What Does it Take to Be Middle Class in China?

What Does it Take to Be Middle Class in China?
Jul 15, 2015 By eChinacities.com

Editor's Note: The term “middle class,” gets thrown around quite a bit when we talk about China's rapid economic development. This article translated from the Chinese media cites a specific survey by Ipsos that defines how much Chinese families need to earn to be considered middle class. The article also discusses the goals and priorities of China's middle class families.

In China, how much money do you need to be considered middle class? Netizens have said that those who make at least 10,000 Yuan a month after taxes can be called middle class. A recent report on salaries in North Asia (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) stated that middle class families in Mainland China earn an average of 45,202 Yuan (about 6,858 Dollars) per month. Middle class families in Mainland China make more than those considered middle class in both Taiwan and South Korea.

The higher a family's income, the more likely it is for them to consider themselves to be part of the middle class. China's middle class is marked by financial stability but a lack of security. Middle class Chinese with assets of less than 1.5 million Yuan do not consider themselves to be successful.

Who Is the Middle Class?

Until recently, data regarding China's middle class was murky at best. However, marketing and research firm Ipsos recently launched an investigation through which to better understand China's growing middle class. 2500 households were surveyed in four regions. 1000 households surveyed were from Mainland China.

In Mainland China, the average salary for a middle class household is 45,202 Yuan (as stated above). In Hong Kong, the average salary for a middle class family is 51,465 Yuan (8,437 Dollars) and in South Korea a middle class family earns 39, 204 Yuan (6,427 Dollars). In Taiwan a family only has to earn 27,956 Yuan (4,583 Dollars) per month to be considered middle class.

Middle Class Life

What is life like for Chinese middle class families? Data recorded by Ipsos shows that middle class families are generally “more confident,” and 85% are satisfied with their current lives. China's middle class is also very optimistic about the future- they generally expect their future lives to be better than their lives are now.

What do they expect to improve in the future? Middle class Chinese said that they expect their “assets,” “available funds,” and “family life,” to improve in the near future. However, many do not expect their “health,” “amount of leisure time,” and, “living environment,” to improve.

Measuring Success

Nearly 70% of middle class Chinese said that their primary goal is to maintain their health. 47% said that their goals included a “happy relationship or marriage,” and 40% mentioned the importance of “a successful career.”

Middle class Chinese have a very specific few of what designates success. Those surveyed said that “success” and “fortune,” relates closely to having assets worth at least 1.5 million Yuan. 71% surveyed said that they considered themselves to be successful.

Source:QQ News

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Keywords: middle class Chinese salaries middle class in China

22 Comments

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kuntmans

The western view on the financial crisis over there: "Even now many people fail to grasp the true meaning of the word “austerity”. Austerity is not eight years of spending cuts, as in the UK, or even the social catastrophe inflicted on Greece. It means driving the wages, social wages and living standards in the west down for decades until they meet those of the middle class in China and India on the way up".

Jul 19, 2015 21:44 Report Abuse

mike695ca

"Netizens" have said 10K= middle class. Thats not the official number. The article failed by not really showing what the window of middle class actually is. But if the average is 45K per family then its pretty safe to assume that any family within the 30 to 60K window is middle class. I think where some people have troubles with the numbers is that back home middle class is the majority. Where as here it could be less than 10%. This is why average salaries dont make any sense. Yup, some people are rich and some people are middle class but the 90% Making 3-5 a month drag the numbers down. People have different experiences here. When i was a teacher i Was around chinese People making teacher salaries and their families. This was my China. When i moved to sales i got to see the middle class. And i would agree with many that a house and car and occasional travel would be middle class. But its not that simple. I work in a factory now where.many of the employees on 3K a month have house and a car. Back in their village but it counts. They wouldnt associate themselves as middle class. From what i see around me for most of my time in China the numbers look legit. At least for me. All of my friends and family here manage to make something close to This number. They are by no means rich but no one around me is struggling. The China I identify with seems to match up pretty well with the article.

Jul 19, 2015 15:50 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

The fact that people tend to associate with people in their income bracket has nothing to do with what constitutes a middle class salary. So presumably you and most of your friends make 30-60k per month so that seems the norm... FOR YOU. The real problem is that middle class is a hard term to define. Many people in NYC or LA making the equivalent of a million rmb or more per year can justifiably consider themselves to be middle class whereas in a small American town that would be upper middle to rich. 45 might be middle class in Shanghai but would be damn nice in any tier 2 or 3. But how do you define middle class? Average income? Average net worth? Good health insurance and pension? Ability to afford a mid priced apartment and mid priced car? Membership in civil society? It's interesting that in the West most people identify themselves as middle class even when their incomes and lifestyles vary greatly. Maybe it's the inherent insecurity of a lot of Chinese that makes lots of people with houses and cars and good incomes feel less than middle class.

Jul 20, 2015 00:03 Report Abuse

mike695ca

The fact that people tend to associate with people in their income bracket has nothing to do with what constitutes a middle class salary." - agreed, i think i screwed this up. I was refering to the posts saying that the numbers cant be right because the average of their city was like 3k a month. I was trying to explain that average wage and middle class are not connected at all. The message got lost. My bad. As for how to define middle class, I am not sure you can take the ideas from other countries. With no social benifits in China all things like retirement and healthcare and workers Comp and employment insurance. This all requires cash. Alot of it. I think we are all looking at that 45K thinking " hell, thats a lot! If I had that much i wouldnt be middle class, id be rich!" But there is alot more that goes into it.

Jul 20, 2015 10:47 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

Agreed that average income doesn't mean middle class, certainly not in China where average workers are poor. I've heard foreigners who make 10k in a small city refer to themselves as upper middle class despite having no real health insurance, pension, assets or substantial savings- the thinking being that they earn more than 80 pct of the locals. That kind of thinking is delusional. Those people are lower middle class to poor on my scale, not that it matters if they're content doing their thing.

Jul 20, 2015 21:18 Report Abuse

nzteacher80

Xi Jin Ping only earns 19,000 USD a year. That works out to 10,000 RMB a month. Maybe one day Xi Jin Ping can become middle class? He only needs to double his income. Some articles on Echinacities are utter, utter, utter bollocks. It dosn't take a rocket scientist to work out that these statistics are nonsense. Xi Jin Ping - not quite middle class. Let's start a collection for him.

Jul 19, 2015 00:19 Report Abuse

SaifMalik

In England you can be part of the middle class for A LOT less. In China is 45,000? Who the hell in China earns 45,000 RMB a month? Especially where I live, the average salary is 3,000 RMB

Jul 17, 2015 15:24 Report Abuse

hi2u

"middle class families in Mainland China earn an average of 45,202 Yuan (about 6,858 Dollars) per month" Yet the average monthly salary per month in first tier cities is 5-7k, and is lower outside those cities. Bs statistics.

Jul 15, 2015 17:21 Report Abuse

Robk

Yup, your findings match my own listed above.

Jul 15, 2015 19:32 Report Abuse

dom87

shanghais average was slightly above 7000 RMB this year - considering the big gap in salaries that still probably mean that >90% of the Chinese are below middle class

Jul 16, 2015 09:13 Report Abuse

dom87

I don't understand this. 45000 RMB? I don't know anyone in my company and old companies who come close to this number (1 person must earn 22500 RMB), also this number I cannot find anywhere near in all the companies I worked in. So where is the middle class? 45000 RMB Net Income is already quite a very good life in europe

Jul 15, 2015 08:56 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

Interesting how it used the term "salary" of 45,000 RMB rather than "income" of 45,000 RMB. Almost no salaried employees in China make anything close to that. Business owners or investors however could have incomes exceeding that figure but do not receive a salary.

Jul 15, 2015 12:33 Report Abuse

Robk

Yeah, this article is full of crap. In my city, the average Chinese earner makes about 1500-3000 per month. Let's say the mother and the father are both working so that is like 3000-6000 RMB per month. Which is about 36 000 - 72 000 per year. That sounds more like the average middle class family around China. In Shanghai or other expensive cities the salaries will double, but the cost of living is much higher. There is no way the average middle class family makes 45 000 RMB per month. Not happening. Here's my stats (again double or triple it for 1st Tier cities): Below 500 - Poverty 500 - 1000 - Lower Class 1000 - 1500 - Lower Middle 1500 - 3000 - Middle > 3000 - Upper Middle > 10 000 - Upper > 25 000 - You are in the 3% of top earners in China

Jul 15, 2015 19:30 Report Abuse

dom87

so my wife makes around 7000 in Shanghai and her managers etc. make maybe at most 15000, which is already quite good I would say. Combine this with 2 people, we are just at 30000 RMB GROSS (not net) Regarding the other article I am in the high paid foreigner bracket who can apply for a green card - according to this article I am just slightly above middle class lol

Jul 16, 2015 09:11 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

So 10k makes you middle class but the average middle class family makes 45k? I'm confused, 45k is a lot better than middle class except maybe in Shanghai and 10k is not near middle class in a big city. It seems the data was self-reported and therefore probably should be taken with a grain of salt. And I think most Chinese would define middle class as having a house and car that mommy bought rather than having a certain income.

Jul 15, 2015 08:29 Report Abuse

Guest2301262

Breathe polluted air, walk filthy roads, live a filthy culture of fake face, greed, lust, selfishness, deceit, brag, swim in urine filled swimming pools, consume gutter oil, buy fake brandname products, building guanxi with fake faces and insincere gifts,......which class doesn't do that in prc? Whatever amount these people earn, no class is no class, because money can't buy class. Whatever lies they use to fool themselves, lies are lies.

Jul 15, 2015 06:10 Report Abuse

Guest2781358

In my limited experience, elsewhere it takes three generations for a family to get to "middle class", the grandparents are subsistence farmers, the kids where lower wage workers that rose up through effort and the kids are college educated. Here, in some cities it goes from villager who sells his land to developers directly to guys with thick gold chains and girls with more prada than sense.

Jul 15, 2015 04:22 Report Abuse

DaphneNJ

Middle class, but you can't drink the tap water? You don't have a solid pension? Your retirement plan is your child? If you have a health emergency, you better cough up some cash money before a doctor will look at you? A large part of your "assets" is an uncomfortable apartment which may soon decline in value? Your leisure time is spent cultivating guanxi, chasing more money, eating, KTV and shopping? You rarely spend time with your kids because the grandparents look after them while you strive for more money and face? That's not my idea of middle class.

Jul 15, 2015 03:22 Report Abuse

coineineagh

as demonstrated by this report, the middle class is defined by income only. no talk about family values, community engagement, intellectual development, maintenance of cultural traditions, being the hearth of creativity, private enterprise,development of the services sector… Nope, those were the boring footnotes in the dictionary. English is hard to read. Skip to the numbers part. There you go: the Chinese middle class. not scientists, business owners, technicians, professors, doctors or craftsmen. nope, China is proud of its corrupt minor officials, relatives of princelings, sweatshop taskmasters and chenguang cronies. middle class meand middle income to those without class.

Jul 15, 2015 02:52 Report Abuse

danielwkoh

A bit of a stereotype here, don't you think? "Class," as it's referred to in this article, typically symbolizes financial standing within society. If I were to say you came from a middle class family in the United States, I doubt anyone would infer that to mean you to have or lack any sort of moral values. Plenty of "middle class" college kids here in the US lack the kind of "class" you're accusing ALL Chinese of lacking. In any case, racial generalizations really suck. Disclaimer: Of course, I agree your comments apply to some, even many, Chinese families. However, I would say the same about individuals in western countries. Cheers.

Jul 15, 2015 09:48 Report Abuse

coineineagh

In common speech, when people speak of middle class, it often refers to middle income households. That much is true, and the article is not wrong to use this simplification. However, expats are exposed first-hand to the total lack of sophistication, entrepreneurship, education, social/cultural life or progressive thinking in China. In this context, it's perfectly acceptable for us to poke fun at an article describing the Middle Kingdom's "middle class". Your views are correct, but I disagree that I was generalizing, discriminating or stereotyping.

Jul 15, 2015 21:52 Report Abuse

Guest14191364

Unfortunaely You cant buy CLASS....something chinese people lack

Jul 15, 2015 01:39 Report Abuse