Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Reflections on a changing China

Arthur C. Wheaton, Director, Western NY Labor & Environmental Programs and Faculty of Industrial Relations at Cornell University’s School of Industrial & Labour Relations, after spending more than two weeks in cities across China, writes on the country’s evolving economic and social environment

In June, I boarded an Air Canada flight from Toronto (Canada) to Beijing International Airport with my Chinese-born wife and our nine year-old daughter. Designed to help teach our daughter about Chinese culture and to improve her Mandarin language skills, the trip was our first to mainland China in eight years.

We were fortunate to be able to visit some of the same families and places that were part of our first trip. The contrast between then and now in lifestyle and other trends was astonishing. On both trips, I filtered much of what I saw through my lens as an automotive industry specialist for Cornell University’s ILR School. Cars are a reflection of what has shifted in many elements of Chinese life and I will report here on some of the changes.

First, it is impossible to summarise China’s economic and social conditions. With more than 1.3 billion people living in China, there are too many perspectives to consider for a short answer. Statistics and data on China’s economy are available from sources. What is unclear is how accurately those numbers reflect the reality of the people living there. The statistics and economic data tend to focus only on the highly developed regions of China and might not apply to all of China.

According to Helen Wang, author of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class..., there are more than 300 million Chinese who are considered middle class. That is nearly the population of the entire United States. The middle class has a growing discretionary income and a growing force in the Chinese economy. A lot of Chinese, especially young women consumers, are smitten with luxury brands. They associate Western luxury brands with quality of life and sophistication. They want restaurant meals, health club memberships and travel. They want to see the world. The restaurant business and malls are therefore doing very well in the country.

I can confirm from my own experiences that the love of quality and luxury goods described by Helen Wang is accurate. Thanks to insights from friends on this trip, I hope to provide to B&E’s readers a few glimpses of the economic and social conditions of China today. Our friends either live or work in Beijing, Xi’an, Shenyang, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Lanzhou or Zhengzhou. Their are into banking, retail, stock trading, financial management, teaching or are military officers and government officials in China.

The changes in the economic and social statuses of the families in the eight years since my first visit are marked. All the families could be described as middle class to upper middle class. When I met these families in 2004, only one owned a car. The rest relied on public transportation, bicycles, taxis and friends. Today, all of them do.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,