What makes the middle class tick

Just who are these people on whom the world is placing so much faith?

Song Xuejun gets his kicks out of clicks, the sound emanating from any one of his two dozen or so wristwatches as he winds them. It is not just the sound that enthralls him as he goes through his regular ritual as a kind of master of time. Just looking at the watches' elegant inner workings and moving gears sends his mind into an enthusiastic spin.

"People tend to be hooked on their mobiles," says Song, 48, a company executive in Beijing. "But I like to communicate with watches; they're like friends. I don't buy them to show off; I buy them because I love them."