Since paramount leader Deng Xiaoping proclaimed, “to get rich is glorious”, the economic revolution in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has lifted 850 million people out of absolute poverty, a great social achievement. This, however, is relative. The people to benefit most are those with an urban hukou. A hukou is a residence permit. The middle class, as we understand the term, constitutes some 12 per cent of the population, almost exclusively residents of big towns and ci…
