Organised by text messages and internet chats, China’s middle classes are daring to protest, and giving the government a fright

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www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9367055

China has overtaken Germany as the world’s third-largest automaker and is closing in on Japan, the global number two, a new study has found.

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www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2131186,00.html

From Aug 4th to 12th, a nine-day Summer Digital Entertainment Festival (DE-DAY) will be held at the Beijing Dashanzi 798 Innovative Industrial Park. It will exhibit more than a hundred international digital entertainment creative works, and it will be a mind-inspiring feast for visitors from all walks of life. In addition, the Opening Ceremony (DE-NIGHT) on August 4th will be a gathering of the best minds from various sectors, including well-known academicians, new media artists, visual and media art designers, entrepreneurs, professionals and journalists. It is estimated that nearly 1,000 participants will attend the opening, including many students from art-related studies.

DE-NIGHT Party: 8:00 PM on 4th August 2007
DE-DAY: August 4th-12th?2007
Address: NIKE MR.SHOE museum, 798 Dashanzi Art District

2007.dealchina.org

Sex, a centuries-old taboo considered by most of Chinese, is creating a buzz in this conservative country.
Pan Suiming, director of Institute of Sexuality and Gender at Renmin University of China, claims that approximately 25 percent of Chinese adults have multiple sex partners. Pan’s research results have prompted China’s society to open debate if China has become morally corrupted.

Pan said having multiple sex partners is partially indicative of a sexual revolution, during an interview with Life Times on July 6.
Touching the surface of a topic the whole nation is trying to avoid, the sex scholar believes the Chinese are getting closer to an open and transparent attitude toward sex.

Pan’s shocking claims were part of his survey Chinese’s sexual behaviors and relations: 2000-2006 of 6,010 Chinese aged between 18-61. The sex survey asks about premarital sex and homosexuality, both of which are on the rise on the back of the country’s double-digit economic growth.

The practice of having sex with more than one other person gained a momentum in the last few years. Its rate occurrence advanced to 25.3 percent in 2006, from 16.9 percent in 2000, a seven percent increase from the same period last year.
The figure was six percent in the 1980s, a time when China launched its reform and began opening up its economy to the rest of the world.

Pan’s findings are unpopular, as many believe the sharp-rise in people having more than one sexual partner indicates the country is on the verge of falling from morality.

“Loyalty to marriage is an enduring theme of society and has a deep place in people’s souls. His findings cannot change that fact,” a netizen, only identified by his nickname Xiao.Xiao.Xiao wrote on the popular qq.com.

But the expert defied public opinions, arguing the results of his survey marked a progress in people’s attitude toward sex. His findings indicate women, usually passive in sex, are becoming more active in the bedroom.

“The exodus of women from rural areas to urban cities has contributed to the changes in women,” explained Pan. He added that the improvement in women’s education is helping them get rid of the conventional stereotype that women are for bearing and raising offspring for men. “The longing for of love and happiness has led to changes in women’s attitudes toward sex,” said Pan. “And easy access to abortions and birth control have also had a great impact on women.”

Of course, a sex revolution isn’t just about a variety of spiced-up sexual activities.
“A harmonious society must include sex, which is no longer a revolution but a part of our lives,” said Pan.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/24/content_5442514.htm

According to estimates by Mastercard, the total purchasing power of younger women in China living on their own or in married households with no children is likely to rise to US$260 billion in 2015 from US$180 billion in 2005.

The figures are included in a report entitled “The Rise of Female Consumerism in China.” Released by Ernst & Young, the report shows that Chinese female consumers have become a distinctly major force in consumption.

Chinese women, not necessarily the main bread winners in most households, have a substantial say over how pay checks are spent. An estimated 78 percent of married women make the decisions for grocery and apparel purchases for the family.

When it comes to big ticket purchase items such as a house, a car or various luxury items, around 23 percent of married women indicated that they have the ability to make independent purchase decisions, while the remaining 77 percent of women let their husbands be decision makers. However, their personal preferences remain a major influence over the final decisions made.

Modern Chinese women subscribe to the concept of holding their own purse strings to their wages with only 2 percent relinquishing all financial decision-making power to their spouses.

“Saving less, spending more”
Many Chinese working women today are living consumption centered lifestyle, choosing to spend now and put off savings for the future. Some 65 percent of female consumers spend 60 percent or more of their monthly wages.

In addition, the proportion of savings is not directly related to the level of wages or the position a women holds at work. A poll by human resource portal cjol.com found that the more women make and the higher position they hold, the less likely they are to save. Conversely, women who earn less and hold lower ranks have better saving habits.

According to the Report on Chinese Women’s State of Life (2006), home purchases (20 percent), white goods (19 percent), children’s education expenses (17 percent) and investments (13 percent) top expenditures for married households, with home purchases ranking as the top expenditure for childless families.

The potential spending power of Chinese female women is estimated to grow to enormous proportions in the next decade.
Elderly women living in “empty nester” households, where their children have grown up and left home, are expected to have a purchasing power of US$150 billion in 2015, up from US$100 billion in 2005.

For women in elderly single households where they live alone, spending power is likely to rise from US$50 billion in 2005 to US$115 billion in 2015, more than double in a decade.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2007-08/06/content_6012951.htm

Vor der Bühne hat das Altersbeben längst stattgefunden – ein Großteil des deutschen Theaterpublikums hat den 50. Geburtstag bereits hinter sich. Auf den Brettern sieht die Situation hingegen ganz anders aus: Nicht wenige Theater besetzen auch alte Rollen mit jungen Schauspielern, wofür es nicht zuletzt finanzielle Gründe gibt. Schließlich werden zumindest die festangestellten Mimen entsprechend ihrer Berufsjahre vergütet.

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aller Deutschen hegen die Befürchtung, dass sie im Alter verarmen könnten. Trotzdem möchten nur 33% künftig privat für ihre Rente vorsorgen, vor zwei Jahren waren es noch 35%.

Quelle: Allensbach 2007

Handwerk klingt verstaubt. Man kann das Wort drehen und wenden – es bleibt rückständig. Aber dem hinterwäldlerischen Ruf zum Trotz entsteht in den Städten wieder neuer Raum für Handarbeit. Das Prinzip dieser Ein-Mann-Läden ist fast immer das gleiche: Hinten Werkstatt, vorne Verkauf. Und es beruht auf steigender Nachfrage: Viele wünschen sich wieder mehr Qualität beim Einkaufen – krampfhaftes Jagen nach Schnäppchen lehnen immer mehr Konsumenten ab.

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Zwei Drittel der Deutschen schlafen wochentags zwischen sechs und acht Stunden. Nur zwei Prozent sagen, sie kämen mit weniger als fünf Stunden aus, hat Uta Meier, Professorin an der Uni Gießen herausgefunden. Von einer schlaflosen 24-Stunden-Gesellschaft sind wir also noch ganz schön weit entfernt. Trotzdem geben immerhin 20 Prozent zu Protokoll, unter Ein- oder Durchschlafstörungen zu leiden. Ein Problem, das mit den Jahren immer gravierender wird: Je älter der Mensch, desto eher neigt er zu Schlafproblemen. Was die Betroffenen massiv in ihrem Wohlgefühl beeinträchtigt. Nicht ohne Grund: Die moderne Schlafmedizin zeigt, wie wichtig die Ruhepausen für lebenslange Gesundheit und Fitness wirklich sind.

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Kinder grossziehen, im Job erfolgreich sein und sich dann auch noch um die immer gebrechlicher werdenden Eltern kümmern. All das, dachte sich Victoria Sopik, dürfte so manchen Arbeitnehmer überfordern. Deshalb gründete die Chefin des Unternehmens Kids and Company, das bisher Kindergärten betrieb, die erste Tagesstätte für Senioren in Kanada. Während die Söhne und Töchter arbeiten, kümmern sich Pfleger um deren alte Eltern.

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