Five years in France was a great perspective on how the Old Continent's lifestyle compares to Uncle Sam's. The fact that France's relatively modest consumption comes in at a mere 2.5 Earth equivalents is notable, compared to the USA's 4.1, and the desert Disneyland called United Arab Emirates, with its 5.4 Planets needed. Tongue in cheek, if the French would just cut down on their consumption of 300+ kinds of amazing cheeses and thousands of labels of great wine, they could weigh in with China's 1.1 Earths. But then, it wouldn't be France anymore, would it?
It has been the last year in China which has made all the difference. For most of my international residences, there was always an effort to live well beyond the means of the local people, seeking that much ballyhooed expat life. With Beijing's current cycle of ever increasing real estate costs, last summer, my family decided to move into a local Chinese neighborhood, to live like everyday urban locals do, at least in Beijing. Truth be told, having traveled in many of China's megalopolises, apartment living in Beijing is not materially different than any other supercity, be it Chongqing, Shanghai or Chengdu.
For the first time while in a non-Western country, we really did reduce, down to a plain 75 square meter (about 750 square feet) apartment, in a Chinese housing community composed of highrise buildings. Two bedrooms and one bath for my wife and me, as well as our teenage daughter. Working class people in older American cities like New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco can relate to these dimensions and density, as well as large cities in Europe. But for 95% of Americans hanging their hopes on The Dream, it is difficult to imagine, especially out here in my childhood's suburbs, with their oversized McMansions, on expansive, lawn covered lots.
Unless of course, you are first or second generation immigrants who are willing to compress down even more, in hopes of eventually climbing their way up to working and middle class comfort. Westerners disparage immigrants living 4-6 in a room, like it's just not quite right. But, it's the first rung of the ladder towards upward urban mobility around the world. I suspect some of my ancestors did no differently when they came to the United States during the Irish Famine Genocide of the mid-1850s.
Seventy five square meters is solidly middle class in urban China, and in much of Asia for that matter, where more than 50% of the world's people live. The same could be said for Europe's larger and America's older downtown neighborhoods. But there the similarities largely end. Many millions of urban Chinese start out by staying at home well into their twenties, then sharing an apartment with (several) friends or total strangers (viz the aforementioned immigrants), as they work and save their way up to middle class success, which is emblematic of our modest, highrise apartment.
Comparatively speaking, rural Chinese, about half of the nation's people - farmers and villagers - often live in quite spacious country houses. The iconic siheyuan, or open courtyard house, allows for a lot of space to move around and live. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, increasing urbanization has been the relentless world trend. China finally became majority urban only in 2011. But cultural attractions and McDonald's aside, China's 21st century rural citizens live a quite healthy and comfortable existence. For millennia in the Chinese countryside, what used to be a cycle of feast and famine, the waxing and waning of the Heavenly Mandate, has, since the 1980s, settled into a mostly prosperous life.
Sadly, all of the aforementioned, including you and me, live in sumptuous luxury, compared to the more than three billion Earth citizens, who live on less than $2.50 a day. And here's the rub: the only way Americans can consume 410% more than they need and the French 250% in excess, cheese and wine and all, not to mention China's exploding and very acquisitive middle and wealthy classes, is for half the world's peoples to sacrifice their hopes, dreams and ladders to a decent and dignified existence. In any given environment, be it humpback whales or Homo sapiens, there is a finite set of resources for the population, even when measured on a global basis. For humans it has been this way for 8,000 years, since the dawn of settled civilizations, starting in Mesopotamia. The dialectic of the 99% versus the 1%, regardless of the scale: village, city, region, country or planet, has been and continues to be the status quo since time immemorial. On a planetary scale, for the bottom half of humanity, where 1,200 calories of daily intake is an embarrassment of riches, you and I are their 1%. Yet, only a microscopic percentage of us, Chinese, European or American, even attempts to make life changing, sustained efforts to reduce consumption, to live with less Fluff and Stuff, for the commonwealth of all humankind.
So wherever you are, in rural Russia, the mountains of South America, the projects of urban Europe, the wastelands of inner city and small town America, or the packed megalopolises of Asia, count your blessings. Pay your humble respects and thanks to humanity's bottom half, who can only dream of your and my outrageous luxuries.
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