The Chinese miracle

By: Evan Osnos

The Chinese people no longer want food — the average citizen eats six times as much meat as in 1976 — but this is a ravenous era of a different kind, a period when people are craving for new sensations, ideas and respect. China is the largest consumer of energy, movies, beer and platinum; it is building more high-speed railroads and airports than the rest of the world combined.

For some of its citizens, China’s boom has created stupendous fortune: China is the world’s fastest-growing source of new billionaires. Several of the new plutocrats have been among the world’s most dedicated thieves; others have been holders of high public office. And some, both. But for most of the Chinese people, the boom has not led to vast wealth; it has permitted the first halting steps out of poverty.

The rewards of China’s rise have been wildly inconsistent but fundamentally profound: it is one of the broadest gains in human well-being in the modern age. In 1978, the average Chinese income was $200; by 2014, it was $6,000. By almost every measure, the Chinese have achieved longer, healthier, more educated lives.…

In my years in China, the number of air passengers doubled; cell phone sales tripled; the length of the Beijing subway quadrupled. But I was less impressed by the numbers than by a drama that I could not quantify: two generations ago, visitors to China marvelled most at the sameness of it all.

From "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China"