According to a report carried on China Youth Daily of August 9, more than half (56 percent) of the general public recognized the stratum classification conclusion reached by a topic research group at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) about the Chinese society. And 64 percent of the public indicated that they have the intention to move upwards in social strata.

According to the report the conclusion was the result of an online survey titled ��To Which Stratum Do You Belong in the Chinese Society?�� conducted by the social surveying center at the China Youth Daily on August 3, 2004. The survey lasted till 13:00 August 6. There were altogether 1,974 people taking part in the survey.

56 percent agree that China has ten major strata

Not long ago the Contemporary Chinese Social Strata Research Group at the CASS published a book titled Contemporary Social Mobility of China. In the book the Chinese society is classified into ten major strata. From top down, they are like this: state and social administrators, management personnel, private business owners, specialized technicians, clerks, self-employed industrialists and businessmen, personnel in commercial catering industry, industrial workers, agricultural laborers and urban jobless or unemployed and semi-unemployed persons.

The survey indicates that over half (56 percent) of the general public recognized the conclusion about social classification and only 16 percent hold a skeptical attitude towards the research conclusion.

Social resource distribution is closely linked to the level of social stratum

The survey indicates that 42 percent of the general public believe: state and social administrators take a comparatively larger share of social resources. Second are private business owners (23 percent) and management personnel (21 percent). These three strata are respectively put in the first, third and second places in the social classification research conclusion and are among the top three groups in society.

Meanwhile the survey discovered that in the eyes of the public other strata are in comparative disadvantageous positions in terms of social resources compared with the aforesaid three strata. In answers to the question �C Which strata do you think that they are controlling comparatively more social resources than others? �C No other strata acquired a rate of more than 5 percent.

In the survey, a respective 27, 27 and 18 percent of the public believe that urban and rural jobless or unemployed and semi-unemployed, agricultural laborers and industrial workers are among the groups who need most interest protection.

Majority believe themselves to belong to the forth and fifth strata

Generally speaking, most people participating in the survey believe themselves to be specialized technicians, that is, the forth stratum; 23 percent believe themselves to be clerks, the group of people who have the fifth place in the 10-strata classification. None of the other eight strata had a rate of more than 10%. Only 18 percent of the general public believe themselves to be in the upper social strata (state and social administrators, management personnel and private business owners).

64 percent wish to move upwards

Results of the survey show that 33 percent of people wish to join the state and social management stratum. 28 percent are willing to become a member of the private business owner group and another 21 percent yearn for becoming management personnel. In other words, 82 percent of the general public wish to become a member of the three social strata. Apart from this, technicians with expertise are also favored by the general public. 13 percent of the responders said they wish to ascend to the stratum of specialized technicians.

Compared with those 18 percent of the people who believe themselves to be among the upper social strata already, more (64 percent) of the public indicate that they entertain wishes to move upwards.

By People's Daily Online