https://tradingeconomics.com/china/employment-in-agriculture...

You could just as easily massage statistics to call the US a nation of gig workers or something, but neither is productive or informative.

Let’s not pretend that peasants and farmers represent the same thing

All peasants are farmers, but not all farmers are poor.

So, no, not as a group. Midwest farmers, on balance, are going to be some of the richest people you can find in the country (mostly because of their land ownership, which Chinese farmers don't have). There may be some individual farmers in the midwest who you could consider to be peasants, though.

But Chinese farmers are likely to be poor. Some individual farmers in China are rich, but as far as the group goes... It is not as bad as it once was, but as that group they still lag well behind the typical urban dweller.

He did not refer to all Chinese as peasants. China would like you think that though.

I don't want to discuss whether he is genuinely racist; I think that's besides the point. Words can have a lot of impact, especially when uttered by a public figure in such a powerful position. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the Vice President of the United States to carefully weigh the consequences of his words before speaking.

He did carefully weigh the consequences of his words. He deliberately chose the most inflammatory and insulting of possible words. Knowingly and intentionally.

You unsurprisingly choose the third option. Uncouth, crude and or ill-bred people are probably not especially productive in their working life.

We do know that in China, rural people flock to the cities (where they have diminished welfare provisions and 'rural' status, do the work and are then expected to return to their homes in the country.