Life and Society Module 25

1. Clothing:
Urban Rural

Past 1949: wear Chinese tunic suit which were called /

the cadres’ uniform

Extra:

Differences between uniforms for men and

women:

- style of the collars

- number of pockets

In conclusion:

- dressed simply

- lack the supplies of clothing

1987: << Reform and Opening-up policy >>

Present Western clothing (eg., jackets, sports shirts, feather Men: robes, mandarin jackets,

dresses short gowns and trousers

Women: short gowns with buttons

on the right side and trousers

In conclusion:

- paid more attention to the materials, styles and brands of garments

- clothing has become a way for people to pursue beauty and show off their personal

identity and status

Describing changes and trends:

a. A rise / increasing trend, a fall / decreasing trend (identify the change)

b. Number of times / percentage change (find out the change)

Differences of their consumption of clothes between urban and rural residents:

a. Consumption: urban residents > rural residents

b. Gap: increasing / widening gap

 Per capita: total consumption of clothes

total no. of rural / urban residents

2. Food and beverages:

 Staple food Non-staple food
Differences exist among non-staple food, climate and the environment of

places in china —> different styles of cuisine

Southerners Rice Meat, fish, eggs, Four major styles of cuisines:

Urban
(e.g., HK / (rice grows in seafood 1. Sichuan Cuisine
resident
Guangdong) the south) 2. Shandong Cuisine

Northerners Wheaten food Rural Vegetables 3. Guangdong Cuisine

(e.g., Beijing, (wheat is resident (seldom eat fish, meat 4. Jiangsu Cuisine

Shanghai) cultivated in the and eggs unless during

north) traditional festivals)

Other

examples:

- Corns

- Cereals

1987: << Reform and Opening-up policy >>

Past Present Result
Only focus on having enough food Paid attention to the The consumption of non-staple

nutrition and food (e.g., meat) has increased

combinations of food annually

Dietary habit: people focus on staple food Focusing on non-staple - Proportion of carbohydrates

food (staple food) is gradually

reducing

- The intake of animal proteins

has risen

Mostly eat at home Eat out more often - The expenses of eating out

account for an increasing

proportion in food

expenditure

1. Afford more non-staple food: improve their health

2. Difference between the standard of living of urban residents and that of rural residents:

Difference:

- urban residents dine out more often

- have higher expenses on food

- have more choices on food

Reason:

- urban residents are busy with their work + cannot cook every day

- Have higher income + can afford higher expenses on food

- There are more choices of food in urban

3. Accommodation
a. Modes of traditional dwellings
Han people has their own houses with courtyards —> connected to form villages

Past

Architectural styles and

appearances of civilian houses

North - Large - Chinese quadrangles in Beijing

- Houses and courtyard were arranged in order - Cave dwellings on the Loess

Plateau

South - Constrained by the geographical conditions - Canal towns in the south of

- Houses were small and scattered Yangtze

- Fujian Tulou

Modern times

Cities (urban areas) Countryside (rural areas)

- Many high-rise buildings have appeared - Houses are built with wood,

mud and bricks

- Han people’s traditional construction features are still kept in

important buildings (e.g., the Ten Great Buildings)

b. Present dwelling situations

1987: <<Reform and Opening-up policy>>
- Dwelling situations have greatly improved

Rural residents Urban residents

- The housing area per capita has greatly rose The government invested heavily in constructing civil

- Living conditions have improved housing

Many households now use The government tried to solve the housing problem by

1. flush-type toilets constructing low-rental houses and economically

2. clean fuel oil affordable houses

3. natural gas - Enables residents to move to broad, bright and well-

4. electricity equipped buildings

5. running water - the housing area per capita increased by 4.2 times

compared to 1985

Chinese market economy has further developed

- more people began to own their houses

 - Rate of owner-occupied reached 96%

Housing facilities

- Supply of running water

- Has toilets, bathrooms, air-conditioners, heaters

and other facilities

- Use clean fuels in their kitchen

Low-rental houses
- Housing provided for urban residents by the government using the method of rental subsidy and allocation

*residents are qualified urban residents who satisfy the minimum living standards criterion

Economically affordable houses

- Houses sold to urban households with medium or low incomes at prices allowing developers to earn slight

profits only

- Planned by the government and constructed by real-estates developers

Market economy
- Mode of economic operation

- Production and marking of products are services are all guided by the floating price mechanism of free

market

Improvements in dwelling situations

- Sanitary situations improved the most (30% in using running water)

- Living space also been enlarged (14.3 square metres)

- Household with hard surfacing roads around them

Aspect of present dwelling situation needed to be improved

- Sanitary conditions

- Less than half of the households which don’t have flush-type toilets

- Not all the households have separate toilets and running water

4. Transportation

Past:

Rural residents:

- Major means of transport for rural residents were bicycle and handcarts

- Roads in the countryside were basically earth roads

Urban residents:

- Take public transport (e.g., bus, train, ship)

- Expenses on transportation accounted for a very low portion of their consumption

<< Reform and Opening-up policy >>

Rural residents:

- rural highway network has extended to plateaus and mountainous areas

- Extended to the ethnic minorities and poor regions

- More than 80% of township highway networks across the country consists of cement roads

- Modern transport gradually becomes the inevitable choices for travelling in their daily lives

- The proportion of their transport expenses in their daily expenditure rises continuously

Urban residents:

- More people work outside

- Spend more time on entertainment and mobility of people also increases

- Demand of people for convenient and fast modern transport goes up continuously

- The proportion of their transport expenses in their daily expenditure keeps rising

- Private cars and motorcycles have generally become the choices for people to travel around