We often hear stories of rich China people.. My U.S. peers often lament their low income compared to classmates in China… See wage+homePrice: (statistical)biased views@cmcUS colleagues
I believe most Chinese citizens are not the 0.1% employed in the top web2.0 shops. Somehow, in my mind this tiny group is the typical China salary… misperception due to brainwash.
Many urban white-collar Chinese tend to dismiss rural peasants (including rural migrant workers) as if second-class citizens of China, to be treated as excluded data points. Beside peasants, there also are millions of
- (half ranked by population and by clarity of well-defined scope)
- [p$] teachers/instructors — pre-schools, tuition centers, language, arts, fitness
- [p$] accountants … few would rise up to finance director like my sister
- shop assistants, restaurant waiters … a low-skilled job, so “20% of them will rise to become rich businesspeople” is naive.
- factory workers,
- [p] nurses and medical workers “below” physicians .. some are unskilled
- street vendors, pushcart vendors .. They can’t afford a permanent shop.
- [p- v$] junior engineers, technicians, mechanics, handymen
- [p] software engineers/testers, network engineers outside the top software teams! They are well-paid (like USD 80k/Y) only in the U.S.
- [v] full time drivers — taxi, truck, delivery team
- [v] bank clerks, post office clerks,
- [p] newspaper or book editors .. peripheral to the “star” authors
- [p-] junior civil servants,
- [v] junior rEstate agents, insurance agents, vehicle salesmen
- most musicians .. don’t become rich and famous
- cleaners,
- junior policemen .. very few earn high income
- [p$] journalists, photographers, visual artists .. few high-earners
- full time security guards,
- [v] receptionist and frontline call center customer service (non-supervisors) .. few are white-collar professionals
- [v] postman, mailman
- tour guides, [v] tour agency staff
- junior air stewardess and [v] airport staff
- [v] 美容美髮 barbers, massagers, workers in facial shop, nail shops
- [v$] support staff in showbiz .. I think some of the creative professionals might be well-paid
- [$] junior chefs
- junior librarians, museum curators
- [pv$] junior dentists, physical therapists
- [$=this group have high wave earners]
- [v=a salad bowl group, or a vague, less well-defined group]
- [p=professional training or accreditation, degree required. p- means “some of the population is professional”]
Now even though these professions are unlikely to pay RMB 1000k/Y, some of these groups esp. those tagged “[$]” do have high wage earners. We should not look down on them.
— https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-56209160
2020年5月，中国总理李克强在人大会议期间曾说中国有“6亿中低收入及以下人群，他们平均每个月的收入也就1000元左右”。这与世界银行根据每天每人5.5美元标准对中国贫困总人口的估计基本吻合。(CNY 12000/Y/person.)
Median per-capita disposable income: 根据中国国家统计局的数字，2020年中国居民人均可支配收入中位数为27540元/年。农村居民人均可支配收入中位数为15204元/年， 城镇居民人均可支配收入中位数40378元/年。
— https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57304453
In terms of household — 根据麦肯锡公司《2020年中国消费者调查报告》50%的中国家庭 disposable income [可支配年收入] 达14万至30万元人民币. I think this is in the cities. If typical family size is 4 then this number is consistent with the 40378元/person/年.