http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/04/21/gallup-chinese-people-see-themselves-struggling/ APRIL 21, 2011, 6:58 PM HKT Gallup: Chinese People See Themselves Struggling With a roaring economy, gleaming new infrastructure and a rising profile on the world stage, one might assume China’s people are feeling pretty good about their lives these days. Qilai Shen/European Pressphoto Agency Commuters in a metro station in Shanghai…why so glum? Not so, according to a new polling data from Gallup. In results that seem to contradict a similar poll by the Pew Research Center, Gallup’s 2010 global wellbeing survey, issued this week, found only 12% of Chinese people thought of themselves as what Gallup calls “thriving,” while a whopping 71% said they were struggling and 17% said they were downright suffering. Meanwhile, only 38% of people in the U.S. said they were struggling and a full 59% judged themselves to be thriving, according to Gallup. Even given China’s struggles with runaway housing prices and rising food costs, it’s puzzling that nearly three quarters of Chinese people see themselves as struggling, particularly when the majority of people in the U.S., which spent all of last year flirting with double-digit unemployment, feel just fine. The Gallup results are also surprising because they clash with Pew Research’s Global Attitudes survey, which finds Chinese people feeling significantly more optimistic about their lives. Both the Pew and the Gallup polls measure life satisfaction by asking survey respondents to rank their lives on the Cantril Scale, or what Pew calls the “Ladder of Life”–a measure of present and future life quality ranging from zero to 10, with 10 representing the best possible life. In the Pew poll, 31% of Chinese people gave their present lives high marks (seven to 10) and 74% said they expected to live highly satisfying lives in the future. (Gallup combines present and future life ratings, with “thriving” roughly equivalent to a “high” score in Pew’s survey.) It’s not entirely clear why the polls offer such different pictures of China. Pew surveyed more than three times as many Chinese people as Gallup, so sample size could be a factor. Scope might also come into play, with Pew talking disproportionately to urban residents, who are generally wealthier than people in the countryside. Interestingly, according to the Gallup study, China is not the only fast-growing economy with a pessimistic population: Only 17% of Indians and 16% of Vietnamese people placed themselves in the upper echelons of life satisfaction–both below the global median of 21%. Indeed, people in Asia as a whole scored slightly below the global thriving median, while residents of both Europe (25%) and the Americas (42%) scored well above it. Accounting for the regional optimism gap may be as simple as looking at per capita GDP. In an analysis of Gallup’s 2006 global well being survey, Princeton economist Angus Deaton discovered an almost direct correlation between life satisfaction and GDP per head–people in wealthier countries were generally happier–while finding that economic growth actually had a negative effect on people’s sense of their own well-being (PDF). Other economists have tried to account for economic growth’s negative relationship with life satisfaction–known as the Easterlin Paradox–by theorizing that a person’s sense of well being is determined by relative, rather than absolute, income. The idea is controversial in economic circles, but it might shed light on low levels of optimism in China, where a growing wealth gap has stoked increasing social tension. While Gallup doesn’t touch on the subject, culture offers another explanation for Chinese pessimism. Unlike the U.S., driven since at least the 19th century by the sunny notion of Manifest Destiny, China, with its long history of boom and bust, has tended to value humility and a relatively strict management of expectations. Evidence of this attitude is visible in the Communist Party’s insistence, even as it presides over a record-breaking pursuit of prosperity, that its end goal is the establishment of a “moderately well-off society” (小康社会). Struggling, in other words, may be the adjective Chinese people prefer. – Josh Chin. Follow him on Twitter @joshchin
This poll doesn't surprise me at all. There is still a lot of poverty in the PRC and the success is very unevenly distributed. If you travel to inland and rural China there are still millions of people living like they were a century before. When you compare that with the gleaming skyscrapers of Shanghai and the nouveau rich there it shouldn't be surprising that those people feel like they are struggling. Even on the streets of Shanghai there are many people struggling. For instance at most tourist sites there are many street vendors who have come from inland and even Western provinces who have come, often illegally, to scrape out a living selling tacky goods. Finally if you consider that the PRC's growth has been relatively recent compared to the US and Western Europe many Chinese still harbor some uncertainty about their long term success and even feel inferior in some ways to the West. You can see it even here on Clutchfans D & D where many pro-PRC posters will defend the PRC by arguing that the PRC is still a developing country.
maybe the difference in polls offers more a view into their opinions on life. maybe they think life is good because they have basic needs but probably don't consider that thriving.
Income disparity is obviously still huge, considering how large the population is. Also why is it always the same people who start these "foreign" threads
But it still is a developing country in many ways. I think comparing yourself to the relative wealth of your neighbors is a strong indication of happiness/satisfaction. China's command economy is totally unbalanced with them favoring exports and their nationalized companies. I'm not too sure how much "happiness" would be felt if they let their currency appreciate, but their people would definitely know the difference.
Why do people keep gauging the well-being of the majority in a country using national "averages"? So naive...
All this means is that they have SERIOUSLY EMBRACED CAPITALISM Capitalism thrives in a situation of non satisfaction. Look at our culture/country. How much of what we buy is basically about not being satisfied with what we have? Capitalism is driven by creating a NEED more so than satisfying a need nowadays. We buy water because we not satisfied with water out of tap, for goodness sakes. China. . .welcome to the manipulation of your sense of Satisfaction in order to line the pockets of your corporate masters. . . come on in . .we been waiting on you! Rocket River
FT China has many Chinese comments on this poll. I noticed several main attributions by the Chinese posters: rising price, unfair wealth distribution, gov't corruption and lack of rule of law. This is in stark contrast to the rosy picture CCP has been trying hard to paint. Popular sentiments like this could trigger positive political reform or even stronger control measures to sustain current political structure. I am afraid the latter might be the trend, at least in short term.
You raise an interesting point. Many industries such as fashion, sports, all entertainment, toys, games, etc. have only subjective value at best. Even the poor people in South Central LA had cable tv, internet, cell phones, fashionable clothes, etc. ( I use to live there ). I would think that human nature and freedom are more to blame though.
Even unemployed US workers make more money than than the average chinese worker. Unemployment wages >> Chinese average salary What's so hard to understand that their standard of living sucks compared to living in the USA in a recession? We would be suffering also, if we had to live on less than $200 on a 40 hr work week.
You have to factor in cost of living too. Its cheaper to run an average household in china than in the US.
Cost of living matters but the average wage in China is less than the average wage in Mexico. I think a main reason they say they're struggling is that a lot of them are struggling. All the hype about the overall Chinese GDP passing other far smaller industrialized countries drowns out the fact that social mobility for the average Chinese person is still a large issue.
Yeah, the cost of living is cheaper, but the standard of living is still lower. I visited relatives in Vietnam, which has a similiar standard of living. Most people don't even have AC. Even when you get out of the sweat shop, you are sweating at home. There is no welfare or unemployment. If you are starving, you are malnourished and your growth is stunted. While the other people that have enough food are growing taller. In America, if you are poor and out of work, you are fat due to bad nutrition and overeating. In China, if you are poor, you are starving, skinny, and stunted due to malnutrition.
There is no blame . . .really in capitalism It is simply like a machine. Meet a need. . . . if there is no need. . . create one If you cannot create one .. . simply create the appearence of a need Capitalism now is more about creating a PERCEIVED need. This is why you have 98 lb girls on diet pills This is why you have kids killing for Jordans This is why you have people working 2 jobs for a lexus The perceive they need it . . . It is . . in a sense an exploitation of the human frailty. It is not good or bad . .. it is capitalism Rocket River
The key is skyrocketing condo price. In Beijing and Shanghai, It is >40 times of a college graduate's salary.
^^ This is about Hong Kong, but my dad was looking around real estate prices, and there's a building that's still under construction with units at 1600 and 2000 sq ft, going for 4 million USD, and that's some of the cheapest. The top floor ones (40th and above) go for 7 mil, and there are 2 floors of duplex with a private swimming pool, the prices aren't released yet, but my dad reckons they are going for nearly 20 million USD (3300 sq ft). So yeah, land is pretty expensive in HK right now.
In this day and age, if I someone approach me and ask how I am doing, I would reply I am struggling. Why ? If I say I am doing superb and got loads of money, that would invite loads of people coming at me and ask to lend them money which I know they are going to pay me back with rocks and walnut shells. I am amazed that someone would write this story and try to analyze it, Pretty stupid if you ask me. Azadre, I guess you have too much time on your hand waiting for your doctor's appointment by starting this thread, Is that right ? Here is an idea that might save you some time. You don't need to go to your doctor's office. You just need to send him a pair of your underwear, your doctor would have gotten everything he needs to do the exam.
How people forget where they were just a couple decades ago. They should ask the question, was this generation better than the previous generation.
Ask the average American 10-15 years ago how they were doing, do you think the answer would mimic the actual status of the country? I don't know about all of you, but when America was booming, I was still finding ways to pay the bills. I wouldn't say struggling, but I don't think my answer would reveal the financial health of the country. Disproportion of wealth, of course, is part of this. Values handed down from previous generations who had tougher times is also a big factor. As RR pointed out, most people will think they could always be doing better, especially in an economy and market where we/they are all TOLD that, all the time... not in an insulting way, but in a "You deserve this" way. When the economy is doing well, that message to them will increase, capitalism or not. In other words, not at all shocking, and really not that interesting. Nothing to see here. Move along.
I think that for anybody to truly prosper, you need rights that confirm your fundamental status as a human being who deserves respect and dignity, and I'm not quite sure China has that yet.
