Essay Question (Yao Xiaoxiao)

Based on Li Zhang’s article ‘private homes, distinct lifestyles’, my essay question is: To what extent does real estate advertising in Ningbo build the imagination of a ‘new middle-class’?

Li Zhang considered the real estate developers in China are not only selling the house to people but also constructing new notions of ‘the middle class’, especially through advertising. By investigating a number of advertising of housing in Ningbo, I want to explore whether there exist a distinct so-called middle class culture conveyed by real estate advertising.

Living Space=Social Class?

In her article ‘private homes, distinct lifestyles’, Li Zhang said that the rise of the commercial real estate industry in China is vital to the formation of a ‘new urban middle-class’ culture. On the one hand, the private homeownership reflects class difference to some extent, as Li Zhang said, an ‘index of status’. On the other hand, a ‘class milieu’ is also being created and influenced by the privatization of living space. I agree with her argument that in China nowadays, there has not emerged a distinct class culture shared by those so-called ‘middle class’ in economic aspect. Class making in China will be a ‘long and confusing’ process.