BEIJING—The death here of a 29-year-old man in police custody—a new father and graduate of a prestigious Chinese university—has exposed increasing anxieties in the country’s growing middle class, already shaken by a decelerating economy and a disparate series of high-profile incidents threatening their sense of stability.
Other wide-ranging targets of recent social-media attention include a violent string of attacks on doctors by embittered patients and their families, a demand that apartment owners in eastern China pay extra to secure the land on which their apartments were already built, confusing changes in college-entrance standards, and fatal chemical explosions wiping out homes.
Such disruptions have come as reminders that rising incomes or better education don’t automatically shield China’s expanding middle-class ranks from danger, whether physical or economic, in a society where the law can be arbitrarily enforced and justice is sometimes brutal.
“There’s a gap between expectation and reality,” said He Yunfeng, who heads Shanghai Normal University’s Institute of Knowledge and Value Sciences. “These kinds of incidents concentrated together have created a kind of panic.” Some critics have begun joking that the Chinese term for middle class— zhongchanjieji—would be better depicted by the term zhongcanjieji, or the “tragic middle class.”
Last week, in another case, graphic images circulating online showed the bruised bodies of two college students who local authorities said had been beaten by police. “Have we woken up from the Chinese dream yet?” wrote one commenter on the Weibo social-media platform, alluding to a term popularized by President Xi Jinping to describe his aim of national rejuvenation.
The death of Lei Yang, a Beijing resident with a degree from the respected Renmin University, has stirred particular unease. Mr. Lei left for the airport to pick up relatives around 9 p.m. on May 7, according to a lawyer representing the family. By 9:45 p.m., officials said, he was in police custody and died shortly thereafter.
Police said Mr. Lei had been caught in a prostitution raid at a foot-massage parlor and suddenly fell ill after fighting to escape. State media have cited police as saying no excessive force was used. Family members say that Mr. Lei’s body had bruises on it.
An investigation of his death is under way, and autopsy results are expected in the coming weeks. The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, which is in charge of the police, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Last weekend, Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun pledged to improve law-enforcement standards and called for better officer training.
Mr. Lei’s death blanketed social media for days, accompanied by reams of indignant commentary, which China’s censors have stepped in to curb. One homemade video circulating on the popular WeChat application concludes with the exhortation, “The next silent sheep to be slaughtered might be you. If you don’t stand up today, tomorrow you won’t be able to stand up at all.”
In China, complaints about public-security officials meting out harsh treatment aren’t uncommon from migrant workers or people seeking redress from the government. The case of Mr. Lei—who worked for a think tank—was unusual in that it involved someone with a comfortable foothold on the economic ladder.
“This really touches the nerves for the middle class,” said Patrick Poon, China researcher for Amnesty International.
Ivan Sun, a professor who studies criminal justice at the University of Delaware, said China’s better-educated urbanites tend to have lower levels of trust in the police.
“They’re informed, and their education exposes them to broader issues,” he said. “And because they are more comfortable economically, that allows them to also care about social justice.”
Though incomes have continued to rise, setbacks to the Chinese economy—growth recently hit a 25-year low—are deepening discontent just as many urban dwellers are already voicing concerns about education, health care and pollution.
In 2015, the percentage of Chinese reporting satisfaction with their household income dropped to 58% from 66% the year before, according to a recent Gallup poll. Gallup also reported that stress has climbed, with 40% of Chinese surveyed saying they experienced a lot of stress, the highest in a decade of recording.
While middle-class frustration most frequently is voiced online, it periodically spills over into open protests. In several cities in Jiangsu, one of China’s wealthiest provinces, parents demonstrated this month over changes to the university-entrance system that they feared would leave their children at a disadvantage.
After chemical explosions last year killed more than 100 people and damaged thousands of high-rise apartments in Tianjin, many homeowners took to the streets, demanding compensation and asking why hazardous substances had been stored so close to where they lived. While compensation was given, many homeowners felt it was too low.
One poem recently circulating on WeChat put it this way: “A middle class that can be destroyed by a single illness/a middle class that can be destroyed by a stock-market disaster/Even with many homes, your heart feels panicky /the feeling of unease has never been this strong.”
Mr. He said China is pushing to improve rule of law, as well as the social-safety net. “But this process can’t take too long,” he said.
In recent years, China has accelerated a clampdown on human-rights lawyers and tightened media strictures. Under Mr. Xi, the country has also embarked on a push to improve overall rule of law in ways that don’t threaten the party’s hold on power. Mr. He notes that China is also working to improve the social-safety net.
For now, David Goodman, a professor with Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, said that calls for change remain generally circumscribed. He notes that while members of China’s middle class have their complaints, they are also among the biggest beneficiaries of the country’s political system.
“Their demands are not against the system,” he said. “What they’re mostly asking for is for the system to work better.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-middle-class-vents-over-growing-list-of-grievances-1464062403
Comments are closed.