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Dilemma of defining the middle class
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-05 07:57
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A recent study shows China's middle class accounts for about 23 percent of its population. But this figure does not conform to reality because the existing criteria to define middle class are vague. Hence, the authorities should set concrete and stringent standards, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:
The middle class in China has been expanding in recent years because of the rapid economic growth. A recent study conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows the middle class accounts for about 23 percent of China's population.
That would mean nearly a quarter of Chinese people have already become middle class. But is it true? Not really. Most of the so-called members of the middle-class rely on loans to buy a house or car. They have to spend large sums of money on medical treatment and their children's education, too. Life apparently is not easy for them.
But then how does one say whether a person belongs to the middle class? Should a person's economic status be measured according to his/her annual income or bank deposit, or the market price of his/her house? The current criteria are vague. China needs more concrete and stringent yardsticks to define middle class.
A family should be taken as a unit to judge whether the annual net income has increased or not.
Also, a person's risk capacity and the possibility of his/her being forced into poverty overnight because of illness or other sudden developments should be considered before determining his/her social class.
(China Daily 02/05/2010 page9)
