China's middle class: We're being picked like leeks by the government

CNN ^ | Updated 9:17 PM ET, Sat November 3, 2018 | Serenitie Wang

[Zhang Fei]

Beijing, CNN (CNN)Spike Wang, a 29-year-old financial professional based in Shanghai, is struggling to live the Chinese dream.

Wang is one of millions of Chinese middle-class men and women who grew up in a roaring economy. Now, amid soaring rents and a plunging stock market, they are finding daily life increasingly difficult.

The past year has been especially tough.

Like many middle-class investors, Wang dumped most of his shares in Chinese stocks after his portfolio suffered a 40% loss in just two years.

Unable to afford a 37% rent increase, he left his old apartment in Beijing this year and moved to a cheaper apartment in Shanghai. But he still found the cost of living in China hard to handle.

"I can clearly feel that groceries are more expensive, especially in the second half of the year," he said.

The problem of economic distress among Chinese citizens is so common that there is a buzzword on China's cybersphere for people like Wang -- "jiucai" or leeks.

"I'm a typical leek that is picked in the stock market, rental market and as a consumer," said Wang.

Middle-class Chinese consumers call themselves "leeks," the popular green vegetable used in a Chinese cuisine, to express their fears about the economy or financial issues online.

It's a self-deprecating term implying they are being played for suckers, just faceless vegetables harvested by big companies and the government, especially amid the escalating US-China trade war and slowing economy.

Tongue-in-cheek reactions such as "the government is going to harvest the leeks again" or "we're being picked like leeks" are common among members of the middle class.

The forgotten people

China's middle class has rapidly expanded over recent decades amid an enormous economic boom which showered the country's citizens with unprecedented wealth.

[Jeff Chandler]

China's middle class has rapidly expanded over recent decades amid an enormous economic boom which showered the country's citizens with unprecedented wealth.

During which time WE were THEIR leeks.

[Vince Ferrer]

Chinese real estate is way, way, way overpriced. For many cities it needs to come down 50% or more to even begin to be reasonable.

[cherry]

its telling on how the middle/working classes get the shaft every time, in every country..

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Zhang Fei.

[VeniVidiVici]

Seems the Chinese are a suffering more through this trade war. As it should be

[frank ballenger]

Our American “leeks” are spelled with an “a” and when tracked expose traitors like Comey and Feinstein leaking to the media colluders.

Best I can come up with being exhausted by election eve stress.

Actually I hope the dissenters get a trend going in that country, against the odds. I worked for a few months with a staunchly Christian college student from China whose family is under constant scrutiny. She is a nurse and working on another degree in specialty lab research. She got married here and is working on citizenship. I met her parents on a visit and they are good people. I hope they can move here safely.

[Caipirabob]

It's worse than generally know - "Why is everything in China FALLING APART?!?" Youtube link (safe)

[Moonman62]

its telling on how the middle/working classes get the shaft every time, in every country..

...

Crooked politicians hate the middle class. The upper class showers politicians with money and doesn’t care about their corruption. The lower class sells their votes to them and doesn’t care about their corruption.

[jmacusa]

How the hell does a supposedly Communist country have a stock market?

[Zhang Fei]

[How the hell does a supposedly Communist country have a stock market?]

---

It’s the old imperial system dressed up in Marxist cliches. Revere the emperor is rephrased as revere Marx. Think of the Party as the hereditary aristocrats of yore, with occasional infusions of new blood just like in the old days, to co-opt up and coming men of ambition. Xi is already dictator-for-life. When he appoints his daughter, son-in-law or nephew the next leader, he’ll have established dynastic rule in all but name.

[Seaplaner]

I would be interested to know, as I do not.

Do people in china own property? Or, do they all just rent?

[libertylover]

OK CNN, go 1000 miles from Beijing and show us what the towns look like. Chicken!

[the_daug]

Marx knew they needed Capitalist they just wanted to control

[Retvet]

If you want this to happen to the USA vote Demonrat!

[null and void]

Do people in china own property?

Do we?

Try not paying property tax ands see who has the ultimate right to it.

[Zhang Fei]

[I would be interested to know, as I do not.

Do people in china own property? Or, do they all just rent?]

---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_property_law#Deng_Xiaoping’s_rule

[vannrox]

What a load of crock.

It’s CNN. Why am I not surprised?

Trust me, this CNN narrative does not come from the person on the street. It comes direct from a memo crafted by a rich multi-national oligarch.

[vannrox]

China is not what you think. The Chinese own their property. They have a very active stock market, and they buy and sell futures just like in NYC. If all you read about is doom and gloom, you might get the impression that China is the cardboard cutout that the media has made it out as.

I wrote a personal post about this phenomenon. You can read about it at Freedom and Liberty in China and also at ...

The Top Ten Misconceptions Americans have about China.

Essentially, I make the argument that the American media has created this fake narrative designed to manipulate Americans to [1] have wars, [2] Pay more taxes, and [3] Live in fear. It need not be that way. When I came to China, I was very surprised at how different everything was from what I expected. I wrote many posts on this subject. These two, I think will help answer your questions.

[Mariner]

They are headed for catastrophic debt deflation.

They are about to come unwound.