How the Shanghai middle class is shattering the US caricature of the ‘China threat’
- The dynamism and diversity of middle-class Shanghai simply does not support America’s fear that China’s development, illustrated by the explosive growth of its middle class, is largely the result of state capitalism and wholly negative
The rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle class is one of the world’s most stunning developments. At the heart of this story is Shanghai. Nowhere in China has this new socio-economic force been more transformative – and more intriguing – than in this pace-setting city.
The dynamism and diversity of middle-class Shanghai challenges the caricature of the People’s Republic of China as a burgeoning hegemon with a Communist apparatus set on disseminating its singular ideology and development model. China today, as exemplified and led by Shanghai, is also a crucible of change driven by a growing middle class.
Historically, Shanghai is known for its fascinating contradictions. As China’s most Westernised city prior to the Communist revolution in 1949, Shanghai has long served as a “laboratory” for evaluating the impact of transnational forces and the interaction between culture and politics, state and society, and East and West.
Shanghai was not only the cradle of China’s modernisation, but was also the birthplace of the Chinese adaptation of communism.
The rapid expansion of the middle class has gradually extended beyond Shanghai and other megacities like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Shanghai’s distinct entrepreneurial spirit and cultural identity (known as haipai culture) quickly gained prominence after Deng Xiaoping’s economic reform and opening up took root in the 1980s and 1990s.
