The middle class in China (referring to people whose annual
income is between 7,500 – 25,000 US dollars) might expand quickly
from 35 million in 2006 to 100 million ten years from now,
according to a recent report jointly released by HSBC and Fudan
University, the China Business News reported.
The fast expansion of the middle class is boosted by the rapid
growing economy, which has continued in China for nearly 30 years
since the reform and opening-up, the stable social environment and
the climbing figure of their incomes.
In the survey, it is found that middle class women, generally
with a good educational background, have gained professional work
experience, their consumption desire is the strongest. They don't
care about prices, rather they attach more importance to product
quality. They dine at a good restaurant at least three times in a
week and 85% of them have the temptation to buy luxury goods. Over
half of the women in this group plan to buy a house within two
years and many already start to travel abroad.
At the same time, the financial institutions are surprised to
find that in China, the middle class people generally do not trust
financial consultants and fund managers in managing their money
assets. At present, most middle class people still prefer to use
their money to buy houses or simply save it in banks.
In light of this, many large foreign financial institutions,
including Citibank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank, have started
to devote more efforts to private bank services. They send their
mainland staff workers to go to Hong Kong to receive training and
hope that once they come back, these people can help open the
market in private bank services in the mainland.
At present, the middle class in China can contribute little to
the Chinese economy. What they can do most is to lead the
consumption mode in the country. It might take at least three to
five years before they can expand into a relatively large group in
society and it might take another twenty years before they can
finally become the main consumption group in society, said Lu
Xiongwen, a professor at the School of Administration at the
Shanghai-based Fudan University.
(Chinanews, December 7, 2007)