People on the mainland are becoming more disgruntled as inflation pushes prices higher and the gap between rich and poor remains wide, an annual survey shows.
The survey, by academics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), found a decrease from last year in the 'overall satisfaction level' of rural and urban dwellers with their living conditions.
Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, reported the most widespread dissatisfaction with consumer prices in 11 years, with 73.9 per cent of respondents complaining they were 'high and hard to accept'.
The figure is the highest since 1999 in an annual PBOC survey, which this year covered some 20,000 households in 50 cities, and is up 15 percentage points from last year.
According to the 2011 Social Blue Book, by the academy's Institute of Sociology and released yesterday in Beijing, residents' 'satisfaction level' was 3.41 out of a possible 5 in the cities, 3.37 in small towns and 3.42 in rural communities this year.
Last year the figures were 3.59 in small towns and 3.55 in rural communities. It did not say if there was a change in the cities' level.