China's consumer revolution: the 1990s and beyond

Journal of Contemporary China

Volumn 7, Issue 18, 1998, Pages 351-368

  Chao, Linda ^a   Myers, Ramon H ^a  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONSUMER SPENDING; CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOUR; MARKET TRANSITION; WELFARE ECONOMICS;

CHINA;

EID: 0031871406     PISSN: 10670564     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10670569808724319     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. The following observations are based on a journai kept by Ramon H. Myers when he visited the People's Republic of China in May-June 1976 as a member of the Wheat Studies Delegation, which was part of a series of scholarly exchanges organized between the US and the People's Republic of China in the 1970s.
2. See Robert Guillain, 600 Million Chinese (New York: Criterion Books, 1957), ch. 8.
3. These estimates are based on data contained in ZTN 1996, p. 304.
4. Individual and other forms of ownership produced 25% of gross output of industrial production value in 1994. For an annual comparison, see ZTN 1995, p. 377.
5. Chen Ruying, ed., Xiahai Kuangchao (The Mania for Leaping into the Sea) Beijing: Tuanjie chubanshe, 1993), p. 29.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., p. 30.
8. Ibid., p. 31.
9. Ibid., p. 47.
10. For a general discussion of the significance of the 14th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, see Ramon H. Myers, 'The socialist market economy in the People's Republic of China: fact or fiction?', Fifty-fifth George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology, 1994 (Canberra: Australian National University, 1995).
11. For a review of this debate, see Ramon H. Myers, 'Chinese debate on economic reforms: can China create a socialist market economy?', Asian-Pacific Economic Literature 9(2), (November 1995), pp. 55-68.
12. Qi Xing, 'Dalu shehui zai xinsu gaibian zhong' (Mainland society in the midst of rapidly changing reform), Jiushi niendai (The Nineties) 275, (December 1992), p. 48.
13. In Shenzhen, a young woman from Chongqing, Sichuan province, in 1996 told a Western journalist that 'China has emphasized spirit and culture throughout history', a Rolex watch jangling on her wrist, 'but now in Shenzhen and other parts of China, money is most important. You earn respect if you're rich'. (Emphasis added by authors.) See Peter Wonocott, 'Kitty lives: meet a product of new China, an idealist turned madam', Wall Street Journal, (27-28 December 1996), p. 18.
14. In 1995 the average income for workers was reported by the National Statistical Bureau to be 5,500 renminbi (RMB), which was 21.2% higher than the average of six months before, but when income is adjusted for price change, the real income gain was 3%. Similarly, the average living expenditure was 3,893 RMB, which represented an increase of 22.5% over the previous six months but, when taking inflation into account, translated into a net increase of 4.9%. See Zhan Anlu, 'Wo kan dangqian xiaofei' (I look at today's consumption), Jingji shikan (Economic Monthly), (November 1996), p. 44.
15. This account is based on an interview conducted by Linda Chao in China in the fall of 1996.
16. Quoted in Wang Yanshan, 'Liwai chuangtong, tiao tiao zai lu' (From inside to outside, everything is connected: every path leads to making money), Jiushi niandai (The Nineties) 268, (May 1992), p. 51.
17. For examples of gift giving and corruption, see Qiu Zu, 'Dalu tankuan fanzui xingzhi lu' (A record of mainland China's official corruption and crime), Jingbao yuekan (Economic Monthly Report) 220, (November 1995), pp. 34-35. See also Yue Tan, 'Huise fubai ho Chen Xilong da an' (The big case of Chen Xitong), Jingbao yuekan (Economic Monthly Report) 223, (February 1996), p. 34. Many other articles can be cited that make this argument, but Qui Zu's essay tersely and lucidly links the long-standing Chinese cultural practice of gift exchange with outrageous cases of official corruption, as well as the punishments that were imposed on the unfortunate who were arrested.
18. For examples of gift giving and corruption, see Qiu Zu, 'Dalu tankuan fanzui xingzhi lu' (A record of mainland China's official corruption and crime), Jingbao yuekan (Economic Monthly Report) 220, (November 1995), pp. 34-35. See also Yue Tan, 'Huise fubai ho Chen Xilong da an' (The big case of Chen Xitong), Jingbao yuekan (Economic Monthly Report) 223, (February 1996), p. 34. Many other articles can be cited that make this argument, but Qui Zu's essay tersely and lucidly links the long-standing Chinese cultural practice of gift exchange with outrageous cases of official corruption, as well as the punishments that were imposed on the unfortunate who were arrested.
19. Wang Yanshan, 'Liwai chuangtong, tiao tiao zai lu'.
20. Yan Yunxiang, The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996). Professor Yan completed his fieldwork in 1991 in Xiajia Village of Heilongjiang province, a place he had lived as an ordinary farmer for seven years (1971-1978). This important study reveals the multitude of reciprocity relations the ordinary Chinese villager maintains in his or her lifetime. It is safe to claim, as we believe, that the customary practices Professor Yan observed in his village exist everywhere in China.
21. Zhou Ying, 'Chieshi dalu jiating xiaofei quxiang' (To take a glance at the trend of household consumerism in mainland China), Jingbao (The Mirror) 218, (September 1995), p. 42.
22. Li Yun, 'Beijing suojian suosi' (What I think and see in Beijing), Zheng ming (Truth and Clarity) 230, (December 1996), p. 36.
23. Cited in the Myers May-June 1976 journal.
24. Jeffrey R. Taylor and Karen A. Hardee, Consumer Demand in China: A Statistical Factbook (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986), pp. 32-34. This excellent survey provides the best coverage of consumer change between 1978 and 1984 and should be updated for the consumer trends of the 1990s.
25. Ibid., p. 35.
26. Ibid., p. 38.
27. Ming Hua, 'Gaige da chao xia di shehui zhong shengxiang' (Society's many faces under the great wave of reform), Jiushi niendai (The Nineties) 267, (April 1992), p. 32. For another account emphasizing 1992 as a critical turning point, see Li Yi, 'Zhongguo zhengge shehui dou dongchilaile' (In China the entire society has taken off), Jiushi niendai 274, (November 1992), pp. 60-63. In this account the journalist Dai Qing, who worked for the Guangdong Daily, remarked that society was far more free and open after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour and that social change in the 1990s had been enormous. Her only concern was that, 'to be a responsible Chinese, I wish that Chinese society could peacefully become a modern society, but that will require great rationality on the part of the Chinese people to achieve' (p. 62).
28. Ming Hua, 'Gaige da chao xia di shehui zhong shengxiang' (Society's many faces under the great wave of reform), Jiushi niendai (The Nineties) 267, (April 1992), p. 32. For another account emphasizing 1992 as a critical turning point, see Li Yi, 'Zhongguo zhengge shehui dou dongchilaile' (In China the entire society has taken off), Jiushi niendai 274, (November 1992), pp. 60-63. In this account the journalist Dai Qing, who worked for the Guangdong Daily, remarked that society was far more free and open after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour and that social change in the 1990s had been enormous. Her only concern was that, 'to be a responsible Chinese, I wish that Chinese society could peacefully become a modern society, but that will require great rationality on the part of the Chinese people to achieve' (p. 62).
29. For a good account arguing that, by the late 1980s, households had solved the food and drink consumption problem and were now ready to increase their allocations to other categories, see 'Jiushi niandai zhong houqi woguo xiaofei pin shihchang fazhan qushi', Jingjiyanjiu ziliao (Economic Research Materials) 171(7), (1994), pp. 5-6. This study points out that in the early 1990s households still spent around 54% on food and 13% on clothing, but by the mid-1990s were spending 46% on food and drink and 16% on clothing.
30. Ming Hua, 'Gaige da chao xia di shehui zhong shengxiang'.
31. Zhou Ying, 'Chicshi dalu jiating xiaofei quxiang', p. 42.
32. Ming Hua, 'Gaige da chao xia di shehui zhong shengxiang', p. 32.
33. Ibid.
34. Liu Gong, 'Jiating xiafei qushi' (The trend of household consumption), Shanghai jingji (The Shanghai Economy) 91, (January 1996), p. 58.
35. Ibid., p. 57.
36. Ibid., p. 58.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid., p. 59.
39. Shen Lei, 'Shengjia ruho zuoru baixing xinzhong' (How businesses walk into the hearts of our citizens), Shanghai jingji 5, (1996), p. 51.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid., p. 52. Thirty-eight percent of the customers of Liu Pai had graduated from vocational and high schools, and 38% and 48% respectively, of the same educational background, shopped at Ming Ping and Tianyu department stores.
42. See Qi Jingmei, 'Xiaofei xuqiu xiankuang fenxi ji yijiu jiuqi nian zuo shi panduan' (The analysis of current consumer demand and its trend in 1997), Jingji yu guanli yanchiu (Economic and Management Studies) 2, (1997), pp. 6-11.
43. Kathy Chen, 'China is encouraging private home buying, and it is rising fast', Wall Street Journal, (16 July 1997), p. 1.
44. Liu Chousheng, 'Guanyu woguo xiaofei shichang xinwei di qubu' (An analysis of our national consumer goods market), Jingji yenjiu zuliao 1, (1994), p. 11.
45. See Institute of Current China Studies, 'Consumer habits of mainland youth', Inside China Mainland 18(214), (October 1996), pp. 38-96.
46. Wang Yi, Shikong da duanmian (A Slice of Time and Space) (Beijing: Zhongguo shangye chubanshe, 1993), pp. 16-17.
47. Ibid.
48. Consumer Demand in China: A Statistical Factbook, p. 62.
49. Chen Yizi et al., 'Reform: results and lessons from the 1985 CESRRI survey', in Bruce L. Reynolds, ed., Chinese Economic Reform: How Far, How Fast? (Boston: Academic Press, 1988), p. 181.
50. This interesting insight was offered by Hu Angang, Zhongguo jingji bodong baogao (A Report on Chinese Economic Fluctuations) (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 1994). Professor Hu attributes the major economic fluctuations between 1950 and 1991 to political mobilization activities that increased investment, thus drawing a disproportionate output from agriculture to finance these investment surges. Between 1977 and 1993 Hu identifies four economic expansion phases initiated by party congress-related activities.
51. More Chinese manufacturing enterprises (especially former state-owned enterprises) have been forced by competition to gear their production and sales to the market. For example, some state enterprises are now prepared to market their new home appliances - color television sets, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners - both domestically and abroad. See Pamela Yatski in Shanghai and Wuxi, 'Applied skills: China's appliance makers are ready for open markets', Far Eestern Economic Review 160(25), (19 June 1997), pp. 69-70.
52. For the market economy and consumer transformation of Shanghai, see the account by Edward Iwata, 'Capitalist fever gripping Shanghai', San Francisco Examiner, (20 July 1997), pp. 1, A-10.