The term "middle class" has cropped up frequently in mainland China's popular magazines in recent years. In 2004, a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that the middle class in China numbers 35.18 million, which is about 2.8 per cent of the total population[1]. A recent survey conducted by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics defines "middle class" as being those whose annual household income for a family of three is between 60,000 Yuan and 500,000 Yuan. Reportedly, about 5.06 per cent of the population falls into this category, while the majority 91.7 per cent earns an annual household income of less than 50,000 Yuan[2].
"The proportion of middle class in China will expand from 5 percent today to 45 percent in 2020," says the report[3]. If this is accurate, more than half a billion people will enter the middle class over the next fifteen years. The official report's definition is solely economic, but can "middle class" also encompass other aspects of life, such as leisure time and quality of life? "Well, life is tough," say a pair of cousins, Lillian and Vivian, both typical "middle class white-collar women" who live in Guangzhou and Shenzhen respectively. Born in the late 1970s and early 1980s, both of their fathers became successful businessmen after China's opening up of its economy to the outside world in early 1980s. They have never experienced any political turmoil or economic hardship. But still, when talking about life, they seem to have endless complaints to make. Are they just spoilt or is the reality not as bright as it is portrayed in the mainland Chinese media?
Lillian finds her life very stressful. Without a recognized bachelor degree, she says she has to work much harder than other colleagues who are degree holders. She earns 3,000 Yuan a month, a rather high income compared with people of the same qualification and therefore she stays in a job she does not enjoy much. "I want to be a teacher but prospects in the education field are not that great. My parents think telecommunications are better for me," says the 23-year-old obedient daughter, a programmer in a giant mobile phone services provider.
"I am attending evening classes and hope to achieve a degree somehow. My current job is very boring and dry but I don't think I can find anything better-paid elsewhere." In recent years the absence of proper higher education planning has meant that too many degree holders have entered the labour market, which strengthens employers' already omnipotent position and places workers in a worse situation as collective bargaining is not possible in China.
When asked if there are any other problem areas in their lives apart from work they both say "relationship and family." Lillian's boyfriend is from another city. "He is not a rural migrant worker but he has no resources in Guangzhou to help us build up anything." Knowing that her parents would prefer her to have a local boyfriend who could get a better job and buy a house, she has concealed the relationship from them for two years.
Vivian's parents accept her boyfriend, but she has to be careful for another reason. "My fiancé earns less than me and has parents to support. I have to think about his feelings but I don't want to give up the luxury of living in a nice apartment and going out in a cab."
"I am considered very lucky to have this job," says Vivian, who became a designer in a medium-scale garment company after she received her diploma in fashion design in Canada. She says that some of her friends who received the same diploma in China are earning half what she earns. Her selling point is her foreign qualification, a clear example of "the rich get richer." Yet Vivian soon found that there was a catch. "My boss usually shows up and gives me new tasks before my lunch hour and, even worse, at 6.30pm. I have to work those extra lunch hours and evenings unpaid." It is not unusual that she has to travel to Hong Kong for work at weekends, and at her own expense.
"I do have a labour contract stating I will receive 5,000 Yuan at the end of each month, but the truth is I only get 3,000 Yuan each month on time and the remaining 2,000 Yuan is given to me personally by the boss when she is in a good mood. I don't know what to do when she 'forgets' it. The company shuts down for three weeks during Chinese New Year as the migrant workers all go home and we then get only a quarter of 5,000 Yuan. "Sometimes I think I am complaining too much. In my company, the security guards and migrant workers work very long hours and earn less than 1,000 Yuan a month."
Footnotes:
[1] See: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/18/content_417241.htm
[2] See: http://www.lifeweek.com.cn/2005-01-24/0005310800.shtml
[3] See: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/20/content_2486711.htm
10 March 2005