
China's Millennials Are Happy to Own Nothing - T-A
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-12-02/why-china-s-millennials-are-happy-to-own-nothing
======
cryoshon
FTA: "Faced with a widening wealth gap and the slowest economic growth in more
than two decades, millions like Xiong find themselves priced out of the big
cities and are rejecting the consumer trappings of a modern lifestyle.
Instead, they’re embracing the sharing economy to a far greater degree than
their Western counterparts."

Ah, so rising rent and stagnant wages are causing reduction in lifestyle among
the youthful. The article could be shortened to "people have less money, so
they are forced to make do with less." There are many discussions about these
cultural memes spawned by downward economic trends; some items are useful
(sharing a power tool instead of purchasing), but they're the result of
funding being constrained and people's expectations adjusting downward as a
result. These people are not sworn to poverty, so I doubt they are actually
happy to own nothing, so much as grudgingly adapting to owning less than their
parents.

EDIT: Communes can make a comeback gracefully as part of this economic trend,
but it's still important to understand that generations losing wealth isn't a
positive thing.

~~~
morsch
Decoupling personal happiness from accumulation of consumer goods as an end in
itself seems like both a positive and a conceivable thing to me, even if it
were a cultural meme with roots that are out of people's direct control such
as an economic downturn. These things aren't mutually exclusive.

~~~
beatpanda
We're not in an economic downturn, either in the U.S. or China. Workers just
aren't seeing the benefits of a return to economic growth.

~~~
dmix
If x age group, social group, or "middle class" is experiencing an economic
downturn - but the country as a whole is stable or upward - are they not still
in an economic downturn?

This is a very common phenomenon with statistics... for example I frequently
come across people citing that x time in history had early death rates - so
you likely wouldn't have lived past 40 - without explaining the majority of
deaths were due to infant death from disease. But if they in fact made it past
early childhood then those projected maximum age numbers were not relevant.

This is why it's important to not plan based on global averages. One reason
why conducting "cohort analysis" is very important in business analytics.

~~~
beatpanda
Right, but calling it an "economic downturn" confuses the issue in the same
way not including infant mortality does. The important thing to realize here
is that the economy is growing, i.e. more overall wealth is being generated.
That enables you to ask the question -- if there's more wealth being generated
but most people in society are seeing their wealth and income stagnate or
decrease, what is going on, and why?

~~~
dmix
Well in that context the next question should be does growth need to be
distributed evenly for the economy to be considered 'healthy'. But for
individuals such as the person mentioned in the article this is less relevant,
they shouldn't make financial decisions or life choices as if everything is
good because the macro-level is seeing positive growth.

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sotojuan
This opened my eyes because the Chinese international students in my
university (the only contact I have with people from that country) buy the
most extravagant stuff. I'm somewhat knowledgeable about fashion brands, and I
see them wear what would amount to $1000+ in outfits daily. And that's just
clothing I recognize. "Wanting to own everything" (that is trendy!) is a
common stereotype of them in my university. That said, in general they're
humble and nice.

Guess I'm only getting exposed to the Chinese 1%, so thanks for this article.

~~~
EC1
$1000 outfit is standard. Boots that don't suck, jeans, jackets, sweaters,
watches, accessories add up super quickly.

~~~
sotojuan
Maybe for someone with a job, but not for the average US college student. Here
I'd argue most people wear at most $100-500, depending on how much they care.
This is for guys by the way. And like I said, 18-25 year olds without jobs or
part time jobs.

I originally typed $1500-2000... I see a lot of Thom Browne stuff here, and
that means $350 for a button up, $1000 for shoes. But it's probably a minority
still, and you can't tell how much shoes/boots cost without knowing the brand
(though I've seen some Rick Owens sneakers).

Edit: Saw you mentioned winter. Yeah that drives my number up. My $1000 was
based on fall/spring type of stuff.

~~~
kuschku
It’s obvious he’s far above any normal person, part of the rich. His "friends"
buy bags for $2k each, according to this post:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10673865](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10673865)

I don’t think the struggles of normal people, or the fact that people have to
save money, are understood by someone like him.

EDIT: I don’t usually read through comment histories, but here it’s to provide
a context, not to judge the person, and these earlier comments from him, a few
weeks ago, harden my belief:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10288459](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10288459)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10124135](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10124135)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10049439](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10049439)
although this comment
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9195212](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9195212)
goes in the other direction.

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Joof
Bring up communes in America and everyone assumes you are crazy or in a cult.

It's not like I just think it would be optimal to share a kitchen or bulk
meals and maybe actually talk to my neighbors.

Living in tiny isolated groups is the American dream.

~~~
ryandrake
Great if it works for you, but buddy I could never go back to having
roommates, sharing a bathroom or a kitchen, or even having a shared wall with
a neighbor. I like my privacy and security, and no, "my bedroom door closes"
doesn't meet the bar.

~~~
toomuchtodo
I'm considering building a tech worker commune in the mountains of North
Carolina. Solar/wind generation on site, fiber connectivity, etc. Communal
kitchen/coworking space. Your home would be a tiny house you build or pull to
the site.

Your living arrangements are what you make of it. I've lived in a 4000 sq foot
home in the suburbs, and I've lived in a condo in a major metro (Chicago).

Nuts to possessions and competing on living space, I just want to spend time
with good people.

~~~
vijayr
_I just want to spend time with good people_

This!

Your idea is awesome. But why restrict only to tech workers? At the least, you
could let all digital workers stay?

~~~
toomuchtodo
Honestly, its open to anyone. Not many non-folks have a need for solid
connectivity in the middle of nowhere though.

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bduerst
This is more of a smaller counter-culture group. The majority of millenials
living the metropolitan areas of China are not of this mentality.

~~~
reedlaw
I agree. From my experience there is more pressure than ever for young people
to own a house and a car. It's almost a prerequisite to marriage. Even in big
cities where it's unreasonable to expect a young person to be able to afford
these things there is still a pressure which most often falls upon the
parents.

------
beatpanda
It is depressing that my generation is framing a forced downgrade in our
quality of life as a trendy lifestyle choice.

In both the U.S. and China the economy is growing, but a greater and greater
percentage of those gains go to the owners of capital. Instead of demanding a
higher percentage of the product of our labor, we're content to take what
we're given and downgrade our expectations.

I am a "highly paid" software engineer who works in San Francisco. Plugging in
30% of my take-home pay into Craigslist yields an anemic, depressing list of
available properties. So instead of getting ripped off by some scumbag
landlord, I built a tiny house in someone's back yard.

If I could afford it, I would rent something nice, or even buy a house, but
_even with_ my 6-figure salary, it's not possible. And this is a _scam_.

My generation, even those of us that are getting the best deal going under
Capitalism, are getting _ripped off_. and it's time we started talking about
it that way instead of pretending like we're "living with less" because of
some moral or ethical or lifestyle imperative.

And I should be clear -- I think Americans can stand to live with less, I
think that co-housing is a legitimate option and I'd choose it if it were
available to me. I also think that Americans should be seeing the benefit of
increased worker productivity in their compensation, instead of 100% of that
productivity increase flowing to the owners of capital.

~~~
guard-of-terra
People are increasingly trying to crowd into a depressingly small and
shrinking list of places. Mostly megapolises like London or hubs like SF,
where they then forced to live far enough that commute takes hours and their
job takes the rest. Money concentrate and people feel the need to concentrate
as well.

Frankly I don't want to live that way. And I'm on my way to not to.

~~~
marssaxman
Forced? Dude. People move to the big city because it's where the fun happens.
Sure, it's expensive, but you get what you pay for and then some.

~~~
ghaff
Whether or not it's a good value is in the eye of the beholder. But it is a
luxury item.

------
Animats
"You+" has franchised the frat house.

Why not? It's the next step after "brogrammers".

------
marme
The big difference between this and communist living of their parents
generation could be summed up in one word "hope". They live in crappy communal
living nearly identical to what their parents had but for them it is temporary
just until they get their big break or their startup takes off. They all dream
of living in a mansion when they get rich so they have hope. For their parents
the government assigned apartment was the end of the line, there was no hope
of getting a better place and you just lived with it and most people hated it.
So when you choose to live this way you have the choice to leave, even though
you most likely wont, but it is that choice that makes it so much better

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guard-of-terra
Whoa, I too have around two pairs of shoes (for every season, grand total of
maybe five) and never owned a car.

"For as little as about $500 a month, You+ residents gain access to a private
room with a bathroom"

Whoa whoa, for $500 a month, I imagine you could rent a full apartment mostly
anywhere in China, could not you?

Sounds like a very expensive way to own nothing.

Having said that, sharing apartments is all rage where I live. It's cheaper to
rent 3 bedroom apartment and divide the price between 3-6 people than renting
one bedroom flat for yourself only. In places where housing is expensive this
saves young people without stellar paychecks. Company is also nice when you
get to choose who to live with.

~~~
guard-of-terra
"These days, he shares a bedroom with three others, each paying about $300 a
month."

Now that sounds totally overpriced. Is Beijing such an expensive city already?

~~~
kuschku
In my city (in Germany, even!) the housing situation isn’t better.

"9m² apartment in a suburban house, on the attic – 150€/month, time limited
offer of 3 months".

"11m² apartment subsidized by government, kitchen and bathroom shared with 30
other apartments, 350€/month"

Housing just is expensive.

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ilaksh
[http://runvnc.github.io/tinyvillage](http://runvnc.github.io/tinyvillage)

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jsn117
not according to the line outside your local gucci store

