'Ants' struggle to own dream homes
Tang Song is a 30-year-old native of Guangxi who went to Beijing 12 years ago for university studies. There he met the woman who was to become his wife. But now the couple has to leave. Their first child is on the way, they say, and they can't afford a flat.
Li Li, 32, graduated from university in Changsha, Hunan , and went to Shanghai. After pouring 10 years of savings into a two-bedroom flat, he and his wife enjoy feeling like natives of the city. Even so, they say they can't dismiss the idea that they too may have to leave some day.
For years, first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been a magnet for university graduates and experienced professionals from across the mainland. They go, betting on good job openings and better salaries.
Economists say the first five years of the 21st century were the golden age of investment in top mainland cities. Investors poured in billions of yuan, creating a sea of work opportunities.
But today, to leave or to stay has become a serious consideration. Young professionals struggle to own their dream homes as housing prices surge.
Tang and his wife have a combined monthly income of about 10,000 yuan (HK$11,400). They looked for a second-hand flat of 70-odd square metres priced at 1.2 million yuan on the outskirts of Beijing. But the savings of the white-collar couple and help from their parents were not enough for the down payment of about 400,000 yuan. 'After months of research, we came to realise that home ownership in the national capital is squarely out of reach for those like us,' he says.
In their hometown of Nanning , the couple would probably earn half of what they now make, but average housing prices there are only a quarter of Beijing's more than 20,000 yuan per square metre.
While the Tangs have chosen to move out of Beijing, those determined to pursue the Chinese dream of owning their own residences are struggling in the first-tier cities.
Li and his wife acknowledge life is not easy. Their 80-square-metre flat in Shanghai costs 2 million yuan. With half of their 20,000 yuan monthly income spent on mortgage payments, the couple faces financial pressure.
They say that's the main reason they're still childless. 'We are not certain if we can stay here our entire lives until we have paid off our mortgage, which runs for 20 years,' Li says. 'What if either one of us is laid off?'
Fresh university graduates try to get well-paid jobs in the government, a bank, a conglomerate or a Fortune 500 company. They hope their wages can rise fast enough so that by the time they are 30, they can think about buying a place.
Chinese sociologists coined the term 'ant tribe' to describe young migrants who flock to big cities in hopes of a better life, only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions.
Tangjialing village in northern Beijing had 3,000 residents not long ago. New 'ants in the tribe' have pushed up the population to 50,000.
Peking University scholar Lian Si , in his book Ant Tribe, estimates one million people in total constitute 'ant communities' in major cities. Beijing alone has about 100,000.
'Most make no more than 2,000 yuan a month,' Lian says. 'They rent a bunk bed for about 300 yuan, have two meals a day, and commute one to two hours to work in central Beijing.'
One young man reportedly staged a protest on board the Shanghai metro. Sporting a tent, he told sympathetic commuters his tale of woe about not being able to find a wife because he couldn't afford a flat.
'I don't have a flat, but I do have a brand new tent,' he proclaimed.
Frustration over unaffordable real estate finds expression in rock 'n' roll. Playing off the Beijing Olympics 2008 slogan of 'Beijing welcomes you', one song is called Shanghai Does Not Welcome You. Its lyrics depict poor young people being sent packing to make way for luxury houses to be built for the rich - the only ones made to feel welcome.
One of the most talked-about television programmes is a soap opera called Snail House, which features corruption and political intrigue surrounding young people's attempts to buy houses as prices soar. A young couple depicted in the show failed to raise a property deposit in a city resembling Shanghai. The series struck such a raw nerve that government censors ordered it off the air at the end of last year.
The statistics are alarming. Yi Xianrong, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says housing prices in Beijing and Shanghai have almost reached the levels in New York, Tokyo and London, but average salaries are only about one-tenth as much.
Fuelled by low interest rates, Shanghai and Beijing prices doubled in less than four years before the financial crisis, and have now doubled again. Property agency Knight Frank says average prices last year for a new home rose 68 per cent in Shanghai, 66 per cent in Beijing and 51 per cent in Shenzhen.
China Daily reports that the ratio of housing price to income is the highest in the world.
In a survey by news website ifeng.com, 94 per cent of more than 7,000 respondents say they believe young professionals should leave big cities and move to second-tier cities to have better lives.
This is an edited version of an article which ran in the South China Morning Post on April 6. You can read another story on the same topic online. Log on to yp.scmp.com and go to 'News' 'National' 'Big-city dwellers on a long march to the hills'.
