The other Poland(s)

摘要

Polish cities may be drab, but these days they are also thoroughly modern. In Warsaw, Poznan or Gdansk, shoppers barely bat an eyelid at the latest trendy boutique, megastore or foreign fast-food outlet. Yet drive a few miles out of any of these cities, and the 21st century suddenly meets the 19th, complete with wooden barns and horse-drawn carts. The more remote parts of Poland's countryside do not even get copies of national newspapers. All the same, rural Poland is hugely important politically. This is where around a third of the country's population lives, and where a fifth of the national workforce is employed, a far higher proportion than in most other European countries. In hard economic terms, however, rural work produces very little: agriculture and related industries account for a mere 4% of GDP.