After a decade of hard work, Wang Wei has become a mid-level manager of a large enterprise, a home owner and a car owner. He and his wife have a monthly income of over 7,000 RMB. In his city of Wuhu, he is considered to be in the upper income bracket.

However, when faced with the seemingly obvious question, “are you happy?” Wang Wei has mixed feelings. Every day, he carries the burden of 20 years of mortgage payments, increasingly losing touch with relatives and friends, never seeing a clear blue sky and an unpredictable future due to competitiveness in his field. These things weigh heavily on him and give him a great deal of anxiety and difficulty in appreciating “happiness.”

In Hefei, Anhui Province, a worker called Cai Qingbin shares similar feelings to Wang Wei. He has worked in various cities for many years and has a monthly income of over 2000 RMB, about 5 times as much as he could earn working in the fields in his hometown. Despite the comparatively high wage, Cai still struggles due to the rising cost of living, increased academic entrance requirements for his children and high healthcare costs. “The money I earn here is more than in my hometown, but life here is never easy,” Cai said.

Since 2005, China’s total GDP has surpassed France and Germany and for two consecutive quarters in 2010, the GDP surpassed Japan to become the second-largest economy after the U.S. In just a few short years, China has experienced unprecedented economic growth. However, while the growth in GDP shows a proud macroscopic view on the one hand, an underlying anxiety amongst the common people looms on the other.

The rising cost of housing and living, traffic congestion and widespread air and noise pollution has caused an outbreak of “urban sickness.” This has plagued more and more people; not only Wang Wei and Cai Qingbin, who have suddenly discovered that city life is not as satisfying as it seems.  

Meanwhile, in the wide rural areas of China, the wealth gap between urban and rural areas is ever-increasing, as is mental distress among farmers. Wu Weiquan, a farmer from a small town called Bolin in Shucheng County, Anhui Province, only earns 1000 RMB a month with his farming and jobs as a laborer. “I didn’t know we were the second largest economy; one year of pay here equals three or four months work in the city. The young people have all left to go earn money. Only old men and women are left here. If we get sick we can’t even find anyone to help,” Wu Weiquan says while squatting at his doorsill, smoking.

Bizarrely, China’s small cities and townships are nonetheless believed to have the highest “happiness index” in the country. Li Bangrong is another worker from Shucheng County who earns 2000 RMB per month with his town business. Although he makes less than his counterparts in the city, the housing prices are a great deal lower, the air is cleaner, commutes to work are shorter and his pace of life is generally slower.

Li Bangrong bought a car worth more than 60,000 RMB, allowing him to be anywhere in the town within 20 minutes. He drives to work, goes for outings on the weekends with his family and sends his children to school. “Life is very pleasant,” he says.

Sociologists point out that while China’s economy is experiencing high growth rates, social problems such as education, job security, social welfare, health insurance and cultural development also need to be improved. Facing this reality, the happiness of some ordinary people is low. Decision-makers must look at the rural-urban “dual economy”, industrial structure abnormalities, distribution and regional development as well as other structural problems and come up with feasible solutions.

Source: xinhuanet.com

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Keywords: china people happiness china happiness index china gdp growth