Decades ago, there was no distinct middle class in the People's Republic of China. Any meaningful discussion of China's economy, politics, or society must take into account the rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle class. This book details the origins and characteristics of this dramatic change.

Based on interviews with entrepreneurs, professionals and regional party cadres' from a range of age groups, this book argues that Western class categories do not directly apply to China and that the Chinese new middle class is distinguished more by socio-cultural than by economic factors.

The formation and characteristics of a nation’s middle class are shaped by historical context and the developmental path that has been followed. However, can the same be said of the ethnic Chinese middle classes in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Macao? Given the divergent political and economic experiences under which the respective middle classes were created, established, shaped, and reshaped, can they still be characterized as a homogenous group of ‘Chinese middle classes’, or are they more unique within each country? Using systematic survey data analysis and case studies to examine and compare the emerging middle classes in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Urban China, this book explores whether the middle classes in these countries possess any uniquely ‘Chinese’ features, or if these are shared attributes that can be found in other non-Chinese middle classes in the Asia-Pacific region. It analyses the formation, profile, culture, lifestyles, mobility, and politics of the middle class groups in each country, and highlights the differences and similarities that emerge, and focuses in particular on increased mobility, financial resilience, class anxiety, and political interest and effectiveness. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in Asian middle classes, Chinese studies, Chinese societies, Chinese ethnicity and Chinese politics.

This key new book gathers together the latest research results from renowned Chinese scholars who have comprehensively examined the formation of China's middle class. The coverage takes in key background issues, socioeconomic status and sociopolitical functions, the definition, values, social attitudes, income and consumption characteristics of China's rapidly expanding middle class.

This book analyses the making of the Chinese middle class that started in the 1990s using a constructivist approach. With the development of the Chinese economy, a new group of middle wage earners appeared. Chinese social scientists and state institutions promoted the idea that China needs a middle class to achieve modernization. Middle class members are defined—and define themselves—as good consumers, educated people, politically engaged but reasonable citizens. As such, the making of the middle class is the result of three convergent phenomena: an attempt to define the middle class, a process of civilization, and the development of protest movements. The making of the Chinese middle class, Rocca argues, is a way to end the stalemate that modern Chinese society is facing, in particular the necessity to democratize without introducing an election system.

(2nd Edition: July 6, 2012) In The Chinese Dream, a groundbreaking book about the rising middle class in China, Forbes columnist and China expert Helen Wang challenges us to recognize that some of our fears about China are grossly misplaced. As a result of China's new capitalist paradigm, a burgeoning middle class-calculated to reach 800 million within the next fifteen years-is jumping aboard the consumerism train and riding it for all it's worth-a reality that may provide the answer to America's economic woes. And with China's increasing urbanization and top-down governmental approach, it now faces increasing energy, environmental, and health problems-problems that the U.S. can help solve. Through timely interviews, personal stories, and a historical perspective, China-born Wang takes us into the world of the Chinese entrepreneurial middle class to show how a growing global mindset and the realization of unity in diversity may ultimately provide the way to creating a saner, safer world for all.

Since the late 1970s, China’s move towards neoliberalism has made it not only one of the world’s fastest growing economies, but also one of the most polarised states. This economic, social and political transformation has led to the emergence of a new Chinese middle class, and understanding the development and the role of this new social group is crucial to understanding contemporary Chinese society. Investigating the new politics of the middle class in China, this book addresses three major questions. First, how does the Chinese state deal with problems of national sovereignty and political representation to create the middle class both as a legitimate category of the people and as an ideal norm of citizenship? Second, how does the recognition of the middle class norm take place in the practice of everyday life? Finally, what kind of risks does the politics of the middle class generate not only for middle class subjects but also for the disenfranchised? In answering these questions, this book examines a set of practices, bodies of knowledge, measures, and institutions that aim to manage, govern, control, and orient the behaviours, gestures, and thoughts of Chinese citizens. This investigation contributes not only to the understanding of the Chinese middle class society but also to the scholarly debate over the relationship between governmental apparatuses, subjectification, and life-building. Drawing on ethnographic information, historical archives, and the media, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars working in the fields of Chinese studies, Chinese politics, ethnic studies and urban studies, as well as those interested in culture, society, class and welfare.