Li Zhang 2010: In Search of Paradise: Middle-Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis

摘要

It's no longer news that China's embrace of the market economy has propelled the country from austere poverty and egalitarianism - we still remember the iconic blue-gray tunics worn by nearly everyone during the Maoist period - to the colorful street life of today's cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, with their gleaming office towers, luxury emporiums and winding columns of private cars clogging the arteries. After 30 years of (still ongoing) reforms, China is rushing to 'catch up'. With nearly 1.4 billion people - a fifth of humankind - the country registers a solid mid-level per capita income of US $8,900 adjusted for purchasing parity, and ranks at 89 out of 169 comparable countries in the UN's Human Development Index (for comparison, India with an HDI rank of 119 comes in far below China).