Official figures show that, in the first three months of 2011, Chongqing farmers enjoyed a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in disposable income to Rmb1,991. Disposable income for urban dwellers rose by nearly 13 per cent to Rmb6,414.

Despite this increase, the income gap between urban dwellers in Chongqing and Shanghai remains enormous. According to official statistics, which tend to downplay income and wealth differentials in China, an urban dweller in Shanghai had a total disposable income of Rmb32,000 in 2010, nearly double that of his counterpart in Chongqing.