Class

Every society has classes, while Americans always like to downplay the role of class the American dream is more about class mobility than a classless society, but in China it's much more obvious than it is in America. Most Americans know that even people who have it not as well off in America have it better than people in large parts of the world, but it's one thing to know that and another to experience it. I've written about this before but I instantly went from another random college graduate in America to a upper middle class professional in China. My students sometimes ask what I make here, that's not a rude question in China, and while they are very impressed with my salary I'm not sure if I should tell them that it would put me way below the poverty line in America. But it's not just my sudden change in status it's also how much clearer class lines are in China.

This is a country that still calls most of it's farmers peasants, and where the term "worker" suggests a pretty crappy job. The people at the low end of Chinese society, and there are a lot of them, work on extremely poor farms, a number are basically subsistence farmers, or in really low paying factory jobs, jobs the government purposely keeps low paying through currency manipulation. You can tell these people just by looking at them most of the time. They are shorter, especially in the older generations, their cloths are almost always somewhat dirty, and their skin and hands are hardened from years of hard work. The next class is the emerging middle class. This is basically where all my students fall. There is a big difference between students in the little town here and in Changzhou, which is in the richest part of the country, but they all fall roughly into the middle class. They know they'll be able to get some job that is broadly white collar, and have enough money to own at least an apartment. They dress better than the workers, and they avoid spending too much time in the sun least they be mistaken for peasants. Finally there are the rich. Fancy cars, drivers, suits, and the way they boss around everyone in a ten foot radius makes them pretty easy to spot. Around here you don't see as many but in Changzhou their kids were easy to pick out as well with American fashions and electronics they don't even sell in China. It just makes me much more conscious about class living in a society where it is so constantly on display.