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The pattern of such poverty remains widespread; in many regions farm life is even harsher than on Long Chi commune. The most startling revelation in a series of remarkably candid press stories in recent months is that in three decades of rule, the Communist regime has barely begun to improve the lot of a vast number of its peasants. Some regions in the chronically poor provinces such as hilly Guizhou, arid Gansu or often flooded Shandong have not had a single good year since collectivization began in the late 1950s. According to one article, a quarter of the rural population, or roughly 200 million people, had 1977 per capita incomes of less than $27 a .year, not enough even to buy sufficient food. Western specialists do not believe that since then the situation has significantly improved.