I have been busy wacthing   a very popular TV play—– Dwelling Narrowness  these days.  Anyway ,

I   am deeply  touched  by the  story  which is happening   somewhere  in China  or maybe it is happening

and   is going to   happen  some  time around  us  in the small towns or villages. Who  knows?

What  we live for ?—- LOve,   a big house, a great carrer,   even  delicious  food and  clouthes?

We need  all of them , so we  are sruggling  for them   alll the way  in our limited life!   Some  of them may

come true, others may  occur only in our dreams!

China : Children who have been left behind. Dear Tamie, Thanks for partaking in this discussion. What we referred to additionally be concerned Chinese t… As distant as we know, for the rancher to shift his/her domicile registration as well as turn an ‘urban ci. …

Hit TV Series Strikes Chord with China’s “House Slaves”

“Sex and the City” it ain’t.

“Dwelling Narrowness,” (蜗居) a hit TV series about the struggles of two sisters to make it in a dynamic metropolis modeled on Shanghai, focuses on a decidedly less glamorous aspect of life in the big city: rising property prices, and they havoc this wreaks on youthful ambitions.

The 33-episode series was produced jointly by Shanghai TV Media Co., Beijing Jindun Shengye Film and Culture Co., Huayi Bros. Media Group, and Jilin TV and has aired on many major local television stations, including Beijing TV and Shanghai TV. The story follows the travails of the Guo sisters, Haiping and Haizao. After graduating from a top university in the fictional city (called Jiangzhou), elder sister Haiping and her boyfriend – later husband – Su Chun, who both hail from small towns in southern China, decide stay in the city, full of high expectations about their future. In order to save up to buy a home of their own, the couple rents a shabby old attic apartment measuring a little over 100 square feet (10 square meters), sharing a toilet and kitchen with their neighbors. The place is so small they have to send their daughter back to their hometown to be raised by her grandparents. To economize even further, they subsist on a diet of instant noodles. However, skyrocketing real estate prices in city push a new home far beyond the couple’s affordability, and this later becomes a major source of conflict in the relationship. At one point, they fight over the expenditure of one yuan.

Meanwhile, younger sister Haizao, who followed her sister to the city for college, also stays on after graduation.

Haiping finally sets her sights on an apartment on the outskirts of of the metropolis, even though she and her husband can barely afford it. The monthly payments on the 20-year mortgage for the 900,000 yuan apartment will come to 6,000 yuan, and the couple’s combined salary per month is only around 9,000 yuan. But Haiping lacks the money for a 20% down-payment, so Haizao, an otherwise innocent type with a loving boyfriend, steps in to help by becoming the mistress of a high-ranking official in the city mayor’s office. It gets worse for Haizao: She suffers a miscarriage and her lover commits suicide after being accused of taking bribes. Her sister Haiping fares somewhat better, eventually moving into her new home with her husband and reuniting with her daughter.

Over the past month, the TV drama has drawn a great deal of attention from young Chinese who discuss the program online. Many argue that Shanghai’s rising property prices are at the root of the tragic events in the storyline, and the term “house slaves” ((房奴) has become a popular slang term to describe people like Haiping.

In a recent (unscientific) survey by Chinese Web portal Sina.com, more than 60% of 15,000 voters agreed with the statement that “the drama reflects the public’s sentiment on house slaves.” Another poll by Tencent drew more than 360,000 votes, with most agreeing with the statement that “happiness is closely related to owning a home.”

“Paying the mortgage and eating [inexpensive] lunch boxes is a true reflection of the living status of many white-collar young people nowadays,” wrote blogger “Sui Han” (literally translated as “cold years”). “The heroes’ struggle for a home on this show gives voice to the conundrum faced by many people who don’t have their own homes in cities…The speed of making money is lagging far behind the speed of rising home prices.”  Another commenter on Xinhua’s property forum wrote, “I found our own lives depicted in this drama, everything is exposed under the sunlight. There is no way out. In the face of housing and reality, we are seriously hurting.”

According to the latest report from China Index Academy, a domestic real estate research institute, as of October this year, the average house price in Beijing has reached 16,057 yuan per square meter, a 54% increase from the average price of 10,403 yuan in January. In Shanghai, the average residential price for October was 16,954 yuan per square meter, up 22% since January. Despite new measures by the Chinese government to emphasize construction of low-cost houses, the new report on housing by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences warns that low and middle-income families are “not well-covered” by the existing residence-guarantee system, which is intended to provide a type of rent and housing price-control. The report concluded that supporting policies haven’t been well implemented.

In a post on a Tianya discussion forum, the author, Mr. Ying compares current housing price to a “wild and unpredictable horse.” The current situation “has pushed the social problems resulting from the housing issue to their peak. The cruelty of life depicted by the drama strikes a responsive chord among every citizen who is obsessed by high property prices.”

Others say it’s a bit extreme to regard housing prices as the source of all sins, and that it’s unfair to use property prices as a proxy for all social problems.  On a Xinhua property forum, a commenter called jiangjun32 wrote that  ”the home is just a fuse for the ensuing tragedies” on “Dwelling Narrowness”, but the underlying cause of the troubles is the character’s greed and desire.