In China, what is considered middle class?

Over the past few years, the debate has never stopped.

The Economist once wrote that an individual with an annual income of more than 60,000 yuan can be called China's emerging middle class.

"Forbes" magazine estimates that the number of China's middle class has exceeded 200 million.

In response to this, netizens across the country have been hotly discussing. Some time ago, some people said that in Beijing, the total real estate deposits do not exceed 100 million, and they are not considered middle class.

Recently, some media claimed that if you can't just buy any house you want, you will not be considered a truly financially free middle class.

This is undoubtedly an exaggeration.

It’s hard to say that the editors who set such standards don’t have a sour grapes mentality – since I can’t become middle class, then I should simply raise the threshold so that 90% of the people in the country cannot become middle class!

But it also shows that with regard to the definition of the middle class, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the public has very different opinions.

As of September 2017, "middle class" seems to have become a curse word - no one dares to call themselves middle class, and everyone is afraid of wearing the crown of middle class.

When I had some time to look through old books, I discovered that the last Chinese who dared to call himself "middle class" was over 300 years ago.

Probably because he was afraid of leaving a bad name.

The name of this self-proclaimed middle-class person is unknown, leaving only her surname - her surname is Shi, and she is known as Shi Taijun.

There is also a more well-known nickname, called Jia Mu.

Jia's mother claimed to be middle class in the fifty-fourth chapter of "Dream of Red Mansions" - "Shi Taijun breaks the cliché and Wang Xifeng plays the role of colorful clothes".

This time, the book writes: When Jia's family holds a Lantern Festival banquet, in addition to eating and drinking, they can't help but invite some storytellers to add to the fun.

Among them was the play "Feng Qiu Luan". Because it fell into the cliché of a gifted scholar and a beautiful lady, and violated the taboo of Wang Xifeng's name, Jia Mu took the lead in criticizing it: "These plays of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies are all very vulgar. What the hell?"

The man is a domineering CEO and the woman is a lady. They fell in love with each other at the first sight. They even ignored their parents' orders and the matchmaker's words and other etiquettes. It's really outrageous!

After criticizing the script, Jia’s mother criticized the screenwriter again. She basically said that the author was from a lowly background and could only make up random things. “...How could he know the principles of the scholars of that generation! Don’t talk about the things in his books.

Officials write gifts to everyone. Nowadays, if we talk about middle-class families, there is no such thing, let alone those rich people!" What Jia Mu means is that middle-class people like Jia's family all know talented people and beautiful women.

The play is a dirty work, which is not the case at all - let alone those in the real upper class, I am afraid that the name will offend their ears.

Push forward three hundred years, push back three hundred years, this is probably the first knowledgeable person in China who dares to call himself middle class.

Now that Jia Mu is the benchmark, the standards for pretending to be middle class are obvious.

According to Jia Mu's first rule, those who like the drama of talented men and beautiful women must not be considered middle class.

Not only these vulgar love dramas, which Jia Mu despises, but also the noisy music.

It was also the fifty-fourth Lantern Festival banquet. After talking about "Feng Qiu Luan", Jia Mu asked the theater troupe to sing "The Peony Pavilion". She specifically asked that the background music should only use violin and flute ensemble, and no sheng or flute should be used.

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Aunt Xue, who is also a middle-class lady, was very surprised and said that she had listened to this play hundreds of times and had never seen such a simple one using only the flute.

Jia Mu replied calmly, "This is just a personal preference of the audience. Is there anything strange about it?"

The implication is that Aunt Xue doesn't know how to appreciate it.

As a result, he suddenly fell from the middle class to the level of nouveau riche.

One pole knocked over a boat of people.

Jia Mu, a middle-class person, decided that people who like noisy music are definitely not middle class.

The viewers who watch "Hip-Hop in China" every week in front of the screen will unfortunately be kicked out of the middle class.

But they are not alone - those who were kicked out of the team at the same time were tens of millions of innocent ticket buyers who supported the 600 million box office of the hit movie "Three Lives Three Worlds".

Many young men are especially innocent.

They never thought that just by going to the cinema to watch "Tiny Times" with their girlfriends, they would miss middle-class status for the rest of their lives.

Therefore, in terms of literary and artistic aesthetics, the middle class must follow the example of their ancestors: beauty, elegance, and refinement.

Dramas with talented people and beautiful women are not popular, but niche literary and artistic films are the best.

If you have nothing to do, it would be wise to go to the National Center for the Performing Arts and listen to the opera in a serious way.

When it comes to the second criterion for pretending to be middle-class, it is the issue of nannies at home.

It’s no secret that middle-class couples are busy at work.

In my occasional spare time, I have to watch dramas, listen to concerts, play golf, and travel to Iceland. I really don’t have time to take care of housework.

Therefore, hiring a nanny is imperative.

Speaking of nannies, take a look at "A Dream of Red Mansions". Just the slaves in the Rongguo Mansion are enough to make many people from big cities who claim to be middle class feel ashamed.

The masters in Rongguo Mansion each have six or seven regular servants around them.

That's not all. The important thing is that the servants of Rongguo Mansion have always been famous for their high salary and good welfare.