Beneath the changes in people's material lives, however, are other changes, which might be more important.

Chinese sociologists have been trying to pinpoint these nuances, which range from family welfare to people's attitudes to marriage, and from women's status in society to gender differences.

They have discovered that, parallel to the improvement in living standards, Chinese people have also changed many of their traditional lifestyles and ideas.

Researchers have raised the alarm concerning some of the changes, especially those representing a resurrection of old feudal values. They pointed out that a return to old concepts will not help the country towards further economic development and social progress.

Gender awareness

In terms of attitudes towards gender and marriage, Chinese people are becoming more and more open-minded.

Last year, the Horizon Market Research Co interviewed 2,719 residents aged between 18 and 60 in six major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

The survey found that Chinese people now have a more in depth understanding about sex.

Many Chinese no longer treat the subject of sex as taboo. More than 80 per cent of those surveyed agreed that sex should be enjoyed, instead of being regarded as an obligation.

The proportion rose to 95 per cent among people with a university diploma.

People's attitudes towards marriage have also changed dramatically.

They are getting more tolerant of premarital sex and to people living together before getting married, which was regarded a dozen years ago as decadent and immoral.

As many as 80 per cent of those surveyed said it was natural for unmarried people to live together and said they believed that more people would choose to do so.

With an ever-decreasing birth rate, families are getting smaller. The axis of the modern family has shifted.

Relations between couples have become the primary bond in the family.

The quality of marriage and family cohesion are weighing more in people's appraisals of living standards.

Rural versus urban

Due to different educational backgrounds and social environments, urban residents and rural people have many different ideas.

In her survey, Xu Anqi, a research fellow with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, found that the gap between Shanghai's urban areas and its rural suburbs was quite slight in terms of basic living standards, such as income and living space.

In some respects, people in the rural suburbs even had an advantage over their urban counterparts.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the per capita living space on the suburbs of Shanghai was 54.7 square metres, 4.5 times that in urban areas.

However, in terms of lifestyle, things are quite different.

People in the rural suburbs tended to spend more time on housework and sleeping, while those in urban areas used more time to study.

Rural families own much fewer household appliances than urban families. This is regarded as one reason why rural families spent more time on housework.

People in both areas defined "a successful life" as having children, a family, a good income and good health.

However, rural people tended to pay more attention to children's health and development.

Most urban residents said they believed that self-fulfilment is the most important thing in their lives.

Income gap

People's earnings have also captured the attention of sociologists, since income is an important index in evaluating the quality of life.

Xu Anqi found that the income levels of Shanghainese were becoming more polarized.

According to the survey, the per capita income in 2001 was 12,982 yuan (US$1,568), up 10,479 yuan (US$1,266) from the figure for 10 years earlier.

The income gap between the richest and the poorest families is huge and the figure is still enlarging.

According to the survey, the professions with the highest salaries were in the brokerage, finance and insurance and consultancy sectors, while those working in agriculture, household services and catering had the lowest salaries.

Besides their career, people's income is also closely related to age, gender, educational background and marital status.

As many as 20 per cent of men aged between 40 and 50 in urban Shanghai are redundant or otherwise unemployed. For women of that age, the figure rises to 40 per cent.

Low-income families usually get benefits from the government but Xu found that the management of the social-welfare system needs further improvement.

For example, in some districts, a family with a fixed-line telephone is regarded as too prosperous to qualify for a subsidy. But families that have a mobile phone are allowed to get the benefit payments.

Xu said she was deeply impressed by the predicament of one laid-off woman. The woman installed an air-conditioner when her father was seriously ill. After her father died, she was told that she would only get a subsidy when she had removed and sold the air-conditioner, which is regarded as a luxury good.

"The system needs to be improved," said Xu.

Family roles

People's ideas about family roles are also changing.

Traditionally in China, it was generally accepted that husbands should work and earn money to support their family, and the duty of wives was to stay home and take care of the whole family.

In the decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, women saw their status greatly promoted as the late Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed that "women hold up half the sky."

Most Chinese women got a job while continuing to support their families.

Many people took it for granted that wives and husbands should share the housework. In some families, the husband did most of the housework, such as cooking and cleaning.

Xu's studies, however, found a reversion to previous concept of women's role in the home and in society.

As much as 25 per cent of surveyed women aged between 25 and 44 in urban Shanghai did not have a regular job in 2001.

The same survey revealed that 44 per cent of men said they believed that women should stay at home, up 9 percentage points over the 1990 figure. Some 37 per cent of women respondents expressed the same view, up from 30 per cent in 1990.

In most families, the wife is in charge of the housework. The proportion was 60 per cent in urban areas and 68 per cent in rural areas.

However, people are not satisfied with the return to the old traditions. The China Mainland Marketing Research Co found in its survey in Shanghai as well as in Beijing and Guangzhou that as many as 40 per cent of men aged between 20 and 45 said they were willing to give up their job and stay at home to do the housework.

Xu said the old tradition made men solely responsible for supporting their families but this imposed heavya burden on the men.

At the same time, women were robbed of many career opportunities.

"Traditionally, men are always described as strong, independent and rational, and women are regarded as weak, delicate and dependent. That is unfair to both men and women," said Xu.

(China Daily February 24, 2003)