Is it true that Chinese people now have a high standard of living?

中国人现在的生活水平真的很高吗？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Pai How Nee

Since 1978, China opened up China economically. It has reduced poverty & improved economy. Turned China into a factory state for the world. GDP per capital has improved tremendously (increase by 22 times from 1978 to 2012) - US250 (1952), US500 (1978), US1500 (1990), US11000 (2012). China has uplifted 800 million people from poverty in the last 40 years (1980–2020). China has improved standard of living, education system, housing, infrastructure (highway, Ports, airports, HSR, telecommunication), employment opportunities & personal freedom & safety. Visit China & evaluate your own answer/opinion. I have visited China regularly since 1992. First track of HSR (High Speed Rail) between Beiing & Tianing (about 100 km) build in 2008. Today, 2023 it has almost 40,000 km of HSR - the largest, longest HSR system in the world. I have experienced the great improvement in China. The cleanliness & hygiene in the public toilets have improved tremendously. Recently (Dec 2023) I visited a public toilet in outskirt of Shanghai, it was speckless clean & no foreigner would have any valid reason to object.

自1978年以来，中国进行了经济的改革开放，减少了贫困，改善了经济。中国变成了世界工厂。中国的人均GDP有了巨大的提高(从1978年到2012年增长了22倍)—从1952年的250美元，到1978年的500美元，到1990年的1500美元，再到2012年的11000美元。在过去的40年里(1980-2020年)，中国成功让8亿人口摆脱了贫困。

中国提高了人民的生活水平、教育系统、住房、基础设施(高速公路、港口、机场、高铁、电信)、就业机会、个人自由和安全。去中国亲眼看看你就知道了。从1992年开始我经常往返中国。北京和天津之间的第一条高铁(约100公里)于2008年建成，到了2023年的今天，中国已建成近4万公里的高铁—全世界最大、最长的高铁系统。

我见证了中国的巨大进步。公共厕所的清洁度和卫生状况也有了很大改善。最近(2023年12月)我在上海郊区的公共厕所里看到那里一尘不染，外国人应该都没有任何正当理由来反驳我。

Visit China & make your own judgement. Please don’t believe any propaganda/news from western media wholesale. These western media have their own agenda of propagating negative news/propaganda on China. Aims to demonize the international public image of China such that other countries would stop trading with China & China losing its sphere of influence globally.

N.B. I am not funded in whole or in part by any individual, government or NGO.

你们自己去中国看看吧，肯定会有自己的定论。不要相信西方媒体的任何宣传/新闻。这些西方媒体都有自己不可告人的目的，宣传中国的负面新闻，他们的目的是妖魔化中国的国际公众形象，这样其他国家就会停止与中国的贸易，中国就会失去全球影响力。

注：我从未完全或不完全接受任何个人、政府或非政府组织的资助。

Kai Pan

It’s true that some, even many, Chinese now have a high “standard of living” as popularly understood among Western audiences.

As among Western audiences, “high” can be difficult to define and is generally at the mercy of being relative.

的确，有些中国人，甚至可以说许多中国人，现在已经过上了西方人普遍理解的高级“生活水平”。

在西方人群中，“高级”与否很难定义，通常只是相对的概念。

Blobby

It is true that *some* Chinese people now have a high standard of living. However, it is still also true that not all Chinese people now have a high standard of living. It’s also true that, overall, the standard of living has improved greatly over the past few decades.

I don’t think any nationality can claim that *all* its citizens have a high standard of living. I suppose it comes down to statistics - the mean standard needs to be high, and the standard deviation needs to be low. The distribution is important too.

I wonder which country has the best of those stats.

的确，*有些*中国人现在过上了很高的生活水平。但并非所有的中国人现在都拥有高水平的生活，这是事实。总的来说，在过去的几十年里，中国人的生活水平总体上有了很大的提高，这也是事实。

我不认为任何一个国家可以声称所有公民的生活水平都很高。我想这归结于统计学—平均标准要高，标准偏差要低，分布也很重要。

我想知道哪个国家的数据是最好的。

Nancoco

To be honest, compared with the last century, our standard of living has indeed improved a lot, and now almost every area has running water, electricity, and Internet.

老实说，与上个世纪相比，我们的生活水平确实提高了很多，现在几乎每个地区都有自来水、电和互联网。

Jm Chow

If you ask an American, he’ll say : “It is a lie”

If you ask a Chinese, he’ll say : “ I don’t know much about Americans. I have a good paying job, I live in a nice house, I drive a nice car, I own the latest i-phone, I have savings for raining days..my kids go to good schools. my wife wear designers outfit…my family go for oversea holidays. “

如果你问美国人，他会说：“这肯定是个谎言。”

如果你问中国人，他会说：“我不太了解美国人的生活。我有一份薪水不错的工作，我住在漂亮的房子里，有一辆好车，有最新款的iphone，有存款，孩子们上的是好学校。我的妻子穿设计师设计的衣服……我们全家会去海外度假。”

If you ask me.. I say : “ China has no more poor people since the end of 2021. The US has 55 million Americans on food stamps (welfare handouts)…and the streets in SFO, NY and LA are full of homeless people. The US wasted over 8 trillions on half a dozen of wars recently. Wars have made the US …poor.“

Because the US Billionaires grab 95% of the wealth in the US …and American workers have no real wage increase for the last 30 years… the US GDP per capita is much higher than China. (US$50,000 vs US$18,000). As a whole, the US is richer than China…but most Chinese have a higher standard of living.

如果你问我…我会说：“自2021年底以来，中国就消除贫困了。美国有5500万人靠食品券(福利救济)生活，旧金山、纽约和洛杉矶的街道上到处都是无家可归的人。美国在近些年的六场战争中浪费了超过8万亿美元。战争让美国变得……贫穷。”

因为美国的亿万富翁攫取了美国95%的财富，美国工人在过去30年里没有获得实际工资增长，美国的人均GDP比中国高得多(5万美元vs 1.8万美元)。作为一个整体，美国确实比中国更富有，但大多数中国人的生活水平比美国人更高。

Somnath Mukherjee

In recent years, the quality of life for many Chinese people has gotten much better. The country's economy has grown a lot, leading to higher incomes, better technology, and improved infrastructure. It's important to know that not everyone has experienced the same improvements, as there are still differences between regions and groups of people. However, overall, a large number of Chinese citizens have seen a significant boost in their standard of living due to the rapid economic progress in the country.

近年来，许多中国人的生活质量已经大大提高。中国的经济增长了很多，给中国人带来了更高的收入、更好的技术和基础设施。但我们必须知道，并非每个人都获得了同样的改善，因为不同地区和人群之间仍然存在差异。但总体而言，由于中国经济的快速发展，大量中国公民的生活水平得到了显著提高。

Hamilton Zhou

I just came back from a one-month trip in China. I wrote a series of trip reports on my observations of my hometown in China.

In general, the answer is NO. But there are many Chinese people who are very rich. The percentage may be very small, but the absolute number of rich people in China could be very large.

我刚刚结束了为期一个月的中国旅行。我写了一系列我对中国家乡的观察报告。

一般来说，答案是否定的。但是有很多中国人非常富有。虽然这个比例可能很小，但中国富人的绝对数量可能非常大。

For example, my brother in China is on-par with me with regarding to house, net wealth, and disposable income, in absolute dollar terms. He is only a low-level official in a small rural county which is among the poorest in China.

例如，以绝对美元计算，我在中国的哥哥在房子、净财富和可支配收入方面和我一样。他只是中国最穷的一个农村县城的一个初级官员。

At the same time, there are a lot of very poor Chinese people living in rural and mountain areas as well. I touched on those in my trip reports. One farmer I visited is still using tools that looks primitive, farming tools that I used 40 years ago during my childhood.

The average monthly salary in my hometown is less than $500. Although living expenses are low too, nobody can say they have a high standard of living.

但与此同时，也有很多非常贫穷的中国人生活在农村和山区。我在旅行报告中也提到了这些人。我拜访的一个农民仍然在使用原始简陋的农具，这种农具可能是40年前我还是孩童时人们使用的款式。

我家乡人民的平均月薪不到500美元。虽然生活费用也很低，但他们的生活水平不能算高。

Aozao Zhou

China's GDP per capita is about $13,000, and since China is the world's factory, where the vast majority of industrial goods are produced, most of the goods in China are cheaper, which allows the Chinese to buy more goods for the same amount of consumption. Coupled with China's better infrastructure, I think the standard of living of Chinese people is roughly equivalent to countries between $18,000-22,000. Such countries are Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Uruguay. Slightly worse than Greece, Slovakia, and Portugal.

中国的人均GDP约为13000美元，由于中国是世界工厂，绝大多数工业品都是在中国生产的，所以中国的大多数商品的价格都更便宜，中国人能够以同样的消费金额购买到更多的商品。另外，中国的基础设施更好，我认为中国人民的生活水平大致相当于人均GDP为1.8万到2.2万美元之间的国家。这些国家包括匈牙利、罗马尼亚、波兰和乌拉圭，但比希腊、斯洛伐克和葡萄牙略差一些。

Most Chinese people's salaries are enough to feed and clothe them, and if they save up for a few years, they can buy a nice car too.

Many electrical appliances are very cheap; a 65-inch TV set commonly costs 280 USD, a 500L double-door refrigerator, also 280 USD, a normal microwave oven, about 29 USD, and an air conditioner that cools and heats, also about 280 USD. The above prices, I'm talking about the bigger brands, with delivery to your home and even after installation, if you don't care about the brand, you can still get it cheaper. And most Chinese people's salary, between 500-7000 dollars a month.

大多数中国人的工资足够他们吃饱穿暖，如果他们存几年的钱，可以买一辆好车。

中国的电器大多都很便宜。一台65英寸的电视机一般只要280美元，一台500L的双门冰箱也是280美元，一台普通的微波炉大约29美元，一台可以制冷制热的空调大约也是280美元。上面的价格还都是大品牌，是发货到家甚至安装后的价格，如果你不在乎品牌，还有更便宜的。大多数中国人的工资在每月500-7000美元之间。

Since most Chinese families are used to both husband and wife working, the income here should be multiplied by 2 after converting it to a household. this kind of income can allow the average Chinese family to live a decent life, but most families won't be able to buy expensive organic food, or monthly gym memberships, or a once a year overseas trip.

This is the standard of living for most Chinese.

由于大多数中国家庭都是双职工家庭，所以在统计家庭收入时，上述收入应该乘以2。这样的收入水平可以让普通的中国家庭过上体面的生活，但大多数家庭还是买不起昂贵的有机食品，或每月的健身房会费，或每年一次的海外旅行。

这是大多数中国人的生活水平

Nicolas Munger

China is a geographically vast country with significant regional disparities in areas such as housing, healthcare, and education. Here are some regional considerations:

中国是一个幅员辽阔的国家，在住房、医疗和教育等领域存在显著的地区差异。以下是对地区性的分析：

1. Housing: Major Chinese cities like Beiing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou face high housing costs, making buying or renting property very expensive for many individuals. This has led to a competitive housing market, especially for young people. Conversely, in smaller cities and rural areas, housing costs are lower, but modern housing facilities may be lacking at times.

1. 住房：像北京、上海和广州这样的中国大城市，住房成本十分高昂，对许多人而言，购房或租房的价格是很贵的。这导致房地产市场竞争激烈，尤其是对年轻人而言。相反，在小城市和农村地区，住房成本较低，但有时可能没有配套现代化的住房设施。

2. Healthcare: Larger cities typically have more high-quality medical institutions and healthcare resources, providing a broader range of medical services and specialized care. However, in remote areas, especially in western provinces, medical resources may be scarce, and the quality of healthcare services may not be as high as in major cities. This results in healthcare inequality between urban and rural areas.

2. 医疗保健：大城市通常拥有更多高质量的医疗机构和医疗资源，可以提供更广泛的医疗服务和专业护理。但在偏远地区，尤其是西部省份，医疗资源可能尚较稀缺，医疗服务质量可能也不如大城市，这就造成了城乡之间的医疗保健不平等。

3. Education: Major cities usually have more high-quality schools and educational resources, offering students more opportunities and resources. In contrast, in rural areas, particularly in impoverished regions, educational resources may be limited, and school quality may be lower. This contributes to disparities in education between urban and rural areas.

3. 教育：大城市通常拥有更多的优质学校和教育资源，为学生提供更多的机会和资源。相反，在农村地区尤其是贫困地区，教育资源可能十分有限，学校质量也较差，这就造成了城乡之间的教育差距。

In summary, regional disparities in China have a significant impact on the quality of life for its residents. While some regions offer a high standard of living, in other areas, especially remote and economically disadvantaged regions, people may face challenges related to housing, healthcare, and education. The government has been working to reduce these inequalities, but disparities persist.

综上所述，中国的地区差异对居民的生活质量产生了重大影响。虽然一些地区的生活水平很高，但在其他地区，特别是偏远和经济落后地区，人们可能面临与住房、医疗保健和教育有关的挑战。政府一直在努力消除这些不平等，但差距仍然存在。