China Taxicab Chronicles 1: Mr. Yang the Family Man

Mr. Yang in Nanning shares his consumption habits and worldview as a family man in this economy

This content was original posted as a thread on Twitter on September 10, 2023. Freed of Twitter character limits, I am reposting it here along with some revisions and re-wordings for long-essay format.

It's around 4pm and I'm heading to the Nanning airport from my hotel, where I’ve been attending a coal market conference. I call a Didi car and get a guy almost instantly, from just 20 meters away. He looks about my age, maybe a bit younger.¹ I’m surprised by the speed at which he picked up my order.

"Hey man, you took my order so fast...do you just sit in the hotel parking lot waiting for an airport run?"

"No, just a coincidence, because I just dropped someone off here. The system gives us orders, so I can’t choose where I’m going anyway. Hey, bro, are you Chinese?"

"Do I look Chinese?"

"Hah, no...I guess you don't. But you sound Chinese, like you're from the north."²

"Yeah, I learned Chinese up north. But you...you sound like you're from Guangxi."

"Yes, you have a good ear. I'm from Nanning. Actually, originally I'm from Chongzuo. I guess you don't know Chongzuo...it's a small place."

"Actually I do know Chongzuo, but I don't know anything about it. It's a city southwest of here, on the Vietnam border, right?" (崇左市)

"Yes. Wow, you even know Chongzuo. Lots of Chinese people don't know Chongzuo."

"Well I like geography, and I like to travel, so sometimes I will study the map to plan where I might travel someday. I’ve learned the names of lots of city names and locations in China like this, although I’ve never been there.”

I’ve had this conversation before many times, and I suspect he’s about to ask me to name every city I’ve ever visited in China (this is a common conversation topic, believe it or not) so I decide to change the subject.

“Hey, do you like driving for Didi?"

"It's okay. Actually I have two jobs - in the morning I work for a company, helping to ship orders."

"Like a logistics job?"

"Yeah, I guess it's a logistics job. In the late afternoon and evening, I drive a car for Didi."

I see an opening to segue to a topic pretty much everyone likes to discuss: real estate.

"Why do you work two jobs? Are you saving for a house?"

"No, I already bought a house in Nanning. I work two jobs because it makes me feel more relaxed, to have the extra income."

"Why do you need the extra income? Are you paying your home loan faster?"

"Mmm...with extra income I pay my loan faster, but also can save some money…"

"Save? For what? Do you plan to buy a car, or go traveling, or just buy some stuff? Since you have a house already, what are you saving for? Do you have a dream thing that you’re saving up to buy?"

"Dream? No...haha. I don't have a thing I want to buy. But I need to save for my daughter's education".

"Oh, you mean like tuition, training classes?"

"Not just that. Other things. Maybe someday she will be interested in dance or music. These hobbies cost money. It's different now compared to when we were young”. He gestures at me, clearly indicating that “we” includes me, i.e. our generation.

“Now, kids need to have other activities, not just studying. So I need to save for that. Also I need to prepare to take care of my parents..."

"Right, saving for kids and and parents in the future…I see. You know, some economic experts say Chinese people have a saving culture, they are always saving for future purchases, or for a rainy day, so they don't want to buy consumable goods now like cars or cell phones. Do you think that's true?" I ask.

"Well, a few years ago, when I was younger, I liked to consume. I had no worries about spending a few thousand RMB on a new cell phone, or a few hundred RMB at dinner. But it's different now, because the economy is not as good now, but also because I have a kid now. My consumption habits changed."

Actually my wife changed her consumption habit too, even more than me, so we can save more money. Now she won't even pay 30 RMB for makeup products..."

"Wow. How much money, what salary, do you think you need to make so that you wouldn't be afraid to consume things?" I ask.

"The problem for me is not how much...it's my earning model. When you get a big sum at the end of the month, it feels okay to spend it. But when you drive a car, the money comes slowly, one ride, one sum at a time. This is painful money to earn so it also hurts to spend it." (he used the word 辛苦钱 here, literally: “hardship/pain money”)

"But also my way of thinking is different now. I won't consume the way I did when I was young. I just want to make enough to take care of my family, take care of my parents, have a relaxed life."

"How much money should someone make in Nanning to have this kind of relaxed life?" I ask.

He answer doesn't directly get at my question, but gives me lots of context clues:

"Well, in Nanning, college graduates working in an office (文员) can make only 3000 RMB per month. That's too little. But after a few years, with experience, maybe they can make 7000 RMB or more. That's not bad.

And then if you work in retail, restaurants, jobs like this, you should be able to make 5000. If you can do some physical jobs, like you can make 6000 or 7000, but also you have to work longer hours."

"Ok, so if you make, for example, 10000 RMB per month, that's very comfortable?" I ask.

"Yes, 10000 is a good salary, but they are not comfortable. Because people that make 10000 have to work very hard, and maybe they don't make so much every month...more in some months, less in some months."

(His tone implies to me that he's not making this much right now).

Later, I checked hiring salary statistics for Nanning in Q2 2023 and found they matched well to his anecdotal descriptions, with the average monthly salary across the city standing at 8850 CNY and the median at 6985 CNY, ranking 28/38 of the largest Chinese cities.

Nanning average monthly salary is on the low end for large cities, but should be high on a national basis.

"Okay" I continue. "Then what about real estate? Is it affordable in Nanning? I saw some signs advertising for 6000 to 8000/sqm for an apartment". Is that normal?"

"Yeah, Nanning is a typical 'wages low, house prices high' city. 7000/sqm is an average price".³

"What's the most expensive real estate in Nanning? Someone told me it's those four big towers next to the Yong River? I guess it's famous?"

"Oh, haha yeah. It's called umm...凯旋1号 I think? It's very expensive. But that's not a nice place to live. The neighborhood isn't good."

"Yes, I saw those buildings at night across the river. I guess it's too expensive - someone told me it costs 30000 RMB/sqm.⁴ I saw almost no lights on inside the building. It seems it's still mostly empty, no neighbors. And when people do move in, there will be so much noise from renovations...

"Maybe not. I heard those luxury apartments come fully furnished".

"Yes, but don't Chinese people always renovate the apartment when they move in?"

He pauses for a second, thinking, then laughs into the rearview mirror at me. "That's right...we do like to do that. Hahaha."

We're pulling up to the airport. But I still have one more question about real estate. "Do you think the value of houses will go down because of the economy? Are you worried?"

"I heard that. I guess so. But I don't worry about it. I bought my house already. I won't sell it."

He drops me off, I think him for the conversation, and head into the airport for my flight back to Shanghai.

Final thoughts: Of course, Yang is just one guy, but I didn’t see anything that would make his lifestyle atypical for a middle-income family in a large-but-not-huge Chinese city.

I'm not a macroeconomics guy, and definitely not a real estate guy, but here's what I got from this chat, in a social anthropology sense:

1. Even after buying a property, long-term considerations still drive Yang to save money, most prominently his daughter and parents.

2. Yang and his wife give up consumption in pursuit of their long-term goals, even working an extra job, to put away extra cash for those goals.

3. He associates loose/free consumption habits with youth and a lack of responsibility. His consumption today is strategic and intentional.

4. He is unperturbed by the prospect of real estate losing value, since he bought his house to live in, and doesn't intend to resell it.

These facts form the reality of how he consumes - sociocultural habits that make him distinct from a Shanghai consumer, an American consumer, or a generic consumer in an econ textbook. If you’re a Chinese macroeconomist, or a policy advisor, and you want Yang to behave differently, your proposed policy solution must be fit for purpose.

Those of you who know me, know that macroeconomic punditry is *not* my lane. But if I hear a pundit talking about Chinese consumers, and how they will/won't behave in response to some government policy, I will always wonder what their mental model of this “generic Chinese consumer” looks like, in terms of behavior, priorities, and decision-making.

To be a credible and realistic mental model, I suspect it should look something like Yang and his wife, willing to work an extra job and skip out on consumption for his goals.

Not because they’re living paycheck to paycheck, but out of anticipation of being a good filial son and father who can one day financially care for his elderly parents and send his 3-year old daughter to dance lessons.

-End

This is the first instalment in what I hope will be an continuing series of funny, charming, insightful, or just entertaining conversations with taxi drivers in China. If you like this kind of content, consider subscribing, thanks!

1. I’m 33.

2. Although I haven’t lived in Beijing for over a decade, my earliest years of Chinese-learning were spent there, and my Mandarin still has a distinct northern twang which Chinese people pick up on immediately. Imagine a Chinese guy with a Texas accent…that’s kind of how it is for them.

3. I’ll note here that While Yang considers these prices high, a 1:1 ratio of the average monthly wage to 1 sqm of housing is really not bad vs. say, Nanjing or Wuhan, where that ratio is 1:5 or more, never mind Beijing or Shanghai, where that ratio is 1:10 or even 1:20 in downtown areas.

4. Or about 4x the average price in Nanning.