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THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION OF CHINA
The Rise of the

Middle Class in
Contemporary
China
Hainan Su · Hong Wang
Fenglin Chang
The Great Transformation of China
China’s Economic Transformation, Innovation

and Development
Series Editor
Fulin Chi, China Institute for Reform and Development, Haikou,
Hainan, China
China is facing unprecedented challenges in its continued moderniza-
tion process. This series brings together government insiders, academics,
and policymakers in articulating specific social and political issues that
China is trying to resolve, offering scholars around the world insights
into what China’s leadership see as the biggest challenges facing the
nation and how best to resolve them. The series publishes monographs
and edited volumes with contributions on a global basis dedicated to
ground-breaking research on the Chinese modernization process.
Hainan Su · Hong Wang · Fenglin Chang
The Rise
of the Middle Class
in Contemporary
China
Hainan Su Hong Wang
Chinese Association of Labour Chinese Academy of Labor
Science and Social Security
Chinese Academy of Labor Beijing, China
and Social Security
Beijing, China
Fenglin Chang
Research Office of Income
Distribution
Chinese Academy of Labor
and Social Security
Beijing, China
Translated by
Qiaodan Lu Yunqian Li
Hangzhou, China Nanning, China
Xian Wang Chen Sijia

Anqing, China Hangzhou, China
Xie Qianfan
Hangzhou, China
ISSN 2509-6001 ISSN 2509-601X (electronic)
The Great Transformation of China
ISBN 978-981-19-5098-8 ISBN 978-981-19-5099-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5099-5
Jointly published with Zhejiang University Press

The print edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland
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© Zhejiang University Press 2022

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Series Editor’s Preface
The Year 2020: A Historic Choice

of Economic Transformation and Upgrading
A great nation with 13 billion people is facing a changing situation it has
not ever faced for a thousand years. Change, transformation and innova-
tion feature the main melody of the era. In this era of high integration
of growth, transformation and reform, “great transformation” is exactly
what decides the destiny of China. In other words, not only will “toxic
assets” left in the traditional system have to be eliminated completely but
also the new way for further growth needs to be paved quickly while
letting loose the new motive force of development.
The major transformation in China’s “13th Five-Year Plan” (FYP)
is historically decisive. With the economic transformation as the focal
point, both social transformation and government transformation are in
the crucial period of transition in which innumerable thorny problems
have to be tackled. Our general judgment is that the year 2020 is like a
“gorge” we have to jump over. Specifically, by the end of 2020 we will
have eliminated the pressure on short-term growth and changed the way
for economic development while achieving a comparatively prosperous
society in an all-round way and becoming one of the high-income coun-
tries in the world. If we plan well enough to make the best use of 2020,
a mid-term period in the 13th FYP, we can lay a solid foundation for the
medium-to-long-term peaceful and sustainable growth. If we fail to grasp
vii
viii SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE
the historical opportunity of 2020, we will lose the initiative of “great

transformation”, thus resulting in multiple systemic economic risks.
The significant breakthrough for achieving the economic transfor-
mation and upgrading in the 13th FYP period is how to cope with
“four threes”. Firstly, three major trends: one for industrial transforma-
tion and upgrading from “made in China” to “intellectually made in
China”; one for urbanized transformation and upgrading from scale to
population; and one for consumption pattern upgrading from material
to service. Secondly, three major challenges: one for achieving a major
breakthrough in structural reform by enhancing the structural adjust-
ment despite the economic downturn; one for “corner overtaking” by
responding to the global new round of scientific and technological revo-
lution and increasing the ability to innovate; and one for a real and
down-to-earth reform. At present, the transformation depends more on
the all-round breakthrough in reform. It couldn’t move forward at all
without the change in systematic structure. And the growth would suffer
big pressures. Thirdly, three major goals: one for industry, namely forming
the service-dominated industrial structure by accelerating the process of
service in manufacture; one for a major motive force, namely forming
a consumption-oriented new pattern of economic growth, in which
consumption guides investment and domestic consumption becomes a
main force that spurs economic growth; and one for opening up, namely
forming a new open pattern dominated by service trade so as to redouble
service trade in scale. Finally, three major relationships to be handled
properly: one between the short term and the medium-to-long term
in which the best job should be done for 2020 (the mid-term period)
while resolving contradictions in the short term, basing ourselves on the
mid-term and keeping our eyes on the long term; one between speed
and structure which requires accelerating the structural adjustment while
maintaining an increase by 7% or so; and one between policy and system
in which the key is to gain a policy advantage in achieving institutional
innovation under the economic pressure.
The past 40 years of reform and opening up have left us numer-
able valuable assets. The most valuable one is that the more complex
the situation may be and the more fundamental the change in environ-
ment, the more determined we will be in carrying out the reform and
pushing through the transformation. All these require that the “great
transformation” need overall arrangement and ambitious planning, need
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE ix
a significant breakthrough in the reform of industrial structure, urban-

rural structure, regional structure, ownership pattern, open structure and
administrative power structure, and need prospective planning in green
sustainable development and “internet plus” development trends.
By judging the transformational reform in the 13th FYP period, China
(Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development (CIRD) and Zhejiang
University Press have jointly designed and published this set of series
entitled The Great Nation in Great Transformation—Economic Trans-
formation and Innovative Development in China. The book series has
paid attention to readability based on being strategic, prospective and
academic. It is our expectation that the series will offer enlightenment
to readers who are closely watching the transformational reform in China
while playing an active role in promoting the transformational reform in
the 13th FYP period.
The authors of the series are mostly well-known scholars in their own
subject areas, who wrote their respective books in their spare time. As the
director of the editorial board of the series, I wish, first and foremost,
to extend my sincere thanks to the consultants, editorial board members,
authors and the leadership and editors of the press.
Last but not least, this set of series covers a wide range of subject
areas, each volume representing its author’s own research conclusions
and academic opinions. The set does not require consistency in terms of
viewpoints. Any criticism and correction from readers are truly welcome.
September 2015 Chi Fulin

Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 The Urgent Need for the Rise of the Middle Class
in Contemporary China 7
2.1 A New Question of Contemporary China’s
Development in Its New Stage 8
2.1.1 New Challenges Contemporary China Is
Facing to Leap Over the “Middle-Income
Trap” 8
2.1.2 New Requirements for Building
a Moderately Prosperous Society in All
Respects in the New Phase of the Great
National Transformation 15
2.2 The Necessity and Urgency of the “Rising” Middle
Class in Contemporary China 17
2.2.1 The Urgent Need of Millions of People
to Pursue Common Prosperity 18
2.2.2 The Urgent Need to Solve the Prominent
Issues in Income Distribution in China 21
2.2.3 The Urgent Need to Promote
the Adjustment of China’s Economic
Structure and the Expanding of Domestic
Demand 24
xi
xii CONTENTS
2.2.4 The Urgent Need to Form a Rational

Social Structure and Maintain Long-Term
Social Stability 27
2.2.5 The Urgent Need to Implement Relevant
Fundamental Policies of the CPC Central
Committee 30
3 The Origin and Development of the Middle Class 33
3.1 What Is the Middle Class 34
3.1.1 A Brief Introduction to the Concept
of the Middle Class in Western Countries 34
3.1.2 The Origin of China’s Use of the Concept
of the Middle Class and the Perspective
of This Book 37
3.2 The Origin and Development of the Middle Class
in Western Countries 42
3.2.1 The Origin of the Middle Class in Western
Countries in Modern Times 42
3.2.2 The Development of the Middle Class
in Western Countries 45
3.3 The Origin and Development of the Middle Class
in Modern China 50
3.3.1 The Embryo of the Middle Class in the 19th
Century 50
3.3.2 The Development of the Modern Middle
Class in China 52
4 Who is the Modern Middle Class in China? 59
4.1 The Emergence and Development of the Modern
Chinese Middle Class 60
4.1.1 The Embryo of the Middle Class
at the Beginning of the Reform
and Opening up 60
Promoted by the Deepening of the Reform
and Opening up 64
4.2 The Definition of the Middle Class in Contemporary
China 73
4.2.1 The Definition of the Middle Class
in Contemporary China 74
CONTENTS xiii
4.2.2 National Reality Analysis for Standards 77

4.2.3 Who Are the Contemporary Middle Class? 83
4.3 How Many Middle-Class Members Are There
in China? 92
4.3.1 Our Calculation 92
4.3.2 Comparison and Revision with Other
Calculations 95
5 Analysis of the Status Quo and the Problems
of the Middle Class in Contemporary China 101
5.1 The Status Quo of the Middle Class in Contemporary
China 102
5.1.1 The Current Composition and Distribution
of China’s Middle Class 102
5.1.2 The Current Occupation Distribution
5.1.3 The Social Behavioral Characteristics
5.2 Deficiencies and Problems Regarding the Current
Chinese Middle Class 126
5.2.1 The Relatively Small Proportion of Middle
Class, and the Olive-Shaped Distribution
Pattern is yet Distant 129
5.2.2 The Middle Class’s Relatively Low Level
of Income and Property 130
5.2.3 The Imbalance and Instability
in the Structure of the Middle Class 132
5.2.4 The Uneven Civilization Level Among
the Middle Class 134
5.2.5 Relatively Unified Norms in Morality
and Behaviors Are Far from Achieved
or Predominant in the Society 136
5.3 Factors Binding the Development of the Middle
Class in Contemporary China 138
5.3.1 The Extensive Economic Development
Constraints the Enlargement of the Middle
Class 138
5.3.2 The Urban–rural Dual Structure Hampers
the Balanced Expansion of the Middle Class 139
xiv CONTENTS
5.3.3 The Unreasonable Industrial Structure

Has Constrained the Growth of the Middle
Class 140
5.3.4 The Backwardness of the Income
Distribution System Reform Impedes
the Rise of the Middle Class 142
5.3.5 The Drawbacks in Education, Healthcare,
Public Service and Other Social Systems
Hinder the Development of the Middle Class 144
5.3.6 The Insufficiency of China’s Culture
Construction 146
6 The Rise of the Middle Class in Contemporary China
Looks Promising 149
6.1 The New Stage of the “Four-Pronged” Strategy Will
Promote Great Changes in China 150
6.2 China’s Economic Transformation Will Provide
a Solid Economic Foundation for the Development
and Expansion of the Middle Class 155
6.2.1 China’s Economic Transformation Will
Be Conducive to Making the Pie of Social
Wealth Bigger and Better 156
6.2.2 China’s Economic Transformation Will
Be Conductive to Expanding the Source
of the Middle Class 158
6.3 China’s Social Transformation Will Provide Better
Social Conditions for the Expansion of the Middle
Class 160
6.3.1 Ruling the Country by Law Will Benefit
the Development of the Middle Class 161
6.3.2 Educational Reforms Will Be Conducive
to the Improvement of the Quality
6.3.3 The Construction of Social Honesty
and Credit Will Be Conducive
to the Behavioral Norms of the Middle Class 163
6.4 The Chinese Government Formulates and Continues
to Improve Policies for Promoting the Development
and Expansion of the Middle Class 165
CONTENTS xv
6.4.1 The Government Has Formulated

a Series of Policies that Are Conducive
to the Development and Expansion
6.4.2 The Government Will Formulate More
Situation-Based Policies for “ Xingzhong”
(The Rise of the Middle Class) 168
6.5 The Valuable Experience of Foreign Countries Can
Be Adopted for Reference 169
6.5.1 Learning Valuable Foreign Experience
Is the Only Way to Derive Advantages
in the Late Strike 169
6.5.2 Systematically Summarizing and Learning
from the Valuable Experience of Foreign
Countries is Beneficial to the Rise
7 Valuable Experience Overseas 173
7.1 Development Pattern of the Middle Class
in Developed Countries and Regions 174
7.1.1 The “Spontaneous Growth Pattern
of the Middle Class” in Britain, France
and America 175
7.1.2 “Spontaneous Growth with the Policy
Promotion Pattern of the Middle Class”
in the Nordic Welfare States 181
7.1.3 The Rapid Rise of the Middle Class
and Intentional Impetus Given
by the Government Pattern in Some East
Asian Countries and Regions 183
7.1.4 “Middle-Class Growth Frustrated by Policy
Failures” in India and Latin America 190
7.2 Useful Experiences and References 204
7.2.1 Based on Sustained and Steady Economic
Growth, the Reform and Improvement
of Economic and Social Systems Are
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions 204
xvi CONTENTS

Must Be Integrated with the Process
of Industrialization and Urbanization 205
7.2.3 The Expansion of the Middle Class
and Social Transformation Complement
Each Other 205
7.2.4 The Development of the Middle Class Needs
a Reasonable Income Distribution System
and the Support of the Social Security System 206
7.2.5 The Development of the Middle Class Needs
the Support of Basic Public Services Such
as Education 207
8 Thoughts and Objectives Regarding
the Comprehensive Rise of the Middle Class
211
8.1 Comprehensive “ Xingzhong” is a Huge, Complex
Systematic Project 211
8.1.1 The Connotation of Comprehensive
“ Xingzhong” 212
8.1.2 The Level and Perspective of Comprehensive
8.1.3 Analysis and Basic Orientation of the New
Changes in the National Conditions
of Comprehensive “ Xingzhong” 215
8.2 The Basic Ideas and Principles of Comprehensive
8.2.1 Basic Ideas 221
8.2.2 Basic Principles 223
8.3 The Goal of Comprehensive “ Xingzhong” 225
8.3.1 Forecast and Analysis of the 2020 Target 225
8.3.2 Forecast and Analysis Regarding the 2030
Target 230
9 Basic Measures for the Overall Rise of the Middle
Class 237
9.1 Paying great attention to the Comprehensive
“ Xingzhong” (Rise of the Middle Class in China) 237
9.1.1 Understanding Fully the Significance
of the Comprehensive “ Xingzhong” 238
CONTENTS xvii
9.1.2 Connecting the Comprehensive

“ Xingzhong” with the Leaping
Over of the “High-Income Wall”
and “Middle-Income Trap” 239
9.2 Making the “Pie” Bigger and Better,
and Consolidating the Material Foundation
9.2.1 Maintaining Healthy and Sustainale
Economic Growth 243
9.2.2 Creating New Demands in Various Aspects 248
9.2.3 Changing the Mode of Economic
Development and Improving the Quality
of the Economy 251
9.3 Adjusting the Economic and Social Structure,
and Finding More Ways to Increase the Members
9.3.1 Adjusting the Industrial Structure
and Employment Structure to Increase
the Number of the Middle Class 253
9.3.2 Promoting Urbanization to Transform
More Peasants into Citizens 254
9.3.3 Adjusting the Distribution Structure
of Income to Increase the Size of the Middle
Class 256
9.3.4 Adjusting Other Social Structures
and Improving the Conditions
for Developing the Middle Class 259
9.4 Deepening the Reform of the Economic
and Social System and Removing the Obstaces
to the Comprehensive “ Xingzhong” 260
9.4.1 Deepening the Reform of the Economic
System and Eliminating the Obstacles
to the Development of Equal Competition
Among the Market Participants 260
9.4.2 Deepening the Reform of the Social
Management System and Eliminating
the Obstacles Which Hinder
the Development and Expansion
xviii CONTENTS
9.5 Strengthening Education and Spiritual

Civilization, and Promoting the Overall Quality
9.5.1 Sorting out and Clarifying the Way
to Improve the Quality of the Middle Class 268
9.5.2 Carrying out Classified Work to Improve
the Overall Quality of the Middle Class 269
10 Focus of the Comprehensive “Xingzhong ” (The Rise
of the Middle Class) in Contemporary China 275
10.1 Regarding the “All-Round Rise of the Middle
Class” as a Major Social Construction Task 275
10.1.1 Incorporating the Development
and Expansion of the Middle Class
into the National Economic and Social
Development Plan 276
10.1.2 Incorporating the Expansion
of the Middle Class into the Daily
Agenda of Governments at All Levels 277
10.2 Deepening the Reform of the Income Distribution
System and Expanding the Middle-Income Groups 278
10.2.1 Deepening the Reform of the Salary System
and Expanding the Middle-Income Groups 278
10.2.2 Establishing and Improving the System
to Increase Residents’ Property Income 286
10.2.3 Improving and Consummating the Fiscal
Levy System to Increase the Residents’
Income from Transfer 291
10.2.4 Accelerating the Consolidation of the Basic
Management System of Income
Distribution to Promote the Comprehensive
“ Xingzhong” (Rise of the Middle Class) 294
10.2.5 Reinforcing the Adjustment of Distribution
Relations to Accelerate the Narrowing
of the Unreasonable Gaps 295
10.3 Further Improving the System of Social Security,
Employment and Startup Businesses 298
CONTENTS xix
10.3.1 Accelerating the Improvement of the Social

Security System to Resolve the Middle
Class’s Worries About Their Subsistence 298
10.3.2 Improving the Support System
for Employment and Start-Ups
to Facilitate More Workers Entering
the Middle Class 306
10.4 Striving to Make Remarkable Progress
in the Regulation of the Urban and Rural,
Industrial and Occupational Structure 310
10.4.1 Implementing the Household Registration
System Reform Policy and Promote
the Transformation of Rural Workers
into Citizens 310
10.4.2 Complying with Industrial Structure
Adjustment and Create Jobs for Grey-
and White-Collar Workers 312
10.4.3 Strengthening Vocational and On-the-Job
Training to Improve the Quality of Labor 315
10.5 The Comprehensive “ Xingzhong” (Rise
of the Middle Class) Should Giving Full Play
to the Main Role of Employers and Workers 316
10.5.1 Employers: How to Cultivate the Middle
Class Members 317
10.5.2 Workers: How to Grow to Be a Member
11 Postscript 325
Bibliography 329
List of Figures
Fig. 5.1 The current occupation distribution of the middle class 113
Fig. 5.2 The average wages of urban (private and individual sectors
excluded) staff and workers in 30 provinces (autonomous
regions or municipalities) in China 116
Fig. 5.3 The urban households’ per capita wage income in China
and 31 provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities) 117
Fig. 5.4 The average wages of urban (private and individual sectors
excluded) staff and workers of leagues (cities) in the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region 119
Fig. 5.5 The educational attainment of the major “middle class
sectors” 120
Fig. 5.6 The education expenditure of Chinese urban households
by income level (2011) (Source The figures are quoted
from China Urban Life and Price Yearbook 2011) 129
Fig. 5.7 General performance of present-day China’s middle class 135
Fig. 8.1 Situation of the middle class in China in 2030 234
xxi
List of Tables
Table 4.1 The Indicator System to Show Regional Difference 88

Table 4.2 The Tree Diagram of Clustering Analysis of 31 Provinces
(Autonomous Regions and Municipalities Directly
under the Central Government) 89
Table 4.3 The urban household income in five equal groups
divided by the income groups (data from 2013) (Unit:
Yuan) 94
Table 4.4 Table was sorted based on relevant data of the per capita
net income of rural residents, classified by the five income
equal classifications (data from 2013) (Unit: Yuan). 96
Table 5.1 Average wages in the urban units by sector (China, 2012) 104
Table 5.2 The consumption composition of urban households
by income level (2012) 122
Table 5.3 The Education Expenditure of Urban households
in China (2011) 127
Table 5.4 Compared proportion and criteria of the middle class
or middle-income group in selected developed countries
or regions 132
Table 9.1 Urbanization rate of China since 2000 255
xxiii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
The middle class—this is a term that many Chinese people often hear,
but few yet understand. There is no doubt that, in the process of China’s
entering the ranks of middle- and upper-income countries, speeding up
the historical process of building a moderately prosperous society in all
respects and implementing economic and social transformation, becoming
a member of the middle class is one of the life goals pursued by the
majority of Chinese people, except perhaps those who are already well-
off economically . As the general secretary Xi Jinping stated at the
press conference of Members of the Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, upon the occasion of the 18th
National Congress of the Communist Party of China, “Our people can be
defined by their ardent love for life. They wish to have better education,
more stable jobs, a higher income, greater social security, better medical
and health care, improved housing conditions and a better environment.
They want their children to have sound growth, good jobs and to lead
a more enjoyable life”. Entering the middle class and becoming one of
them is the comprehensive embodiment of this expectation. It can be
said that granting the vast majority of Chinese people accession to the
middle class is a reflection of the often-mentioned common prosperity.
In order to enable the vast majority of Chinese people to gain access to
the middle class, we could view it at the micro-level as mainly relying on
individuals’ efforts to learn, work hard, improve their fine quality skills,
© Zhejiang University Press 2022 1

H. Su et al., The Rise of the Middle Class in Contemporary
China, The Great Transformation of China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5099-5_1
2 H. SU ET AL.
as well as increase the income and property of individuals and the family
through the hard work, legitimate business, entrepreneurship and innova-
tion, while at the same time needing a propitious environment providing
good opportunities; on the other hand, at the macro level, at this histor-
ical stage of economic and social system transformation, China is facing
all kinds of opportunities and challenges. If we wish to create a landscape
propitious to the rise of the middle class, we can only rely on the improve-
ment and support of the national environment. We need to provide
institutional and mechanism support through the economic, social, polit-
ical, cultural and ecological progress of our civilization, as well as other
aspects of reform and construction. It can be seen that the rise of the
middle class in our country is not only a major civil issue which is closely
related to the vital interests of the hundreds of millions of workers and
their family members, but also the essential requirement for the socialist
pursuit and the realization of common prosperity, and it is of great prac-
tical and historical significance. At the same time, it is a large and complex
systematic project which is defined by a wide range of coverage, great
influence, theory and policy and operational requirements. It is one of
the major tasks of the economic and social transformation in our country,
which requires in-depth and meticulous specific research. It is on the basis
of this key point that “The Great Power, the Great Transformation -
China’s Economic Transformation and Innovation Development Series”
editing committee, co-sponsored by the China Institute for Reform and
Development and the Zhejiang University Press, selected this book for
inclusion in the series, namely, as a strategy to facilitate the meeting of
the practical needs of China’s economic and social transformation. Since
we have paid attention to and studied this issue, we had the privilege
of being invited by the editorial Committee of the Series to write this
book—The Rise of the Middle Class in Contemporary China.
Since the 1990s, an increasingly number of works have discussed the
middle class and its related problems in China. After the twenty-first
century began, there has been a marked increase in the number of mono-
graphs on the middle class. There are more than 100 copies collected in
the Beijing National Library alone.1 Moreover, the international research
is not only abundant but also has a long history, and the works are
1 Through searching the National Library website “online Public Catalog query
system”, we found 112 books and articles about the middle stratum.
1 INTRODUCTION 3
becoming more abundant. In this context, how can we adopt a suit-

able approach in order to avoid simply repeating the existing research
results, but also conduct further research and produce new and rich find-
ings that will benefit the readers? After careful consideration, we reached
the conclusion that we would conduct our research and present our
conclusions around four complementary aspects.
First, why should contemporary China encourage the middle class to
rise? From the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the reform
and opening up, China did not even have a word to refer to the middle
class. Since the reform and opening up, along with the rapid develop-
ment of the economy, people’s income has considerably increased and
their lives have also witnessed an important subsequent improvement,
especially since the implementation of the policy of “allowing people and
regions to improve living standard first through honest labor and legit-
imate business”, a number of middle-income groups have emerged and
gradually developed in our country, and the appellation of “middle class”
has gradually started to become a commonly-used phrase. Now, as our
country enters the ranks of middle- and upper-income countries, and the
goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is already
about to be realized, the question still awaiting for its answer is what
makes it necessary and urgent for the middle class to maintain its rising
trend.
Second, what is middle class in general and what is middle class in
contemporary China? This is another important question we will try
to answer in our book. It includes aspects such as: How the middle
class came into being and developed in the West as well as China, how
to analyze its connotation and extension, and especially how to define
the middle class in contemporary China, as well as its present situation.
Currently, different opinions exist on these matters. For this reason, we
propose to faithfully summarize several relevant discussions regarding the
national as well as the international stage, and draw our basic conclusions
on the formation and development of the middle class in combination
with the analysis of its relevant situation in China. In view of the defini-
tion and standard of the middle class in contemporary China, on the basis
of a brief analysis of the relevant domestic and international discussions,
it is necessary to clarify our own views and conclusions. The key here is
not only to avoid referring to an “underprivileged middle class” and
“pseudo middle class”, but also a “super middle class”. At present, the
Chinese people are most worried about being regarded as “unprivileged
4 H. SU ET AL.
middle class”, “pseudo middle class” or “ultra-middle class”. In recent

years, whenever domestic and foreign research institutions release reports
defining which income levels in China are middle class and claiming that
there are already hundreds of millions of middle-class people in China, the
reports are always discredited by both the academic circles and the public.
This kind of analysis and conclusion about the contemporary Chinese
middle class, which are generally rejected by the common people, are
untenable and should be avoided and corrected. In the meantime, we
should also avoid blindly following the middle class in countries with a
more developed market economy, and regarding their income, property
and living standards as the criteria for defining the middle class in our
country, which can only leave people in suspense, for the basic reason that
they exceed the stage of economic and social development and bearing
capacity of our country. It cannot be truly realized and may also lead to
many negative effects. Out of our desire to clarify this issue, we decided
it should also be regarded as an important task and one of the main
concerns of this book.
Third, can the middle class in China rise? This should be a matter
of concern for many. The rise of the middle class is a good thing, and
we all welcome it, but is it possible to achieve this goal? This aspect is
of paramount importance. If China fails to attain this mission, then it
might as well be regarded as an elusive, unreachable ideal, and it would
be preferable to maintain a rather reserved attitude about it. At present,
China has entered a superior stage of speedy economic and social trans-
formation, a period also marked by rising social contradictions, a period
of intense social transformation as well as other specific historical phases
superimposed on it. In this context, what are the objective conditions and
driving factors for the “rise” of the middle class in China? Can we over-
come the many difficulties we face at present and in the future? Whether
the middle class can really “rise” needs to be studied and discussed in
depth and detail. Therefore, this should be the third major task of this
book.
Fourth, how can the rise of the middle class in China best be achieved?
This is another focus of this book. This problem will not only be a matter
of great concern to the relevant government authorities and academic
circles, but also arouse the interest of all categories of employers and
workers. As far as the government serving the people is concerned, of
course, it hopes to achieve the prosperity of the people and the strength
of the country. Then, in the historical process of building a moderately
1 INTRODUCTION 5
prosperous society in all respects and developing into a rich society, in

the specific historical stage of China’s economic and social transformation
facing many opportunities and challenges, what are the similarities and
differences between promoting the rise of the middle class in China and
the development and expansion of the middle class in other countries?
Based on the multidimensional national conditions, what is the basic path
of encouraging “Xingzhong ” (which means the rise of the middle class in
China)? What are the basic ideas, principles and main measures, and what
steps should be adopted at present? In this regard, it is necessary to carry
out an in-depth research and put forward countermeasures and sugges-
tions for the reference of the relevant competent government departments
and the relevant parties in the academic circles when forming a consensus
and during decision-making. In terms of employers and workers, How
can most workers become middle-class people on the basis of improving
their quality, skills and labor efficiency? How can we overcome the obsta-
cles and solve the problems? This aspect also calls for in-depth study,
as well as for the opinions of the employers and workers, as a valuable
point of reference. Therefore, this should be the fourth structural task
and constitutive element of this book.
With a view to fulfilling our mission to render an in-depth analysis of
the above-stated issues, we will design the basic framework and structure
of this book in the form of eleven chapters. Chapter 2 addresses the issue
of “The Urgent Need for the Rise of the Middle Class in Contemporary
China”, Chapter 3—“The Origin and Development of Middle Class”,
Chapter 4—“Who Is the Modern Middle Class in China”, Chapter 5—
“Analysis of the Status Quo and the Problems of the Middle Class in
Contemporary China”, Chapter 6—“The Rise of the Middle Class in
Contemporary China Looks Promising”, Chapter 7—“Valuable Expe-
rience Overseas”, Chapter 8—“Thoughts and Objectives regarding the
Comprehensive Rise of the Middle Class”, Chapter 9—“Basic Measures
for the Overall Rise of the Middle Class” and Chapter 10—“Key Work
of the Comprehensive “Xingzhong ” at Present. Among them, Chapter 2
expounds why the middle class should rise in contemporary China, Chap-
ters 3–5 jointly explain what the middle class is and how the middle class
both overseas and in our country came into being and developed, with the
focus on explaining the characteristics of the middle class in contempo-
rary China, Chapter 6 expounds how in the face of many challenges and
difficulties, contemporary China retains the capacity and ability to develop
and expand the middle class. Chapter 7 briefly introduces the experience
6 H. SU ET AL.
and lessons of the major countries with a developed market economy,

some emerging economies, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan, to present
both positive and negative experience for the rise of the middle class in
China. Chapters 8–10 jointly expound how to develop and expand the
middle class in contemporary China, along with its basic concepts, its
fundamental measures and the current key work. Through the above
ten chapters, the contemporary Chinese middle class described in the
book gains credibility and attraction, the reasons for the development and
expansion of the contemporary Chinese middle class are outlined, and the
basic ideas, principles and measures for the overall rise of the middle class
are found to be scientific and feasible. At the same time, this book seeks
to be as lively as possible when it comes to linguistic expression, so that it
can efficiently address both academic circles and more casual readers; it
can be used as a reference by academic and government institutions and
personnel, as well as by the general public, with the purpose of giving full
play to the role of this book in promoting the formation of a consensus
on the overall rise of the middle class in contemporary China.
CHAPTER 2
The Urgent Need for the Rise of the Middle

Class in Contemporary China
The term “contemporary” in this book refers to the historical period from
China’s reform and opening up to the present. “Contemporary China”
refers to China, which has entered the period of reform and opening up
in the twenty-first century, especially since the 18th National Congress
of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The term “the rise of the
middle class” in this book refers to the middle class’s emergence, develop-
ment, expansion, maturity and its due role throughout this process. From
the present to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist
Party of China and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s
Republic of China, it is a critical period of great strategic significance in
contemporary China. Within this first century, under the leadership of the
Communist Party of China, we will strive to achieve the goal of building
a moderately prosperous society in all respects and complete China’s
“great transformation”. In the second century, we will strive to shape
China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong,
democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious. During this period, the
Chinese people of all ethnic groups will strive to fulfill the Chinese dream
of achieving great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation under the leadership
of the Party. The heavy responsibility we shoulder is sacred, and the cause
we are engaged in is honorable. As history progresses, China has under-
gone profound changes in its economic and social development. We will
see that more significant changes will take place in the future. Among
© Zhejiang University Press 2022 7

H. Su et al., The Rise of the Middle Class in Contemporary
China, The Great Transformation of China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5099-5_2
8 H. SU ET AL.
them, what is the status and role of the rise of the middle class, whether
it is necessary and urgent, and what are the reasons to such an evolution?
These are the primary questions that this book undertakes to ponder on
and answer.
2.1 A New Question of Contemporary

China’s Development in Its New Stage
At present, in the process of building a moderately prosperous society
in all respects and heading toward a great modern socialist country that
is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious,
we need to analyze thoroughly and predict which are the new challenges
and requirements we will face. This is the basis for us to judge whether
contemporary China needs the rise of the middle class.
2.1.1 New Challenges

Contemporary China Is Facing to Leap Over
the “Middle-Income Trap”
Driven by the economic reform and the opening to the outside world,
China’s economy has been developing rapidly for a long time already and
has made remarkable achievements since the implementation of the policy.
From 1978 to 2013, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased
from US$21.681 billion to US$9.184986 trillion, attaining an average
annual growth rate of 9.8% in real terms; GDP per capita increased from
US$227 to US$6995.1 In 2014, China’s gross domestic product (GDP)
further increased to 63.6463 trillion yuan, exceeding US$10 trillion for
the first time according to the current exchange rate and making China
the world’s second-largest economy with a GDP of more than US$10
trillion, second only to the United States; the per capita GDP of 1978
was 46,531 yuan, and the average exchange rate of RMB that year was
6.1428 yuan. Accordingly, it can be calculated that the per capita GDP
of China reached US$75752 in 2014. However, since 2011, China’s
1 Baidu Baike: China’s GDP, data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
2 National Bureau of Statistics: The 2014 Statistical Communique on National Economic
and Social Development; National Bureau of Statistics: China’s per capita GDP reached
$7575 in 2014, STCN (http://m.stcn.com/), February 26, 2015. The average exchange
rate between RMB and the US dollar was 6.1428 yuan to the US dollar that year.
2 THE URGENT NEED FOR THE RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS … 9
economic growth is slowing down. Up to now, China is in the “three

periods superimposed phase”, namely, economic growth speed (“shifting
gear”) period, structural adjustment (“labour”) pains period and previous
stimulus policy digestion period. There are many difficulties that need to
be addressed and overcome, and the details are as follows.
Firstly, China’s economic growth rate is on the decline. The first 4 years
of the twelfth five-year plan witnessed the declining GDP growth rate of
China, from 9.5% in 2011, 7.7% in 2012, 7.7% in 2013 to 7.4%3 in 2014.
The projected growth rate for 2015 is 7%,4 and the average growth rate
is 7.82%; however, compared with 11.2% of the eleventh five-year plan,
the average growth rate of the twelfth five-year plan declined by 3.38%.
From this we can conclude that it is difficult to maintain the growth rates
of 6.5 and 5% in the thirteenth and fourteenth five-year plan, respectively.
Meanwhile, China’s productivity is also on the decline. In accordance with
the first group of statistics published in 2013 by the National Bureau of
Statistics, from 2011 to 2014, China’s labor productivity increased by
9.06, 7.32, 7.29 and 6.9%5 year on year, which shows a declining trend. It
means that although the employment has increased in the recent years, the
per capita productivity has undergone an opposite trend. It can be sure
that economic development has shifted gear from high-speed to medium-
speed growth.
Secondly, the adjustment to the economic structure and the transfor-
mation of the economic growth mode are not harmonized, impacting
on the economic growth rate. On the one hand, dealing with the excess
capacity will affect economic growth. Europe and the United States
hold that the reasonable proportion between production and demand is
79~83%. Nevertheless, in light of the 2013 Questionnaire and Follow-up
Survey for Chinese Entrepreneurs issued by CESS (Chinese Entrepreneur
Survey System), there are 19 manufacturing industries which operate
at a capacity utilization rate below 79%, 7 industries run at a capacity
utilization rate below 70%, and only that of 2 industries is nearly 79%.6
3 Data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

4 Quoted from Report on the Work of the Government by Premier Li Keqiang.
5 According to the attached sheet 3 “China’s Per-capita Productivity from 2010 to
2014” of The Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and Social Development of the
People’s Republic of China in 2014.
6 Quoted from Excess Surplus in China Is Still A Hot Potato, www.chinairn.com,
November 24, 2014.
10 H. SU ET AL.
According to the statistics, in 2012, the excess capacity of the steel,

cement, electrolytic aluminum and automobile industries is 21, 28,
35 and 12%,7 with certain industries struggling with substantial and
prolonged excess. There is no doubt that the mergers and acquisitions
as well as the reorganization of this enormous capacity will cause serious
problems to the economic growth and employment. On the other hand, a
number of industries with high pollution, energy consumption and emis-
sion, along with enterprises offering products of low added value, will be
eliminated, impacting on the economic growth. In compliance with the
Energy-Saving and Emission-Reduction during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan,
we shall reduce the capacity to less than 20 million kw. thermal power, 48
million tons of iron, 48 million tons of steel, 370 million tons of cement,
42 million tons of coke and 15 million tons of paper, close up and sell
enterprises turning out products with low added value, and reduce the per
unit of industrial output value of energy consumption by 21%, compared
with that of 2010. All these shall be further promoted in the period
of the thirteenth five-year plan and even in the longer run, which will
advantageously impact on the economic growth and employment rate.
Thirdly, China will lose its demographic dividend and step into the
aging period. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the working-
age (15–59) population of China at the end of 2012 was 937.27 million,
accounting for 69.2% of the total population. It also showed a decline
of 3.45 million, down by 0.6%8 year on year. This is the first decline of
the absolute number of working-age people in China in a long period of
time, and this trend will continue. Meanwhile, China is rapidly stepping
into the aging society and facing the phenomenon of getting old before
getting rich. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number
of people above 60 was 212.42 million at the end of 2014, accounting
for 15.5% of the total population, of which the number of people above
65 reached 137.55 million, accounting for 10.1%9 of the total popula-
tion. On the one hand, this situation renders the national strategy of
7 Zhang Qianrong, The Current Situation, Reasons and Coping Tactics of China’s Excess
Capacity, www.sic.gov.cn, July 16, 2014.
8 The National Bureau Statistics : The Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and
Social Development of the People’s Republic of China in 2012.
9 The National Bureau Statistics : The Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and
Social Development of the People’s Republic of China in 2014.
relying on the unlimited supply of labor and low-cost competition inef-

fective and incurs increasing labor cost as a result of a frequent lack of
manpower. On the other hand, in terms of the care of the senior citizens,
the society will be under great pressure, as China’s elderly dependency
ratio has increased from 10% in 2001 to 15% in 2014.10 According to
the relevant statistics bulletins of national economy and social develop-
ment issued by the National Bureau of Statistics, this ratio is expected
to increase. If we calculate the ratio of the number of people living on
pension and the number of people paying the premium of endowment
insurance, we can get a higher ratio. It is said that now three people
support one elder, while in the foreseeable future, one person has to
support one elder. Therefore, the pressure caused by the total amount
of pension and empty accounts will be increasingly severe. Some research
institutions and experts believe that the empty accounts may amount up
to 20 trillion. The two abovementioned aspects will bring new impacts
on China’s economic development.
Fourthly, the domestic demand is insufficient. For one thing, residents’
money is still not enough. Although the annual growth speed of Chinese
residents’ income in recent years is not low, in general, the proportion
of residents’ income in GDP is still not high. According to the “Capital
Flow Table” of China Statistical Yearbook, the total amount of Chinese
residents’ income took up about 62% of national GDP in 2012, which
has not returned to its highest record in 1996, 67.2%.11 On the basis of
the relatively lower ratio of residents’ income to GDP, although China’s
Gini coefficient has shown a downward trend in recent years, it still hit
0.46912 in 2014, which was higher than the international income distri-
bution warning line of 0.4 as well the Gini coefficients of most countries
in the world.
The income gap tends to be larger between urban and rural residents,
among regions, industries as well as residents, and the middle-income
group is much smaller than low-income group in scale. For example, in
2014, even after the successive increase, the net per capita income of 6
10 The elderly dependency ratio refers to the ratio of the population of the elders to
the population of the working-age people.
11 The data was cited from Su Hainan’s How to Correctly Judge and Realize Reasonable
Income Distribution Proportion, China Economic Times, February 19, 2014.
12 Cited from the Gini Coefficient posted by National Bureau of Statistics, published
by the Xinhua News Agency in January 20, 2015.
12 H. SU ET AL.
hundred million rural residents was only 9892 yuan, much lower than the
per capita disposable income of urban residents, 28,84413 yuan. Many
rural residents can merely afford basic food and clothes; over a hundred
million people are impoverished according to international poverty stan-
dard. Therefore, the residents’ consumption capacity is insufficient. For
another, due to the poor quality of domestic products and service, coun-
terfeit and substandard products is still a common problem, leading some
well-off residents to spend money overseas. In 2015, the Commerce
Minister announced at the press conference of the third session of the
12th National People’s Congress, that the overseas consumption in 2014
has exceeded one billion14 RMB, then part of the domestic demand was
lost overseas.
Fifthly, the faulty systems restrict economic and social development.
Main reasons to the abovementioned problems lie in the drawbacks of
Chinese economic and social systems, including several unfair and unjust
economic and social policies. For example, the relevant government
departments intervene in the market, which results in many managerial
staff having to spend 60–70% of working hours “visiting the govern-
ment” to deal with affairs, negatively impacting on the efficiency of the
enterprises they are leading; many flaws exist in the resource allocation
system. For instance, resources like land and minerals are disposed of
by a small number of people at a low price, which led to the rising of
parvenus who owns illegal incomes and properties and the big shot of the
coal industry; the rural residents are treated unfairly in terms of employ-
ment and benefits in cities advocating the household registration system;
obviously unreasonable discrepancies exist in the basic public service
between the urban and rural residents and so on. These drawbacks are not
only detrimental to the adjustment of economic structure and economic
development, but they also affect the enthusiasm and creativity of main
market players including employees and employers, which would further
impede the sustainable and healthy development of Chinese economy and
improvement of people’s life standards.
13 Cited from The Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and Social Development of
the People’s Republic of China in 2014 released by the National Statistical Bureau.
14 Quoted from Lin Qilin: The Commerce Minister: The Main Reason for Overseas
Consumption Boom Is the Dramatic Price Difference, Beijing News, March 8, 2015.
All these problems make us wonder whether we could step over

“Middle-income Trap” and climb over “High-income wall”.15 The new
major challenge is on its way.
According to the World Bank’s latest country or region classifications
by income level, “low-income economies are defined as those with a per
capita GNI of $1005 or less, middle-income economies are those with a
per capita GNI between $1006 and $12,275. The latter can be divided
into two classes: lower middle-income economies are those with a per
capita GNI between $1006 and $3975, upper middle-income economies
are those with a per capita GNI between $3976 and $12,275”.16 If a
country or a region’s per capita GNI hovers between $1,006 and $12,275
for a long period, it is caught in the “middle-income trap”; if it hovers
between $3,976 and $12,275 for long, it is in the “upper middle-income
trap”, or the senior stage of “middle-income trap”,17 and typical exam-
ples include Latin-American countries like Argentina. If a country or a
region’s per capita GDP is below $12,275 for a long period, it fails to
climb over the “high-income wall”. In 2001, China’s per capita GDP
reached $1024 and it was ranked in the lower middle-income economies.
It then took nine years to increase its per capita GDP to $4276 in 2010
(converted from ¥29,992, China’s per capita GDP of that year),18 which
is slightly higher than $3976,19 the lower limit of upper middle-income
economies in the World Bank’s latest classifications by income level. Thus,
the country has become one of the upper middle-income economies. As a
15 Cited from Zheng Bingwen: Chapter Eight “Trap” or “Wall”: The Real Challenges
and Strategy Selection faced by Chinese Economy, Middle-income Trap: Case Study from the
Latin America, The Contemporary World Press.
16 Cited from Zheng Bingwen. Middle-Income Trap: Case Studies from Latin America.
Chapter Nine Theoretical Interpretation of the Growth Path and the ‘Middle-Income
Trap’: on the Path and Policy for China to Break Through the “Trap”, Contemporary
World Press, 2012.
17 Refer to Zheng Bingwen. Middle-Income Trap: Case Studies from Latin America.
Chapter Ten China’s Three Historic Leaps and Coping with the 10 Causes of ‘Middle-
Income Trap’ in the Next 10 Years: From the Perspective of Experiences and Lessons of
Latin America and the World, Contemporary World Press, 2012.
18 China’s per capita GDP in 2010 was ¥29,992, or about $4,276 at the exchange rate
then, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Chapter Ten “China’s Three Historic Leaps and Coping with the 10 Causes of ‘Middle-
Income Trap’ in the Next 10 Years: From the Perspective of Experiences and Lessons of
Latin America and the World”, Contemporary World Press, 2012.
14 H. SU ET AL.
result, China should manage to increase its per capita GDP to $12,275 or
more by continuing to maintain sound and rapid economic development
within limited time. Only in this way can it leap over the “upper middle-
income trap” and climb over the “high-income wall”, so as to enter the
ranks of high-income economies and keep on developing upward. This is
also an essential goal for China to strive for common prosperity after it
finishes building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s per capita GDP
was $7,575 in 2014.20 Taking this figure as the basis, if China’s per capita
GDP can maintain an annual average growth rate of at least 6.5% during
the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Economic and Social Development of the
People’s Republic of China, and at least 5% during the 14th Five-Year
Plan, it could reach $11,053 (current price) by 2020. By 2025, China’s
per capita GDP is expected to reach $14,106.7 (current price) and will
successfully overcome the “upper middle-income trap” and the “high-
income wall”. If the above economic growth rate is guaranteed, China’s
per capita GDP will reach $12,795 by 2023, so it will have taken 13 years
to overcome the “trap” and the “wall” since 2010, when the country
was first ranked in the upper middle-income economies for the first time.
Taking an overview of the time that neighboring countries and regions
spent from becoming upper middle-income economies to overcoming
the “high-income wall”, we can see that Japan (1966–1985) and Singa-
pore (1971–1990) spent 19 years, respectively, South Korea (1977–1995)
and Hong Kong, China (1971–1989) spent 18 years, respectively.21 It is
hopeful that China can spend a little less time than the three countries
and one region based on lateral comparison. However, this is based on
the assumption that the annual growth rate of per capita GDP during the
13th and the 14th Five-Year Plan is no less than 6.5 and 5%, respectively.
Many uncertainties remaining, leaping over the “upper middle-income
trap” and climbing over the “high-income wall” still require the country
to pool ideas and wisdom, and take effective measures.
20 Cited from China’s Per Capita GDP has reached $7575, according to the National
Bureau of Statistics, China Economic Net, February 26, 2015.
Chapter Ten “China’s Three Historic Leaps and Coping with the 10 Causes of ‘Middle-
Income Trap’ in the Next 10 Years: From the Perspective of Experiences and Lessons
of Latin America and the World”, Section Two “China’s Three Historic Leaps: the
Background of Latin America and East Asia”, Contemporary World Press, 2012.
Both consensus and disagreements exist these days in governmental

and social discussions about how to stride over the middle-income trap
and enter the high-income range. The former agrees upon advancing
China’s economy and society across the trap through comprehensively
deepening the reform and further expanding opening up, while the
latter mainly falls in cognitive differences in improving people’s liveli-
hood, which includes expanding the middle-income class against the
background of a new normal in economic development. Some believe
that with the social welfare improving, the overgrowth of income and
wages should be suppressed while maintaining general economic growth,
thus adapting to the new normal in both ways and step across the
trap.22 Others hold the opposite idea that pushing forward the improve-
ment of people’s livelihood, namely increasing income and wages in line
with economic growths, reforming the income allocation mechanism and
narrowing unreasonable gaps and enlarging the middle-income group, is
key to maintaining the middle and high-speed economic development and
crossing the trap in addition to the direct measures of entrepreneurship,
innovation, industrial upgrading, economic structural adjustments and
investments. Undoubtedly, the second one accords closely with the CPC
Central Committee and the State Council’s general policies of placing
great emphases on improving people’s well-being. In other words, the
new challenge of crossing the middle-income trap and entering the high-
income range has put forward the question whether China’s middle class
shall emerge, which calls for serious thoughts and responses.
2.1.2 New Requirements for Building a Moderately Prosperous

Society in All Respects in the New Phase of the Great National
Transformation
Today, China has entered the critical stage of building a moderately pros-
perous society in all respects, as well as a new phase of the great national
transformation. To the former, only half a decade is left for the deadline
of the goal, which, according to the 18th National Congress, contains
five objectives covering economy, politics, culture, society and environ-
ment: (1) the sustainable and sound development of economy, (2) the
deepening democracy, (3) remarkable enhancement in cultural soft power,
22 Hairong Yan, 2015, Sina Blog.

16 H. SU ET AL.
(4) all-round advancement in people’s livelihood and (5) great progress

in building a resource-saving and environmentally friendly society. To
dive in, both (1) and (4) set goals in improving people’s life standards,
pursuing joint prosperity and promoting the level of basic public services
for urban and rural residents: (1) clearly states the purpose of doubling
GDP and per capita income in 2020 than in 2010, and requires “a
great rise in the contribution of scientific progress to economic growth
and the competitiveness to become an innovative nation”, “the general
achievement of industrialization, great leaps in the level of informa-
tization, huge improvements in urbanization and significant results in
modern agriculture and new socialist countryside construction”; in (4),
2020 shall witness “the overall equalization of basic public services”, “a
noticeable rise in the education for all and the cultivation of innovative
talents”, “more comprehensive employment, narrowing gaps in income
distribution, continuous expansion of the middle-income group, substan-
tial decrease of the needy population, and the overall coverage of social
security which includes basic medical services for all and fundamental
housing security mechanism”, which altogether contribute to a harmo-
nious and stable society and make China a power in talents and human
resources. Additional attention shall be paid to “continuous expansion”
and “middle-income group” mentioned in (4), which can be regarded
as another expression of expanding the middle-income class. Besides, (2)
claims “a diversity in the forms of democracy”, “full implementation of
the basic guideline of rule by law” and “solid respect and security of
human rights”; (3) requires that “the core socialist values to be deeply
rooted in people’s mind, and the level of social civilization to be markedly
improved”; (5) asks for “strengthened ecological stability and better living
environment”.23 All mentioned above are in accordance with the inner
pursuit of the middle class and the deserved living and social environ-
ment. Hence, the rise of middle class is contained in the five objectives
and deserves our efforts in the next five years.
In terms of the great transformation, as China is a 5000-year-old
nation with an area covering 9.6 million square kilometers and a popula-
tion of 1.36 billion, its transformation is much more difficult than that of
23 Quoted from President Hu’s report on the 18th National Congress of CPC, 2012,
Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and Strive to Complete
the Building of A Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, III. The goal to build a
moderately prosperous society and deepen the reform and opening up in all respects.
any other country. Meanwhile, the tasks are complicated. Regarding the
economic transition, China has to evolve from a medium–high income
country to a high-income country; regarding the growth pattern, we
shall replace the extensive model with an intensive model; regarding the
driving force, we shall lay more emphasis on the domestic demand and
rely on the joint effort of domestic demand, foreign trade and investment;
regarding the economic system, we shall replace the planned economy
with the improved market economy; regarding the economic mechanism,
we shall change the combination of market mechanism and administrative
mechanism, and let the market play its decisive role in resource allocation;
regarding the social transition, as the rural population still accounts for
nearly half of the total population, we shall accelerate urbanization and
increase the proportion of urban residents as compared to rural popu-
lation; regarding the demographic structure, talents will substitute for
less advantageous demographic factors; regarding the employment struc-
ture, as people now work in rural and urban areas is even, we need to
help the majority find a job in the secondary and tertiary industries;
regarding the income structure, we shall replace the unreasonable alloca-
tion system characterized by high Gini coefficient with a rigorous system;
regarding the consumption structure, middle- and high-end consump-
tion will substitute for low-end consumption; regarding the social class
structure, we shall change the pyramid-shaped structure into the olive-
shaped one; regarding social governance, the traditional and prescriptive
society will be more modern and open. Based on the abovementioned
tasks of the great transformation, it can be seen that the middle class is
contained, especially as regards the adjustment of the rural and urban
structure, employment structure, income structure, consumption struc-
ture and social class structure. Therefore, it is important for us to realize
the rise of the middle class during the period of the great transformation.
2.2 The Necessity and Urgency of the “Rising”

Middle Class in Contemporary China
Based on the above analysis and prediction of the new challenges and
requirements facing the critical period of completing the process of
building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and the transi-
tional stage of building a great power, we can draw the conclusion that
the development of the overall situation in China objectively requires
the rise of the middle class. Then, we should think about and figure
18 H. SU ET AL.
out the necessity, urgency and reasons for the rise of the middle class
in China. These reasons generally relate to the needs of meeting people’s
expectations, solving problems, expanding domestic demand, maintaining
stability and implementing policies. Only by sorting out and explaining
these things can we lay a foundation for the follow-up discussion of what
the contemporary Chinese middle class is like and how to achieve its rise.
2.2.1 The Urgent Need of Millions of People

to Pursue Common Prosperity
Looking back on the course of reform and opening up, it can be said that
the CPC transformed the Party’s line from taking class struggle as the key
link to centering on economic construction and sticking to it, which is a
course of meeting people’s expectation of realizing common prosperity
as soon as possible. Over the past 30 years, with the rapid development
of the economy, the income level of the people has greatly improved,
from 343 yuan per capita disposable income of urban residents in 1978
to 28,844 yuan in 2014, and from 1336 to 989224 yuan per capita net
income of rural residents in the same period, increasing by 83.09 times
and 73.04 times, respectively. Excluding price factors, the annual actual
growth rate was 7.62 and 7.41%, respectively.25 This is a great achieve-
ment. However, there is still a gap between it and the expectations of the
Chinese. On the one hand, the National Bureau of Statistics, in addition
to the net income, began to publish the per capita disposable income of
rural residents in 2014, which was 10,489 yuan that year, thus the abso-
lute level compounded with that of urban residents is still not high. In
the statistic, the per capita disposable income of urban residents is only
equivalent to $4695.6 at the average exchange rate of 6.1428:1 in 2014,
causing a low global rank, close to the overall well-off level merely at
Chinese standard rather than the international standard. Especially, the
per capita disposable income level of more than 600 million peasants is
24 Cited from the Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and Social Development of
the People’s Republic of China in 2014, of the National Bureau of Statistics.
25 Based on China Statistical Yearbook 1978, China Statistical Yearbook 2014 and
National Economic and Social Development Bulletin of the People’s Republic of China
2014.
3.74 times that of the international poverty standard.26 If calculated with

per capita net income of rural residents, the result will be at a lower level,
showing a larger gap as contrasted with the overall well-off standard of
China. At present, only few people in urban and rural areas can lead a
well-provided life, possess spacious houses of high quality and private cars,
go to the gym regularly, watch high-end literary and artistic performances,
and travel abroad from time to time. Most people are still longing for this
kind of life. On the other hand, for a long time, the per capita income of
urban and rural residents in China is higher than their respective median.
In 2014, the median per capita disposable income of urban residents was
92.3% of the average, and that of rural residents was only 90.5%.27 That
is to say, the income of more than half of both urban and rural residents
is lower than the respective average. With the high volume of the low-
income group, the range from common comprehensive well-off situation
to relatively affluence is still far from being reached. With the deadline for
building a comprehensive well-off society by 2020 lying within 6 years,
the people are eager to continue improving their living standards, and
the low-income group are more desperate for a moderately prosperous
society in all respects. It can be said that the expectation of hundreds of
millions of people for a common well-off life in an all-round way and
further for a relatively affluent life is the fundamental driving force for the
development and expansion of the middle class in contemporary China.
As the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, the
Communist Party of China (CPC) has always set common prosperity as
the goal pursued by the Party and the state. Especially since the reform
and opening up, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council
have made a series of decisions on it. After taking office in November
2012, the new central leadership with President Xi Jinping as the General
Secretary has paid more attention to promoting common prosperity while
developing the economy and clearly stated that “the people’s desire for
a better life is the goal we are striving to attain”. In the same year, the
18th National Congress of the CPC made such strategic arrangements:
by 2020, China’s economy will continue to develop in a healthy manner,
26 By dividing 10489 yuan by 6.1428 for the equivalent value of US dollars, then by
365 days for the daily value of $4.68, and then by the international poverty standard of
$1.25 for the result of 3.74 times.
27 Based on the National Statistical Bureau’s The Statistical Bulletin of National
Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China in 2014.
20 H. SU ET AL.
and great progress will be made in transforming the mode of economic

development. The GDP and the per capita income of urban and rural
residents will double that of 2010. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th
CPC Central Committee further pointed out that we should focus on
better ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, promoting social fair-
ness and justice, deepening the reform of the social system, reforming
the income distribution system and facilitating common prosperity. Our
party’s general policies are the concentrated embodiment of the pursuit
of common prosperity among hundreds of millions of people.
To pursue common prosperity, we must step up the construction of
an olive-shaped income distribution pattern and expand the middle class.
Common prosperity is closely related to the construction of an olive-
shaped distribution pattern. Whether “ensuring and improving people’s
livelihood, promoting social fairness and justice”, or “doubling GDP
and per capita income of urban and rural residents than that of 2010”,
it is inseparable from developing the economy, raising the income of
the people and straightening out income distribution relations. It also
cannot be achieved without the olive-shaped distribution pattern where
the middle class are in the majority. According to the National Bureau
of Statistics, the per capita disposable income of urban residents and
rural residents in 2010 were 19,109 yuan and 5,919 yuan, respectively.28
Doubling per capita income by 2020 does not mean simply multiply per
capita income in 2010 by two. Taking inflation into account, the per
capita income will exceed 38,218 yuan and 11,838 yuan by then, which
is a set of average figures. So, the meaning of doubling is not to double
the income of the richest and the poorest, but to increase the income of
middle- and low-income groups, so that the median per capita income of
residents is equal to or slightly higher than the average, further expanding
the middle class. Only by letting the majority of the people in society
ascend into the middle class, while at the same time leading and driving
the low-income class to keep up with them, raising their income through
hard work and legitimate business, and bringing the majority of them into
the middle class as well, can we all live a moderately well-off and pros-
perous life together, which is the common prosperity we should pursue.
Now, with 2020 less than six years away, it is imperative to speed up
28 Quoted from The Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and Social Development
of the People’s Republic of China in 2016.
the construction of the olive-shaped distribution pattern and social struc-

ture. Only in this way can we realize the goal of doubling the GDP and
per capita income of 2020 than that of 2010 on schedule, and achieve
common prosperity in line with China’s economic and social development
stage in a better and faster manner.
2.2.2 The Urgent Need to Solve the Prominent Issues in Income

Distribution in China
The problem of unfair income distribution in China is prominent and
has existed for a long time. The Gini coefficient is used to measure the
fairness of income distribution in a country internationally, and the Gini
coefficient of 0.4 is used as a warning line to measure the gap between the
rich and the poor. On January 18, 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics
released all Gini coefficients of China from 2002 to 2012. Ma Jiantang,
director of National Bureau of Statistics then, disclosed: “the Gini coef-
ficient of China’s national residents’ income has gradually increased from
2003 to 2008. It was 0.479 in 2003, 0.473 in 2004, 0.485 in 2005,
0.487 in 2006, 0.484 in 2007, and 0.491 in 2008. Then it gradually fell
back as it was 0.490 in 2009, 0.481 in 2010, 0.477 in 2011, and 0.474
in 2012”. As can be seen from the above figures, China’s Gini coefficient
exceeded the international warning line of 0.4 in 2003. It reached a peak
of 0.491 in 2008. Although gradually falling back, it remained at a level
above 0.47 until 2012. Moreover, there are still many doubts about the
above-mentioned data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The
data is considered to be lower and the actual situation of income gap
among Chinese people is even more serious. The Gini coefficient calcu-
lated by some research institutes or researchers is much higher than that
released by the National Bureau of Statistics. For example, the Gini coef-
ficient of Chinese household income was up to 0.61 in 2010 according
to a survey report of the Survey and Research Center for China House-
hold Finance in Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.29
Although many experts and scholars do not agree with this data, it can
supplement and correct the data of the National Bureau of Statistics from
another aspect. Data from both the National Bureau and relevant research
institutions shows that the gap between the rich and the poor in China is
29 Quoted from Gao Chen: Reported the Gini Coefficient of Chinese Households Reached
0.61, Beijing Times, December 10, 2012.
22 H. SU ET AL.
large, which has exceeded the international average level, indicating that
the social distribution pattern in China is very unreasonable with small
middle class and large bottom group.
The outstanding problems of China’s current income distribution are
the two low proportions and the widening income gap in many aspects.
The two proportions refer to the proportion of China’s resident income
to GDP and the proportion of the remuneration of labor to the primary
distribution, respectively. The proportion of resident income has kept
falling from the peak of 67.2% in 1996 to the lowest point of 57.7%
in 2004, and the proportion of the remuneration of labor has kept drop-
ping from 54.6% in 1992 to 47.2% in 2004. The result was calculated
according to the data provided by Data of Gross Domestic Product of
China, 1992–2004 (China Statistics Press, 2008), which was compiled by
the department of national accounts of NBS and the Financial Survey
and Statistics Department of PBC, and the China Statistical Yearbook
(2007, 2008, and 2009). The two proportions reached 62 and 49.4%,
respectively, by the year of 2012, failing to return to the highest record.
The income gaps in many aspects indicate the gap between the urban
and the rural, between different regions, different industries and different
groups. In terms of the gap between the urban and the rural, the urban–
rural income ratio expanded from 1.86:1 in 1985 to 3.3:1 in 2009, and
then shrank in recent years, but the ratio was still higher than three. The
ratio didn’t reduce to less than 3 for the first time until 2014, a total of
13 years later, though it remains 2.75, which was much higher than the
ones of some countries in East Asia, including Japan, South Korea and
Taiwan (Province), also higher than the ratio of China in 1985. From
the perspective of the regions, in 2012, the income difference between
40,188.3 yuan and 17,156 yuan, which are the highest urban per capita
disposable income in Shanghai and the lowest that in Gansu Province,
was 230,31 yuan, and the ratio was 2.34:1. The gap is larger than before.
From the perspective of industry, in 2013, the highest average wage
of employees was the financial industry, 99,659 yuan, and the lowest
industry was agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, 25,820
yuan, the ratio was 3.86, which was the 1.51 times of the highest-lowest
average wage ratio in 1998.30 From the point of view of groups, the
urban residents are grouped by five equal parts. In 2013, the ratio of the
30 Refer to the ratio of the average wages of 19 industries divided by industry categories
according to the Statistical Yearbook 2014 on pages 108~110, Table 4.15.
per capita disposable income of the highest income group to the lowest-
income group was 4.93 times. Although the gap gradually narrowed, it
remained significantly 3.61 times higher than the lowest number since
2000. In the same year, the ratio of the highest net income per capita
to the lowest net income of rural residents in the same period was 8.24
times.31 The gap expands the trend and is the 6.47 times when the gap
was the smallest in 2000. The per capita income of urban residents and
rural residents measured by five-share method in the National Bureau of
Statistics has only been practiced since 2000, so it can only be analyzed
since 2000. Based on the Report on the Family Development in China,
2015 issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission
of China on May 13, 2015, the income gap between residents is even
greater. According to reports released by the commission, the registered
gap was about 19 times32 between 20% of the highest-income families and
the 20% of the lowest-income families, which was far higher than the rele-
vant data of the National Bureau of Statistics. Other issues concerning the
wage gap between employees of different ownership systems, employees
of different employment systems and the senior management personnel
and ordinary employees of enterprises are also generally unreasonably
large. The income gaps above meet neither the realities of the primary
stage of development, nor the nature of a socialist country. Compared
with China’s neighbors, Japan and South Korea, and Taiwan Province,
China has many income gaps, such as the income gap between the urban
and rural residents, different industries and different groups, which has
aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people and has become a serious
issue of great interest to the society. They have ranked the top three hot
issues during period of the National People’s Congress and the National
Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The two low proportions and the large income gap in many aspects have
damped the enthusiasm of a considerable number of workers, hindered
China’s economy from maintaining rapid growth and impeded China
from crossing the “middle-income trap”. In this regard, it is urgent for
China to improve the reform of the income distribution system, build an
“olive-shaped” distribution pattern and curb the trend of expanding of
31 According to the data of the China Statistical Yearbook 2014.

32 According to “The Highest-income Gap of 19 times of the 2 or 3 Families as the Main
Families” issued by the Sina News, May 13, 2015.
24 H. SU ET AL.
the income gap to alleviate the problem. At the same time, it is also neces-
sary to eliminate the problem by deepening the reform of the economic
and social system and expanding the middle class.
2.2.3 The Urgent Need to Promote the Adjustment of China’s

Economic Structure and the Expanding of Domestic Demand
Since the 1990s, China’s consumption growth and economic devel-
opment have deviated to a certain extent, resulting in unreasonable
investment and consumption structure. There are many reasons for these
problems, including industrial structure and consumption structure. From
the aspect of industrial structure, there are many traditional industries
where exists many employees with low quality and low labor efficiency;
high energy consumption and high emission industries account for a large
proportion of industrial types, resulting in a seriously polluted environ-
ment; at the same time, the tertiary and the high-tech industries which
have a major contribution to the development of modern social and
economic development took a late start, experiencing a slower develop-
ment and employing fewer staff. According to the data released by the
National Bureau of Statistics in 2013, although the added value of the
primary industry accounted for the lowest proportion of GDP in 2012,
only 9.2%, its employees still reached 257 million people, accounting for
33.6%33 of the total number of employees in the three industries of the
country at that year. New developments have taken place in the secondary
and the tertiary industries in the recent two years. The proportion of
added value in the secondary industry was 42.6% in 2014, and that of
added value of the tertiary industry was 48.2% of the second industry, but
still lower than that of some developing countries like India. The above
situation shows the irrationality of China’s economic structure, which
directly affects the speed and the quality of China’s economic develop-
ment, and becomes a restrictive factor that is not conducive to avoiding
the “middle-income trap”. From the point of view of investment and
consumption structure, over the years, the emphasis on investment to
promote economic development and the neglect of consumption have led
to many problems in the China’s consumption, which are mainly reflected
in four aspects:
33 According to the data of 2012 recorded in Employment Number and Proportion in

Three Industries from 1952 to 2012 in Baidu Wenku.
Firstly, the consumption rate and the contribution of consumption

demand to economic growth continue to decrease. The consumption
growth rate is significantly lower than that of investment and GDP
growth. This is reflected in the long-term fluctuation of consumption rate,
which has been declining since 2000. The consumption rate has dropped
from 62.3% in 2000 to 49.1% in 2011, and the final consumption rate of
residents has dropped from 46.4 to 35.5%34 during the same period.
Second, the growth rate of per capita consumption level and the
total consumption of residents is obviously slower than that of economic
growth. From 1978 to 2013, the growth rate of consumption level fluc-
tuated from 5 to 10%, with an average growth rate at 7.8%. Meanwhile,
the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) fluctuates mainly from
8 to 14%, with an average growth rate at 9.9%.
Thirdly, the growth of consumption level of residents in China is rela-
tively slow, while that of government is relatively fast. It shows that the
consumption level of residents increases steadily at a rate of 7.8% annu-
ally, while since the reform and opening up the average growth rate
of government expenditure has reached 15.5%. Since 1993, the growth
rate of fiscal expenditure has fluctuated around 20%, reaching a peak of
25.7% in 2008.35 The growth rate of government expenditure is much
higher than that of the residents’ consumption. Although part of govern-
ment expenditure is used for people’s livelihood, including social security,
employment, education and medical expenditure, which accounts for only
about 10% of the total, the remaining 90% is still much higher than the
growth rate of residents’ consumption.
Lastly, the rural consumption level is growing slowly, also character-
ized by a wide gap between urban and rural residents’ consumption
level. These problems directly lead to the shortage of domestic demand
in China, which is not only detrimental to the stimulation of economic
growth, but also a significant factor restricting China’s potential to cross
the “middle-income trap”.
The country now finds itself at the important stage of economic and
social transformation, undergoing a crucial period of reform. The current
mode which relies mainly on government investment to promote the
34 Quoted from Guo Feiran, How to View the Level of China’s Consumption Rate?—
Dialogue with Experts, Seeking Truth, No. 15, 2013.
35 Quoted from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics.
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Title: Education and life

papers and addresses
Author: James H. Baker
Release date: December 2, 2023 [eBook #72291]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Longmans, Green and co, 1900
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDUCATION

AND LIFE ***
EDUCATION AND LIFE
EDUCATION AND LIFE
PAPERS AND ADDRESSES
BY
JAMES H. BAKER, M.A., LL.D.
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, AND FORMERLY
PRINCIPAL OF THE DENVER HIGH SCHOOL; AUTHOR
OF “ELEMENTARY PSYCHOLOGY”
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
LONDON AND BOMBAY
1900
Copyright, 1900, by
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
All rights reserved
Press of J. J. Little & Co.

Astor Place, New York.
PREFACE.
The papers and addresses constituting this volume were prepared

for various occasions. They naturally fall into two groups: papers on
Education, and addresses that come under the broader title of
Education and Life. The subjects of the first group are arranged in a
somewhat logical order, namely: a general view of the field,
especially as seen by Plato; secondary education and its relation to
the elementary and higher; some principles and problems of the
elementary and secondary periods; higher education; the practical
bearing of all mental development.
Some of the leading views presented in this book may be
expressed in the following propositions: While our educational
purpose must remain ideal, all education must be brought in closer
touch with the work and the problems of to-day. For the safety of
democracy and the welfare of society, the social aim in the
preparation for citizenship must be given more prominence. Although
methods that make power are the great need of the schools, mental
power without a content of knowledge means nothing; each field of
knowledge has its own peculiar value, and, therefore, the choice of
studies during the period of general training is not a matter of
indifference. Studies belonging to a given period are also good
preparation for higher grades of work—a view to be more fully
considered by the colleges. In the readjustments of our educational
system, the entire time between the first grade and college
graduation must be shortened. Some common-sense concepts
which have always dwelt in human consciousness, properly kept in
view, would often prevent us from wandering in strange pedagogic
bypaths. We have suffered from false interpretation of the doctrines
of pleasure, pursuit of inclination, punishment by natural
consequences, and following lines of least resistance. Evolution and
modern psychology, in their latest interpretations, are reaching a
safe philosophy for school and life. At the close of this century we
have almost a new insight into the doctrine of happiness through
work. The heroic, ethical, and æsthetic elements of character are of
prime importance. We often find some of the best principles of
teaching and rules of life in literature which does not rank as
scientific, but contains half-conscious, incidental expression of deep
insight into human nature, and in some of the writers referred to in
the addresses we find, not only good pedagogics, but fresh hope for
both romance and practical philosophy. For our view of life and for
our theory of education, we are to interpret evolution and judge the
purpose of creation, not by the first struggle of a protozoan for food,
but by the last aspiration of man for Heaven.
CONTENTS.
EDUCATION.
PAGE
I. Heritage of the Scholar 3
Greek and Teuton, 3. Our heritage, 5. Education, 9.
Force of ideas, 14. The material and the spiritual, 18. The
American student, 19. Literature of the nineteenth century,
21. Romance not dead, 23. Aspect of science, 25. Practical
side, 26.
II. Plato’s Philosophy of Education and Life 29
Historical, 29. Plato and the influence of Platonism, 32.
Philosophy, 34. Religion, 38. Ethics, 39. Education, The
state, 43-46. Comments, 46. “Plato, thou reasonest well,”
49.
III. Secondary Education: A Review 50
Introductory, 50. Summary of recommendations, 52.
Beginning certain studies earlier, 55. The high-school
period, 57. Identity of instruction, Better teachers,
Postponing final choice of a course, 60-61. Uniformity, 61.
Connection between high schools and colleges, Standard
of professional schools, Adequate work for each subject,
Reducing number of subjects, 63-64. Rational choice of
subjects, 64. Analysis of the nature and importance of each
leading subject of study, 66.
IV. Educational Values 69
Criterion, 69. Values, 69. Theory of equivalence, 72.
Deviation from ideal courses, Self-activity, Interest,
Apperception, Correlation, Coördination, Culture-epochs,
Concentration, Laws of association, 74-78. Pleasure, 78.
V. Power as Related to Knowledge 80
Attempt to distinguish between power and knowledge,
80. Illustrations and inferences, 81. Review of article on
methods that make power, 84. The recluse and the man of
action, 86. Exaggeration of power, Specializing too early,
Kind of knowledge important, Specific and general power,
Argument for higher education, 86-89. Power to enjoy,
Energy of character, 89-91.
VI. Moral Training 92
Introductory, 92. Habit, 92. Leadership, 95. Historic
examples, Literature, 96-98. Precept, Objects for activity,
98-99. Duty, 99. What the schools are doing, 101.
VII. Can Virtue be Taught? 103
Protagoras’ view, 103. Ethical problem of secondary
schools, 103. Analysis of impulses to action, 105. Relation
of whole school curriculum to moral development, 107.
Some specific ways of teaching practical ethics, 108.
Interest, 112. Romanticism, 113. Moral growth a growth in
freedom, 115.
VIII. College and University 116
Summary of answers to inquiries, 116. The college and
preparation, 117. Liberal education, 121. The college and
active life, 124. Ethical ideals, 125. University standards,
127.
IX. University Ideals 130
Historical, 130. The State University, 132. Some
university problems, 139.
X. General Education Practical 145
Practical bearing of all education, 145. World still
demands liberal education, Æsthetic and ideal elements,
148-151.
ELEMENTS OF AN IDEAL LIFE.
I. The Modern Gospel of Work 155
Philosophy of work, 155. Some exemplars, 161. Modern
romance, 163. Work for others, 165. The complete man,
167. Epic and idyl, 169.
II. 172
The Psychology of Faith
Question stated, 172. Some latest views of evolution,
175. Some grounds of faith, 176. Poetic insight, 183. The
practical life, 184.
III. Evolution of a Personal Ideal 187
Illustration and law of growth, 187. Stationary ideals,
Advance, 188-193. Means of development, 193. Be of to-
day, 195. A creed, 196.
IV. The Greek Virtues in Modern Application 199
Essential conditions for a satisfactory life, 199. A sound
body, 200. Courage, 201. Wisdom, 203. Justice, 205.
Reverence, 207. The practical world, 209.
V. The Student as Citizen 211
Hebrew and Greek standards of citizenship, 211. Each a
part of the whole, 213. Responsibility of the scholar, 214.
The student’s obligation to the state, 216. Political
standards, 218.
VI. Optimism and Interest 221
Ground and nature of interest, 221. Many interests, 222.
Validity of instinct, 223. Moral grades, 225. Cultivation of
interest, 227. Happiness, 230. Occupation, 232.
VII. The Ethical and Æsthetic Elements in Education 234
Baccalaureate Day, 234. Courage and opportunity, 234.
“Laughter of the soul at itself,” 237. Attitude toward religion,
238. Love of art, 241.
VIII. Progress as Realization 243
Theme illustrated, 243. Individual history, 244. Ideals and
development, 245. Significance of higher emotional life,
250. Future of history and philosophy, 252. Realization,
253.
EDUCATION.
EDUCATION.
HERITAGE OF THE SCHOLAR.
For a thousand years before the Teuton appeared on the scene of

civilization, the sages had been teaching in the agora of Athens and
in the groves and gardens of its environs. There profound subjective
philosophies were imparted to eager seekers for truth, and in the
schools geometry, rhetoric, music, and gymnastics gave to the Attic
youth a culture more refined than was ever possessed by any other
people. The Athenians were familiar with a literature which, for purity
and elegance of style, was never surpassed. The Greeks believed
with Plato, that “rhythm and harmony find their way into the secret
places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, bearing grace in
their movements, and making the soul graceful of him who is rightly
educated.” There temples rose with stately column and sculptured
frieze, and art fashioned marble in the images of the gods with a
transcendent skill that gave an enduring name to many of its
devotees.
Meantime our ancestors were wandering westward through the
forests of Europe, or were dwelling for a time in thatched huts on
some fertile plain, or in some inviting glade or grove. But these
children of the forest, almost savages, possessed the genius of
progress, a power that turned to its own uses the civilization of the
past, and almost wholly determined the character of modern history.
They highly esteemed independence and honor. In their estimate of
woman they stood above the people of antiquity, and the home was
held sacred. They possessed a practical and earnest spirit, an inborn
dislike for mere formalism, and a regard for essentials that later
developed in scientific discovery and independence of thought. The
Teuton had a nature in which ideas took a firm root, and he had a
profoundly religious spirit, impressible by great religious truths. He
listened to the rustle of the oak leaves in his sacred groves, as did
the Greeks at Dodona, and they whispered to him of mysterious
powers that manifested themselves through nature. The scalds, the
old Teutonic poets, sang in weird runic rhymes of the valorous deeds
of their ancestors.
How the Teutons hurled themselves against the barriers of the
Roman Empire, how they overran the fields of Italy, how they
absorbed and assimilated to their own nature what was best in the
civilization of the ancients, how they formed the nuclei of the modern
nations, how the renaissance of the ancient literature and art in Italy
spread over Western Europe and reached England, and later an
offshoot was transplanted to American soil—these and similar
themes constitute some of the most interesting portions of history.
Not least important is the fact that the Roman world gave the
Teutons the religion of Christ, that highest development of faith in
things not seen, which, to the mind of many a searcher in rational
theology, is a necessary part of a complete plan, to a belief in which
we are led by a profoundly contemplative view of nature and human
life. We study the past to know the present. Man finds himself only
by a broad view of the world and of history, together with a deep
insight into his own being. Our present institutions are understood
better when viewed historically; in the light of history our present
opportunities and obligations assume fuller significance.
By the mingling of two streams, one flowing from the sacred founts
of Greece and Rome, the other springing from among the rocks and
pines of the German forests, a current of civilization was formed
which swept onward and broadened into a placid and powerful river.
Let us view the character of the present period, and learn to value
what has come down to us from the past—our heritage of institutions
and ideas, a heritage derived from the two sources, Greco-Roman
and Teutonic.
The independent, practical, investigating energy of the Teutonic
character has made this an age of scientific discovery and material
progress. The forces of nature are turned to man’s uses. Science
discovers and proclaims the laws of nature’s processes, and
evolution admits that, in view of every phenomenon, we are in the
presence of an inscrutable energy that orders and sustains all
nature’s manifestations. The ideas of the Christian religion,
universally received by the new peoples, in the course of centuries
have forced themselves in their full meaning upon the minds of men,
and they determine more than all else the altruistic spirit of the age.
Altruism is the soul of Christianity; it has become a forceful and
practical idea, and it promises greater changes in political and social
conditions than the world has ever seen. The religious revolt of the
sixteenth century is a Teutonic inheritance—a revolt which
transmitted some evils, but which abjured formalism and based merit
upon the essential, conscious attitude of man. If the impulse that
grew into the revolution of the eighteenth century and led to political
emancipation was not of Teutonic origin, it was received and
cherished everywhere by Teutonic peoples, and was carried by them
to permanent conclusions. The modern Teuton is found in his highest
development in the intelligent American of to-day. The ancient
Teuton caught up the torch of civilization, and in the fourteen
centuries since has carried it far. It is, perhaps, a return kindly made
by fate that the light of that torch was for many years a beacon to
benighted Italy. The modern Teuton extends to her the hand of
enlightened sympathy, and remembers in gratitude the great gift
received from her in the early centuries.
And we inherit from the ancients, those master minds that were
the authors of great conceptions when the world was young. Greece
was the Shakespeare of the ancient world. It transmuted all that it
had received from the nations of the Orient into forms of surpassing
genius, even as the great master of the Elizabethan period of our era
turned all that he touched into precious metal. When the world was
crude, and there were no great originals to imitate, it meant much to
create, and create so perfectly that many of the results have ever
since been ideals for all peoples. Phidias and Apelles, Pericles and
Demosthenes, Homer and Euripides, Herodotus and Xenophon,
Aristides, Socrates and Plato and Aristotle—artists, statesmen,
orators, poets, historians, men great and just, philosophers! Can we
wonder that the glory of their names increases with time? They were
men whom no truly independent worker ever surpassed. No wonder
the soil of Greece is sacred, and that men of to-day go back in
imagination across the chasm of ages and visit it with reverential
spirit. No wonder we still go to the original sources for culture and
inspiration. No wonder the great and noble men of Greece are still
among the best examples for the instruction of youth. The pass at
Thermopylæ, where perished the three hundred, the Parthenon, are
hallowed by sacred memories. The Greeks had a marvellous love for
nature. They saw it instinct with life, and in fancy beheld some
personal power moving in the zephyr, or flowing with the river, or
dwelling in the growing tree. Their mythology has become the
handmaid of literature. Parnassus, Apollo and the Sacred Nine
command almost a belief with our reverence. If the seats on the
sacred mount are already filled with the great men of the past, at
least we can sit at their feet. The study of the humanities has a
peculiar value, because it develops distinctively human possibilities.
Thought and language are mysteriously connected. One of the most
noted philologists of the age claims that thought without language is
impossible. The use of language helps to develop concepts. Fine
literature, with its thoughts, its beauty of expression, constructs, as it
were, the best channels for original expression. Art strives for
perfection, cultivates ideals, refines and ennobles. It creates an
understanding of all the ideals that may be included in the categories
of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good; hence the interpretation of
the aphorism of Goethe, “The beautiful is greater than the good, for it
includes the good and adds something to it.” Art gives strength to the
aspirations, and lends wings to the spirit. The study of the
humanities is a grand means of real development.
The present offers the student two sides of education—the
modern and the classic, the sciences and the humanities. Ever since
the Baconian method was given to the world the interest in science
has steadily increased, until now there is danger of neglecting the
classic side. Each side of education has its value; either alone
makes a one-sided man; let neither be neglected.
In this country to-day the student moves in the vanguard of
progress; he is heir to all that is best in the past, and his heritage
makes for him opportunities full of promise.
All the soul growth of our ancestors modifies the mechanism of our
intellectual processes, and gives us minds that fall into rhythm with
the march of ideas. We profit by all the past has done; the active
factors in this age of freedom—intellectual, spiritual, and political—
are multiplied by millions, and each profits by the efforts of all.
Intellectual acquirement is a duty; to be ignorant is to be behind the
spirit of the time. There are problems yet to be solved; there are
duties to ourselves and the age. Every individual tendency, fitness,
and inclination can be met by the diversity of occupations, of
knowledge, and of fields of investigation. Men of moral stamina are
still needed to stand for all that is best. New ideals are to be created
that shall typify an age which yet lacks poetic expression. When we
consider the evolution of man and of institutions, we see that we are
very far from perfection, and that each period of history is a period of
development. We read of the brutal traits of our ancestors, their
ignorance, and their superstition, and we can still discover the same
tendencies, only more refined and better controlled. Along the
avenue of progress we march toward the high destiny of the race.
Evolution is the law both of Spencer and of Hegel. Every struggle of
an earnest soul gives impetus to the movement.
A Shakespeare, reared on the steppes of Central Asia, among the

Tartar hordes of Genghis Khan, would have been a savage—a
poetic savage, perhaps, but still a savage—bloodthirsty, restless,
and wild. Born of a primitive race, in some sunny clime, he would
have looked dreamily upon the world and life, somewhat as an
animal of the forest; he would have fed on the spontaneous products
of nature, and have reposed under the shadow of his palm tree.
Shakespeare of England, by a long process of education, gained the
ideas of his age and the culture of the great civilizations of the past.
His education and the forceful ideas of a period of thought and
reformation and investigation stimulated the distinctively human
intelligence, and awakened subjective analysis and poetic fancy, and
he made true pictures of human character, world types, in history,
tragedy, and comedy. Education enables man to begin real life
where the previous age left off. It is an inherited capital. Ideas,
fancies, principles, laws, discoveries, experience from failures, which
were the work of centuries, are furnished ready at hand as tools for
the intellectual workman. The present is understood in the light of
history; the methods of investigating nature are transmitted. The
growth of the race is epitomized in the individual.
Let us look at the sphere of education. Here is the world of infinite
variety, form, and color. The savage looks upon it with superstitious
wonder, and, perhaps, with a kind of sensuous enjoyment. He knows
not how to wield nature to practical ends. But the book of science is
opened to him through education. He learns the secrets of nature’s
laboratory and, as with magic wand, he marshals the atoms and
causes new forms of matter to appear for his uses. He learns the
manifestations and transmutations of nature’s forces, and he trains
them to obey his will and do his work. He observes how, under the
influence of a distinct order of forces, organic forms rise on the face
of nature and develop into higher and higher classes, and,
incidentally, he learns the uses of vegetable products. He knows the
laws of number; commodities, structures, and forces are
quantitatively estimated, and material progress becomes possible.
He traces the history of nations and understands the problems of the
present. He catches the inspiration of the geniuses of literature, and
he rises to a level with the great minds of the earth; he becomes a
creature of ideas, sentiments, aspirations, and ideals, instead of
remaining a mere animal. He learns the languages of cultured
peoples, and gets at their inner life; learns their concepts, the polish
of their expression, and becomes more enlightened and refined. He
studies the subjective side of man, that which is a mirror of all that is
objective, and he understands his own powers and possibilities, and
the laws of human growth. He studies philosophy, and he stands
face to face with the ultimate conceptions of creation and gains a
basis for his thought and conduct. This is a practical view, and
pertains to the making of a useful and strong man—master over the
forces of nature, able to use ideas for practical ends, and capable of
continuous growth.
But knowledge as such, and its use for manhood and happiness,
are often underestimated. To know the processes and history of
inorganic nature, to trace the growth of worlds and know their
movements, and number the starry hosts, to study the structure and
development of all organic life, to know the infallible laws of
mathematics, to live amid the deeds of men of all ages, to imbibe
their richest thoughts, to stand in presence of the problems of the
infinite, make a mere animal man almost a god, direct him toward
the realization of the great possibilities of his being. Imagine a man
born in a desert land, and shut in by the walls of a tent from the
glories of nature. Imagine him to have matured in body with no
thought or language other than pertaining to the needs of physical
existence. Imagine him, since we may imagine the impossible, to
have a fully developed power for intellectual grasp and emotional
life. Then open up to him the beauty of the forest, the poetry of the
sea, the grandeur of the mountains, and the sublimity of the starry
heavens; let him read the secrets of nature; present to him the
writings of men whose lives have been enriched by their own labor,
and whose faces radiate an almost divine expression born of good
thoughts; reveal to him the glowing concepts that find expression
through the chisel or brush of the artist, and give him a view from the
summit of philosophy. Would he not look upon nature as a
marvellous temple of infinite proportions, adorned with priceless
gems and frescoed with master hand? Would he not regard art and
thought as divinely inspired? And this picture is hardly overdrawn;
such a contrast, only less in degree, lies between the vicious,
ignorant boor, given to animal pleasures, and the scholar. Learning
draws aside the tent folds and reveals the wonders of the temple.
Man must have enjoyment; if not intellectual, then it will be sensuous
and degrading. Here is an enjoyment that does not pall, a stimulus
that does not react, a gratification that ennobles.
Moreover, education trains the powers through knowledge. The
power to observe accurately the world of beauty and wonder; the
power to recombine and modify in infinite kaleidoscopic forms the
percepts and images of the mind, making possible all progress; the
power to elaborate, verify, and generalize; the power to feel the
greatness of truth, the rhythms and harmonies of the world and the

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The Rise of the Middle Class in

Contemporary China Hainan Su

The Rise of the

China’s Economic Transformation, Innovation

Xian Wang Chen Sijia

Jointly published with Zhejiang University Press

© Zhejiang University Press 2022

The Year 2020: A Historic Choice

the historical opportunity of 2020, we will lose the initiative of “great

a significant breakthrough in the reform of industrial structure, urban-

September 2015 Chi Fulin

2.2.4 The Urgent Need to Form a Rational

4.2.2 National Reality Analysis for Standards 77

5.3.3 The Unreasonable Industrial Structure

6.4.1 The Government Has Formulated

7.2.2 The Development of the Middle Class

9.1.2 Connecting the Comprehensive

9.5 Strengthening Education and Spiritual

10.3.1 Accelerating the Improvement of the Social

Table 4.1 The Indicator System to Show Regional Difference 88

© Zhejiang University Press 2022 1

becoming more abundant. In this context, how can we adopt a suit-

middle class”, “pseudo middle class” or “ultra-middle class”. In recent

prosperous society in all respects and developing into a rich society, in

and lessons of the major countries with a developed market economy,

The Urgent Need for the Rise of the Middle

© Zhejiang University Press 2022 7

2.1 A New Question of Contemporary

2.1.1 New Challenges

economic growth is slowing down. Up to now, China is in the “three

3 Data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

According to the statistics, in 2012, the excess capacity of the steel,

relying on the unlimited supply of labor and low-cost competition inef-

All these problems make us wonder whether we could step over

Both consensus and disagreements exist these days in governmental

2.1.2 New Requirements for Building a Moderately Prosperous

22 Hairong Yan, 2015, Sina Blog.

(4) all-round advancement in people’s livelihood and (5) great progress

2.2 The Necessity and Urgency of the “Rising”

2.2.1 The Urgent Need of Millions of People

3.74 times that of the international poverty standard.26 If calculated with

and great progress will be made in transforming the mode of economic

the construction of the olive-shaped distribution pattern and social struc-

2.2.2 The Urgent Need to Solve the Prominent Issues in Income

31 According to the data of the China Statistical Yearbook 2014.

2.2.3 The Urgent Need to Promote the Adjustment of China’s

33 According to the data of 2012 recorded in Employment Number and Proportion in

Firstly, the consumption rate and the contribution of consumption

Title: Education and life

Author: James H. Baker

Release date: December 2, 2023 [eBook #72291]

Original publication: New York: Longmans, Green and co, 1900

Credits: Bob Taylor, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDUCATION

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

All rights reserved

Press of J. J. Little & Co.

The papers and addresses constituting this volume were prepared

For a thousand years before the Teuton appeared on the scene of

A Shakespeare, reared on the steppes of Central Asia, among the

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