Focus
Great and competitive city for those on easy street
By Linda Gibson (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-07 08:00
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After six months of research, some 100 experts have bestowed upon Beijing the coveted title of "most competitive city" in terms of living environment.
Supposedly, its high rankings in transportation, shopping, health, entertainment and education make it more livable than Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei and who knows how many other cities. Beijingers, however, had a curiously mixed reaction to the good news.
"Beijing? Are you sure?" asked a graduate student.
"Is there any living environment worse than sand storms and stress in combination?" mused a primary school teacher.
A spokesman for the authors of the study at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences assured a reporter that the conclusion was based on scientific calculation, research and "collective wisdom." This raises a question: Who was in that collective?
The spokesman didn't say what kind of people the researchers interviewed. But to judge from the categories in which Beijing scored well, they probably weren't from the following groups:
Migrants - The laborers building Beijing's new neighborhoods wouldn't have opinions on shopping, health and entertainment, since most of their disposable income goes to support families. However, they could have offered enlightening views on wages and working conditions.
Ant tribes - The tens of thousands of unemployed college graduates crammed into dilapidated neighborhoods could have given a good picture of job opportunities in Beijing. I wonder if they would agree that the city deserves a high mark for education.
Street vendors - Beijingers gladly buy produce, pets, DVDs, books, housewares, gifts, jewelry and clothes from street peddlers and sidewalk vendors, whose opinion on the city's chengguan (city administration officers) could reveal much about its level of professionalism in law enforcement.
Artists - This small but critical segment of any big city's population probably would agree with the poor marks Beijing earned for housing, since many of the affordable neighborhoods where they live and work are being destroyed to make way for apartments they can't afford.
Hutong residents - This group is more numerous. Their experience with forced demolitions and attempts to obtain market-value compensation would give great insight on how to rank local authorities for fairness and service to the community.
Pedestrians and bicyclists - Were accident rates and traffic fatalities included in figuring the transportation ranking? This group could comment on the city's emergency medical care.
Singles - With housing prices sky-high, this growing group would have much to say about whether the city does enough to foster strong families through opportunities for marriage.
Natives - Locals with deep family roots in Beijing could have commented on how well the city preserves the landmarks that give it atmosphere and historical significance. Next year will be too late.
Judging from the categories mentioned it's more likely that those interviewed included government officials, administrators at State-owned enterprises and executives of private companies. Most people can only imagine what the concerns of the well-off might be.
In the transportation category, people who have three or more luxury cars might question the fairness of limiting driving days, or the desirability of spending public money on mass transit instead of more highways.
The shopping and entertainment categories probably covered the variety of high-end goods and venues, rather than the choices available in price ranges accessible to people of low or middle incomes.
The health category probably didn't include the unlicensed clinics many people use.
The education category probably toted up the number of private schools in each city, not the number of public schools torn down.
I could be wrong. Maybe the research did include all these segments of society, and the questions asked covered concerns of people struggling for the basics - a job, an apartment, a spouse. I hope so.
