mostly of Han and Tibetan in-migrants),” the comparison between urban residents and rural residents in our sample will be a comparison between native and urban Tibetans. Characteristics of Urban Development in the TAR It will be helpful to discuss the basic conditions of urbanization and rural-urban patterns in the TAR before going on to analyze the survey data. According to the 1990 census, of a total of 72 counties in the TAR, 13 had a density of less than one person/km2 , 33 had a density between one and five persons/km2 , and only 13 counties had a density of more than 10 persons/ km2 . Lhasa and Shigatse are the only cities in the TAR. Before 1959 there was a three-level administrative system under the Kashag government: Kashag (the Dalai Lama’s government) — Chikyap (Jigyeb, or spyi-khyab in Latin) — dzong (an administrative unit similar to county in the Han region). In 1959 a fivelevel administrative system was adopted in the TAR as in other parts of China: autonomous region (province) — prefecture — county — district — xiang (Tanzen and Zhang Xiangming, 1991a: 344). In 1987 a policy of “abolishing districts and merging xiang” eliminated the “district level,” leaving a four-level system mirroring the administrative composition all over China. This administrative adjustment stimulated the development of towns so that since 1988 the total number of towns has increased from nine to 31. In general, the rate of urbanization in the TAR has been slower than the national average and other western regions in China. From 1964 to 1982, for example, the urban population increased 52.6 percent in the TAR in comparison...

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