BEIJING (AP) — Weeks prior to the discovery in England of the bodies of 39 people believed to be from China, Beijing was holding lavish National Day celebrations congratulating itself on its rise from an impoverished Asian giant to the world's second largest economy.

The tragedy lays bare some crucial but sometimes overlooked facts about China's development as it revels in its new-found status as a global power that has elevated hundreds of millions of its citizens to the middle classes.

Despite the flashy wealth of metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, much of China remains relatively po...