Opinion - News Analysis

A booming market economy

Nirupama Subramanian

BOMBARDED BY the bright neon lights of a free market economy, visitors to China may think the Chinese have shelved Mao, the founder of the People's Republic. The snaking queue at the mausoleum of modern China's leader in Beijing suggests otherwise. But on a closer look, Mao seems to live on more in the hearts and minds of rural China than its city dwellers.

Many of the men, women and children who waited patiently in the queue to enter the mausoleum on a recent afternoon looked provincial, their rugged looks, unstylish clothes and their rough hands giving them away.

Some of them bought sprays of white flowers to offer to the leader, whose embalmed remains are on display at the mausoleum, situated at one end of Tiananmen Square, which the guide describes as the "biggest square in the world."

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"Ah, Japanese car, that's why," said a woman in the bus as it passed an accident between a Toyota and another vehicle that had slowed down traffic to a crawl on a highway outside Beijing. The recent row between Japan and China over Japanese history textbooks has whipped up considerable patriotism among ordinary people. Predictably, Toyotas are not very popular at the moment.

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Talking of cars, China's roads are packed bumper to bumper with them — mainly Volkswagens and Audis — so much that it is rush hour through the day everywhere, and people have to factor in an extra 30 minutes for even the smallest journey within city limits. Car sales touched five million in 2004, but at about $20,000 for a foreign car, owning wheels is still only a dream for many people, even salaried professionals.

A salary of 3,000 yuan, the equivalent of about $365, is considered respectable, but banks begin to give car loans only at salaries of about 5,000 yuan ($605) a month.

Chinese-made cars come cheaper but for young people, there is nothing more unglamorous than driving a Gilli, the cheapest among the local cars.

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Apartments cost much more than cars but like cars, owning a flat — even a tiny hole in the wall — now dominates the dreams of young professionals. New blocks of high-rise apartments that come up everyday can barely meet the demand for housing in Chinese cities. In Beijing, housing prices average at about 4,747 yuan or $574 for 10.76 sq. ft, pricing out many of the city's poorer residents.

A government low-cost housing programme provides apartments for about 2,953 yuan or $356 for 10.76 sq. ft but it is still prohibitively expensive for the people for whom it is meant — those earning less than 5,000 yuan a month. The "affordable" houses end up in the hands of those who do not really care about the price, according to an article in the April issue of Business Beijing, a government-sponsored monthly publication.

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Mirroring the pragmatism of the Chinese Government in its embrace of a free market economy, many Chinese, especially those who deal with English-speaking people on a daily basis, have taken on English names. So Yingqui is Brenda, Jingrui is Jerry, Qihan is Andy, Jianjiao is Joyce, Xiaobai is Grace and Jianjun is Brian. Shades of India's outsourcing industry, where those working in call centres adopt English names and accents.

Evidently, the Chinese do it not to hide their real identities but to prevent foreigners from murdering their given Chinese names.

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One place that bucks this trend for English names is China Radio International, which broadcasts in 32 languages and the broadcasters take on names that reflect the particular language service they work for.

Here, Professor Sun Guojiang, director of the Tamil service, goes by the name of S. Sundaram and Professor Zhu Juanhua is Tamilarasi. They have a huge fan following in India, where there is a CRI Tamil service listeners' club that hosts the Chinese broadcasters at a conference every year. Last year, it was held in Pondicherry; this December, it is to at be Madurai.

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