CRITICAL REVIEW

URBAN ECONOMICS

THE EMERGENCE OF CHINA'S MIDDLE CLASS:

SOCIAL MOBILITY IN A RAPIDLY URBANIZING ECONOMY

WRITTEN BY:

BIMA FATWA MUHARRAM

5015201148

DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING

FACULTY OF CIVIL, PLANNING, AND GEO ENGINEERING

INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI SEPULUH NOPEMBER

SURABAYA

2022
Introduction

The article reviewed in this paper is the article written by Chen Chen from College of
Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China and also written by Bo Qin
from Department of Urban Planning and Management, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
The title of the article is, The emergence of China's middle class: Social mobility in a rapidly
urbanizing economy. The main topic of the article is about middle class, social mobility, urbanization,
and China. This article using two series of household survey data, this study aims to fill the gap of a
systematic investigation of China's emerging middle class that still absent. The article adds to the
present scholarship as a case study in rapidly urbanizing Asian countries, and more broadly, it
contributes to existing theories of social mobility. There are several key findings of this article such
as: China's middle class possesses different consumption and occupation patterns from its counterpart
in the West; Rapid urbanization is improving social mobility, creating opportunities for people in
lower social classes; and Ascribed factors, e.g., hukou status, are diminishing in importance for
determining upward social mobility.

Summary

The term "middle class" usually refers to a large group of people who are in the middle of a
societal hierarchy, and who play an important role in both the market economy and democracy in
advanced societies. Since the middle class is so important to the economic development of North
America and Europe, the emerging middle classes in Asia, especially China and India, have received
a lot of attention from various institutions and scholars. A report by the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development describes the rise of the “global middle class,” a process in which the
formation of the Asian middle class leads to one of the biggest shifts in the global economy, “a
crossover of the middle class from West to East.” However, the studies that have focused on the Asian
middle class's expansion have done so at a more abstract level, without taking into account specific
characteristics and the underlying dynamics of its emergence.

The Asian middle class, which differs in many ways from the western middle class, is also
known as the New Middle Class. This group has grown in size and prominence as Asia's
industrialization and urbanization have progressed rapidly. The different circumstances imply that the
Asian middle class should be placed in its specific regional and temporal context, in which rapid
urbanization is a major factor. Previous studies have shown that urbanization is an important part of
modernizing countries, and that it has led to improvements in social mobility and the reorganization
of social classes. Studies have also looked at the characteristics of the middle class in various Asian
countries, including Korea, the Philippines, and Malaysia. These studies have shown that
urbanization, industrialization, and the emergence of the middle class are all linked.
 Despite the large and growing number of people in China's middle class, there is not yet a
systematic study of their characteristics at the macro-level. This is likely because data on individual
members of the middle class is not readily available. This study examines how two series of
household survey data can help fill the gap. The article adds to our understanding of the way rapidly
urbanizing Asian countries are affecting social mobility, and it supports existing theories about social
mobility.

This article profiles the emerging middle class in China and looks at how the urbanization
process at the macro-scale has interacted with individual factors to determine the Chinese family's
upward social mobility into the middle class. The profile of China's middle class shows that most
people actually live below the $10 purchasing power parity line (lower middle class), exhibit unique
consumption patterns, and many work in manual occupation categories, including industrial workers,
commercial and service workers, which could leave them vulnerable to economic disruption. The
"Chinese characteristics" mentioned in this article and other literature might suggest that the
consumption power of the middle class is limited.

This article argues that a large proportion of the increase in China's middle class in the last 15
years is attributable to those who have successfully upwardly mobilized themselves. This was due to
the increase in rural-urban migration and urban growth. Therefore, our empirical findings show that
the context of a unique socio-economic development process, especially compressed industrialization
and rapid urbanization, characterizes the middle class in Asia (and China) as a Western story.
Supports the proposition of making something different

The urbanization process in China is gaining momentum to improve social mobility and
generate agglomeration economies. As the gap between the number of middle-class people living in
urban areas, rural areas, and migrant communities continues to shrink, disparities between cities in
terms of rank within the urban system are growing. The authors believe that China's urbanization is
creating an opportunity for people from all backgrounds to reach higher socio-economic status, by
diminishing the role of factors that are based on someone's birthplace or hukou status.

This article provides evidence that working in large cities significantly increases one's upward
social mobility, demonstrating the transformation of a more open mobility regime that is activated by
urbanization and industrialization. These findings suggest that the concentration of rural migrants in
large cities where denial of hukou entitlement is most rigid is due to the dynamics of the migration
process.

Critique

Writer provides some critique based on author statement that will be comment the minor aspect of
this article:
1. The author finds that most of China's middle-class lives below the $10 purchasing power
parity line (lower middle class), according to research. Based on the website
chinapower.csis.org, China’s middle class amounted to just three percent of its population in
2000. By 2018, this number had climbed to over half of the population, constituting nearly
707 million people. However, the range of lower middle class in the website is until ne
number of $20.
2. The author proposed that "Chinese characteristics" of the Chinese middle class might suggest
that the consumption power of the middle class is limited. While based on Kharas and Dooley
(Kharas & Dooley, 2020) China already makes up the largest middle-class consumption
market segment in the world and is a priority market for major multinational firms. So, the
authors might only conclude this by the interpretation of middle class in general without
specify it into regional condition that in this case is China.
3. This article argues that a large proportion of the increase in China's middle class in the last 15
years is attributable to those who have successfully upwardly mobilized themselves.
Throughout his book “Political Order and Political Decay”, Fukuyama argues that the
empowerment of a country’s middle class leads to social mobilization and is thus linked to
political development towards democracy. The author here only considered the natural case of
urbanization and industrialization without explain more about the political process.
4. Therefore, our empirical findings show that the context of a unique socio-economic
development process, especially compressed industrialization and rapid urbanization,
characterizes the middle class in Asia (and China) as a Western story. This is a unique finding
because at first the authors tell the difference between middle class in Asia and Western, but
at the end it seems like there is a connection which Asia following a pattern from Western in
the social mobilization as a result of similar phenomenon.
5. The author said that urbanization process in China is gaining momentum to improve social
mobility and generate agglomeration economies. Emily Rains and Anirudh Krishna (2019)
argue that urbanization will not automatically improve prospects for mobility for the urban
poor. This article takes a case study on South countries. However, it still can be another
consideration for authors to create a conclusion.
6. The authors believe that China's urbanization is creating an opportunity for people from all
backgrounds to reach higher socio-economic status, by diminishing the role of factors that are
based on someone's birthplace or hukou status. In this case, the author is seeming to blame the
hukou system in China that can hamper the opportunity for poor people to gain higher social
status.
7. These findings suggest that the concentration of rural migrants in large cities where denial of
hukou entitlement is most rigid is due to the dynamics of the migration process. Huang (2020)
finds that, first, individuals with the rural-to-urban hukou change are more likely to
 experience upward mobility, while individuals with the nonlocal-to-local hukou change are
more pessimistic about their prospects of upward mobility; second, the rural-to-urban hukou
change increases beneficiaries’ trust in the central government, while the nonlocal-to-local
hukou change increases beneficiaries’ trust in the local government. He also said that Chinese
authoritarian regime’s co-optation tactic of engineering upward social mobility via the hukou
reforms contributes to its performance-based political legitimacy as it effectively bolsters
individuals’ trust in government. Huang seems to be considered more in the political aspect
while the author of the reviewed article is more focus on the urbanization. Both aspects can be
a good consideration of it mixed together to tell us how the hukou system affect the social
mobilization individually.

Based on the critique there is no big problem of author statement that can affect to the research.
The article has been good in overall with several minor problems that can be happened to every
authors. However, to complete this critique, writer wants to provide recommendation for further
research that will be improve the article with same topic and discussion:

1. Data entry is a very important aspect in research so it is necessary to find an accurate data and
compare it with other existing data in different source
2. There might be some literature that can explain an impact of such phenomenon to the society
which same in every country, but it also important to find the literature that focused on the
scope of the study area to make it more accurate in concluding phenomenon
3. The process of urbanization is a natural process which is result of social and economic
condition in rural and urban area. However, there is also a political intervention in the process
of urbanization that further can explain the impact of urbanization to social mobilization that
related to the social class.

Conclusion

Overall, this article has provided us a comprehensive explanation on how urbanization can
affect the social mobilization and middle class in China. This article is also use individual data which
then make the result more accurate. The article has filled the gap of the absence of emerging middle
class systematic investigation in China. This article has told us on how urbanization can affect the
social mobilization and middle class in China. On how it can open the opportunity to raise a social
status. However, the political factor oh hukou system in China has inhibit the raising social status
opportunity.

The author has done a really great job in the article, the critique (or negative comments) on
the article only a micro scale that won’t be changed the status of the good article into bad article.
There is only some minor problem in this article that is not really affecting the research. The author
however has explained well about the hukou system and how it affects different types of people. And,
the author has covered the problem by using individual data. Therefore, the critique of this article is
only on the minor problem that cannot affect the good status of this article.

Reference

Fukuyama, F. (2014) “Political Order and Political Decay.” Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York

Kharas, H., & Dooley, M. (2020). China’s Influence on the Global Middle Class. Global China,
October, 1–10.

How well-off is China's middle class? ChinaPower Project. (2021, September 30). Retrieved May 27,
2022, from https://chinapower.csis.org/china-middle-class/

Huang, Xian, The Chinese Dream: Hukou, Social Mobility, and Trust in Government (July 8, 2020).
Huang, X. (2020), The Chinese Dream: Hukou, Social Mobility, and Trust in Government.
Social Science Quarterly, 101: 2052-2070. doi:10.1111/ssqu.12847, Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3713239 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3713239

Rains, E. & Krishna, A. (2019) Will urbanization raise social mobility in the South, replicating the
economic history of the West?. WIDER Working Paper 2019/102. Helsinki: UNU-WIDER.