Urban Life

In recent years, more foreign students have chosen to celebrate their New Year's holidays in Beijing. Some appear on local TV stations to participate in the "Foreigners Speak Chinese" contest; some celebrate the New Year with Chinese friends' and sample authentic Beijing jiaozi (dumplings). These foreigners have witnessed, with their own eyes, the great changes that had taken place in the daily lives of Beijing's residents with regard to their clothing, food, housing, transportation and enjoyment. They have witnessed, first-hand, the improvement in the Beijing people's living standards.

In 2005, Beijing residents spent 74.8 billion yuan (US$9.35 billion) on food, an increase of 16 percent over 2004. They spent 28.1 billion yuan (US$3.51 billion) on clothing, and this market has not been overlooked by the international brand names and designers who are charging into the Beijing market. About 163.8 billion yuan (US$20.48 billion) was spent on daily commodities. As more people buy houses in suburban areas, the retail volume in suburban areas rose to 38.3 billion yuan        (US$4.79 billion). As people have become more affluent, automobiles and houses have become hot consumption items. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan, Beijing completed more than 110 million square metres of commercial residential houses, with annual completions and sales of 20 million square metres of commercially available housing.

To make housing affordable even for low-income families, the city exerted itself to build economical, affordable houses; it implemented a system to provide reduced-rent housing to those families. The per capita living space for urban residents exceeded 19 square metres, and the per capita living space for farmers exceeded 34 square metres. Living conditions for Beijingers greatly improved. The housing requirements for people with different incomes have basically been met.

In 2005, more than 500,000 vehicles were sold in Beijing, including 330,000 new cars. There were more than 1.4 million private cars in the city, which meant nearly 30 cars for every 100 households. Residents' expenditures on services such as education, travel and fitness increased, and expenditures on in-family services accounted for at least 30 percent of consumer spending.

Expenditures for medical care, transportation and entertainment and educational and cultural services accounted for 9.6 percent, 14 percent and 17 percent of consumer expenditures, increasing by 2.7 percentage points, 7 percentage points and 2 percentage points over that of 2000.