The middle-class trap

Han Lin and his wife Qian Jin (left), with their daughter and mother share happy times in their Beijing home. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

World-watchers say China's expanding middle class will become the most influential bloc on this planet very soon. But in the meantime, they are the ones who have to struggle most with new expectations, higher benchmarks and also battle ingrained lifestyle traditions.

Han Lin has not spoken to his father in two months. Part of the reason is the old man wants to take his 1-year-old granddaughter back to Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, so he can look after her better. But the city is a four-hour train ride away from Beijing, and his son has flatly refused. While the situation may be unfamiliar to people living in the West, Han's dilemma is very common in China, especially among the growing numbers of the so-called middle class. And this is only one problem they face.

A recent report by British newspaper The Times describes the Chinese middle class as "on their way to becoming the most powerful social bloc on the planet". The Wall Street Journal quoted statistics from McKinsey & Co, which defines this group as those with annual disposable incomes of between $16,000 and $34,000.

Han, an IT engineer with a US company, and his wife Qian Jin, an accountant in a private domestic enterprise, were startled at the suggestion that they fitted into this category.

"Middle class? Call me middle-class when I have at least two houses and a Beijing hukou," says Qian. A hukou is a permanent household registration in the city, which allows the resident full privileges in housing, education and health services.

Housing has become the most important issue for most urban Chinese families, closely followed by their children's education.

The price of a 100-square-meter apartment around Beijing's Third Ring Road, about 10 km from the city center, has risen to four times its price in 2005.

Han, 32, bought his 90-square-meter apartment in 2008.

His suburban community has no major hospital or shopping mall, and he drives an hour each day to his job in the city center. Yet, he considers the house his wisest investment in Beijing. He bought it for about 900,000 yuan ($124,000) in 2008, and now property agents offer him 2 million yuan for it.

"I am quite lucky compared to many of my age," he says. "Our parents had some savings and they were generous in their support, or else my life in Beijing would have been totally different. It would have been a lot more stressful."

Han and Qian lived with his parents for about three months after their baby was born. When they had to go back to work, they asked their parents to Beijing to help. A good baby sitter would have cost at least 4,000 yuan ($652; 507 euros) a month.

With five people under one roof, their apartment started to feel a little cramped. There was also a growing problem: There were no good kindergartens or elementary schools in the community. They could send their child to a private school, but tuition fees and peer pressure worried them.

Han frets that perhaps his child would be ashamed that he drove a Buick while the other children were being chauffeured home in Porsches or BMWs.

Some of his neighbors sold their 100-square-meter houses to buy a 40-square-meter apartment downtown so they had access to better schools.

Many took even more drastic measures. Qian says at least five of her colleagues had left Beijing in the last two years because they cannot afford a house in the city.

"The obsession of owning your own house is overwhelming," she says. "If someone is over 30 and still lives in a rental house, he is just labeled as a failure."

She says there are even some who fake a divorce so they can buy a second house, referring to the strict regulations that now govern the purchase and ownership of a second property that Beijing and some other major cities have imposed to cool the real estate market.

Policy dictates that residents without a Beijing hukou cannot buy more than one apartment.

Although their current accommodation is getting crowded, Han and Qian are postponing plans to buy a bigger house.

Like most people their age in China, they are the only children in their respective families. They need to take care of four elderly parents with increasingly fragile health - at least until the country's health and social welfare systems can ensure that every old person can be well looked after.

They also need to save for their child.

Even milk is a heavy expenditure. They currently feed their baby an imported milk powder from Germany, and the price of the brand has been swinging upward as demand increases in tandem with falling confidence in domestic dairy products after safety-issue scandals.

Han's father had suggested taking the child back to Xuzhou, their hometown, arguing that the grandparents can look after the baby better, and that the cost of living would be lower. The grandfather also thinks that the chances of finding a good school will be better.

Han finds that decision too hard to make.

"It is much easier to measure how much money the Chinese middle class earn than how happy they are," says Zhou Xiaozheng, sociology professor at Renmin University.

"Fancy as their jobs, cars or houses may be, the pressures are enormous. They do not enjoy the benefits of the upper class, and they share the same worries of the lower classes including food safety for their children, education and pressure to succeed."

Bei Bei is single, has a Beijing hukou, three houses and fits exactly into Qian's definition of being "middle class", but the 35-year-old has her own angst.

Born and raised in Beijing, the owner of a technology company lives in a 190-square-meter house in central Beijing, and has two more she rents out. She has two cars: a Land Rover and a BMW.

Her definition of being middle-class goes beyond material possessions.

"In my opinion, being middle class means having quality life and good taste for beauty and art," she says.

Bei tries to live up to this standard by going to the gym four times a week, collecting art and traveling abroad at least three times a year. Unfortunately, she finds some basic elements of life such as clean air, water and safe food beyond her.

To compensate, she buys organic food, imported milk and bottled water, and has two Swedish-made air purifiers working in her house, and that of her parents.

Bei got divorced two years ago. Being single again at 35 does not bother her, although being misunderstood by her friends does.

"I think I am leading a pretty cool life, but they think I am just putting on a brave face." The issue is finding the right partner.

"Men my age who are equally sound financially tend to choose younger women," she says. "I must say people today are living a more improved life, and they are much more open to life choices than in my parents' era. But, some fundamental changes need time."

She illustrates her point by citing her traveling experiences.

In her three trips abroad every year, she always travels business class, but not all her boyfriends have taken to that very well.

"Oddly enough, I cannot pay for them, because that will bruise their egos even more," she laughs.

Han and his wife and Bei all agree on one thing though, and that is China's middle class needs to be more committed to society and community.

Han uses Weibo to post his opinions on inflation and air pollution, and Bei practices a strict moral bottom line in doing business.

"I will not deceive my clients with lame products, even if some people may be earning more money by doing so," she says.

Professor Zhou of Renmin University expects even more from the Chinese middle class, estimated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to make up about 40 percent of China's population by 2020.

"The Chinese middle class struggles between tradition and rapid social changes," he says.

"They yearn for a better sense of stability and security when growing their wealth. I believe that with their education and insight they will play a significant role, and their voices on social causes will get louder as they grow more and more numerous."

liuw@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/24/2013 page18)