Uneven Recovery

China was quick to lock down its country and curb social activities at the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. And perhaps as a result of its quick response, it is the only major economy in the world to have positive economic growth for 2020, at 2.3%.

What lies beneath the surface of a year of surprising growth, however, is the unbalanced “burden of the pandemic-induced downturn that has fallen on rural Chinese”. This includes 290 urban million migrant workers with rural hukou (household registrations) status who work in cities throughout China and send money back home. COVID locked down key sectors of the economy where many internal Chinese migrant workers earn a living, namely in services and retail. According to one estimate, Chinese migrant workers lost about $100 billion in wages that they will not likely recover. Stanford University researchers and authors Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell stated in Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise that “exacerbated by the pandemic, China’s rural crisis remains largely invisible to outside observers, and even to many Chinese.

A Familiar Response

China’s opaque government practices and its struggling rural hukou isn’t new to us or the refugees under our care. North Korean refugees in our network live in rural regions and are often married to rural hukou farmers. Refugees don’t even have hukou status as China offers no help or protection to North Koreans. And urban migration will continue to reduce available government services, like healthcare and public education, and opportunities away from rural areas.

A year ago, we asked for support to help provide food and relief to the refugee women and their families during the pandemic and were met with an overwhelming response. To date, we have raised over $23,000 for COVID relief and have already sent 25% of it to provide food and medical aid.

Meeting needs

A refugee woman we call “Amelia” is a single mom to her three children and had worked illegally in a small restaurant to provide for her family. The restaurant had closed due to COVID and was preparing to reopen when Amelia took a bad fall in the kitchen, broke her leg and burned her arm. Crossing Borders’ COVID relief fund provided rice, vegetables, snacks for their children, and medical care for Amelia. Amelia shared that she was “amazed how God helps and provides in time of need.”

One refugee woman’s husband was in the hospital due to COVID with breathing issues. Another refugee’s husband has tuberculosis and his condition suddenly worsened though they were unsure if it was related to COVID. These are just two examples of where our refugee women struggled through COVID related hardships and needed financial assistance to get medical care for their husbands. Thanks to your generous support we were able to send help to families like these in dire need.

At the rate of the growing disparity between the urban and rural hukou in China, circumstances for the refugees and families impacted by COVID will continue to remain challenging. We will continue to love and support and minister to them by delivering food, medical care and the gospel. Thank you for your partnership to make this work possible.