The Quest of Housing in China

The Quest of Housing in China

“Do you have a house?” This has become a common question for young couples deciding whether to get married in China. As for Shanghai, the daily struggle of living in China's financial hub finds vivid expression in the hit TV drama “Dwelling Narrowness”. In the drama, two sisters regard having a house by themselves as the basic rule to live in Shanghai, and finally, they find a house, but lose happiness. A government official named Song Siming in the drama is punished because of the beneficial relationship with a real estate agent. The housing prices in China have climbed to an incredible level, especially in some big cities, such as Shanghai, and Beijing since 2000. An analysis of the drama "Dwelling Narrowness", which highlights Chinese people's quest to find adequate housing, a comparison of China's housing situation before and after the year 2000, and an understanding of the current housing market show that the Chinese government should do something effective to solve this tough problem, such as increase bank loan rate and tax on the second house, or else the housing issue will threaten the way of China's development.

Housing situation before the year 2000 is different from that after 2000. Before the year 2000, houses are just relative expensive than other things, but most people can buy one through their hard work. As I remembered, nearly everyone had his or her own house at that time; so people did not think that house could become a difficult task of their lives not far away in the future. There were few people buy extra houses even they did not need them as a kind of investment. However, after the year 2000, houses became more and more expensive. “As a result of rapid and incomplete transition from a planned economy to a market one, urban housing market has been seriously distorted in China.” (Gao and Asami 206)The year 2000 was a high tide of Chinese economics development. On one hand, local governments needed...