Stiglitz and others may celebrate the decline in poverty in China, but the figures are themselves highly suspect, in particular since any rise in earnings has come with the loss of health care and education, which has hit people in the rural areas especially hard. This shows up in declining health conditions and educational opportunities, for example. Moreover, data shows that poverty is again on the rise in China.
For more discussion of some of these issues you might want to check out Paul Burkett and my response to some critics of our book that was published in the journal Critical Asian Studies, which hosted a roundtable discussion on the book. It can be found at: <http://www.lclark.edu/~marty/China%20Roundtable%20part%202.pdf> Marty
