BEIJING â€" Life in China isn’t cheap any more, despite its reputation as a low-cost center. While many families have prospered from economic liberalization, others struggle to get by. And that includes many considered to be doing fairly well.
Many migrants from the countryside who are driving growth with their labor have few rights in the cities because they don’t possess an urban residence permit. That means life is highly insecure and everything is cash up front, which is largely true for legal city-dwellers as well. When sickness hits and requires medical treatment, it’s a problem. When something truly dreadful happens, like a family member committing or being suspected of committing a crime, the costs can be horrendous.
That’s what happened to Shi Ayi, as I wrote in my “Letter from China†this week. Her nephew, suspected of involvement in a murder, is 16, so the police told his parents tha they could not visit him in custody but would have to hire a lawyer, she said. That cost 50,000 renminbi, or about $8,000.
It’s that kind of thing that drives parents to work crazy hours â€" the fear of slipping back, of falling off the upwardly mobile ladder.
In China, widespread anecdotal evidence suggests that children are suffering. Shi Ayi said that her nephew’s busy parents left him alone from a young age, lacking the time to pay him much attention. He is unusual in being in the city with them; many parents leave their children in the countryside to be raised, often by elderly relatives, as Shi Ayi did herself.
Stories of children going off the rails abound. Addiction to online games is common. In her village, Shi Ayi said, teen pregnancy is frequent. Some parents sense something is wrong but may believe a child should do what he or she is told â€" “ting hua,†or “be obedient†â€" and that should solve the situation. They know their lives are lived on a tightrop! e, and see their children’s neglect.
Some ask themselves if it’s worth it.
But most say, as Shi Ayi did: What else can we do
