why are farmers in china looked down upon?

[edelweis]

@civic: I don't know if you read Chinese, anyway here is an interesting text:

http://collections.u...ate_unit28.html

text #274: 我奋斗了18年才和你坐在一起喝咖啡

(click on "HTML" or "audio" to read the text. Unfortunately the audio file itself is incorrect.)

Basically the text says that people who have a countryside Hukou (ID card) can't legally work in cities, so they can't register for health insurance, retirement, and so on.

One way for countryside youngsters to get a city Hukou is to pass the uni exam entrance. However, due to quotas, they need exceptionally high results. And if they succeed, the uni tuition and city living costs are a very heavy burden to their poor countryside families...

It looks like the countryside people are slaves to the "highly valued agricultural sector" (peasants, as Imron said) and have extremely few opportunities to escape that fate...

Edit: wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system

[frankwall]

Yes, I really think this attitude isn't just present in China but throughout the world. People with university educations and so on will often look down on uneducated people that work the land, even if that work is highly valued in society. If you drive a tractor to work instead of a BMW, sadly, you won't get much respect.

[li3wei1]

Education is one factor, but also: working outdoors, manual work, working with animals, handling waste products, etc. All of these things contribute to lowering the status.