Consumer durables ownership 1990-2002
In the first first three decades of
Communist rule (1949-1979), people in China aspired to own three
durable goods: a
wristwatch, a bicycle and a sewing machine. By the
end of the period, these possessions were universal in urban areas
(for example, in 1981 there were 135.9 bicycles per 100 households in
urban areas), though not in the countryside. In 1980, there were still
only 36.9 bicycles, 23.3 sewing machines and 37.6 watches per 100
rural households. It was not until 1984 that there was an average of
one wristwatch per rural household, not until 1988 that there was an
average of one bicycle per household, and sewing machine ownership is
not yet universal in rural areas.
In the
1980s and 1990s, as the economy grew
rapidly, town-dwellers acquired three more prized
possessions: colour televisions, washing machines and refrigerators.
At the same time, the range of available consumer durables widened
to 
include a much greater variety of items, such as videotape
recorders and DVD players.
As in the western countries and Japan, these
consumer durable markets have now reached saturation in the cities, so
that demand is now increasingly replacement demand. Consumers have
become much more discerning, so domestic producers have had to raise
their standards to meet the challenge posed by high-quality imports.
WTO accession will accelerate the process of weeding out inefficient
and low-quality domestic manufacturers.
By 2002, the pattern of urban household
consumption had developed further. While less than 2% of households
had a motor bike in 1990, more than one in five did so in 2002. Car
ownership remained less than 1% in 2002 but was growing rapidly,
having grown at an annual average rate of 37.9% since 1999. With
washing machine, colour TV and fridge ownership almost universal, the
main growth areas in consumption were in mobile phones, 
which rocketed
from 7.1% of households in 1999 to 62.9% in 2002, and computer
ownership, which rose simultaneously from 5.9% to 20.6% of households.
In 1990, almost all households kept cool with an electric fan; air
conditioner ownership has since risen to over half of all urban
households. The proportion of households with showers installed in
their apartments doubled to 62.4% between 1995 and 2002.
|
Consumer durables ownership in urban areas |
||||||
|
(Number of items owned per 100 urban households at year-end) |
||||||
|
1990 |
1995 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
|
|
Motor bike |
1.94 |
6.29 |
15.12 |
18.80 |
20.40 |
22.19 |
|
Washing machine |
78.41 |
88.97 |
91.44 |
90.50 |
92.20 |
92.90 |
|
Fridge |
42.33 |
66.22 |
77.74 |
80.10 |
81.90 |
87.38 |
|
Colour TV |
59.04 |
89.79 |
111.57 |
116.60 |
120.50 |
126.38 |
|
Video |
18.19 |
21.73 |
20.10 |
19.89 |
18.43 |
|
|
Hi-Fi |
10.52 |
19.66 |
22.20 |
23.80 |
25.16 |
|
|
Camera |
19.22 |
30.56 |
38.11 |
38.40 |
39.80 |
44.08 |
|
Air conditioner |
0.34 |
8.09 |
24.48 |
30.80 |
35.80 |
51.10 |
|
Shower |
30.05 |
45.49 |
49.10 |
52.00 |
62.42 |
|
|
VCD/DVD player |
24.71 |
37.50 |
42.60 |
52.57 |
||
|
Computer |
5.91 |
9.70 |
13.30 |
20.63 |
||
|
Mobile phone |
7.14 |
19.50 |
34.00 |
62.89 |
||
|
Car |
0.34 |
0.50 |
0.60 |
0.88 |
||
The assumption that people living in
the countryside spurn the luxuries of the cities is nonsense.
Differences in
consumption patterns are largely the result of income
differentials, reflected also in other factors, such as lack of
electricity supply, which together explain why washing machine
ownership was still limited to 30.8% of rural households in 2002.
Electric fan use is still the overwhelming method of household
cooling, with air conditioner ownership at only 2.3% in 2002. Low
incomes and low network penetration also explain why mobile phone
ownership was only 13.7% in rural areas in 2002, although this was
over three times the proportion two years earlier.
|
Consumer durables ownership in rural areas |
|||
|
(Number of items owned per 100 rural households at year-end) |
|||
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
|
|
Washing machine |
28.58 |
29.94 |
30.80 |
|
Electric fan |
122.62 |
129.42 |
134.26 |
|
Fridge |
12.31 |
13.59 |
14.83 |
|
Air conditioner |
1.32 |
1.70 |
2.29 |
|
Exhaust fan |
2.75 |
3.15 |
3.58 |
|
Bicycle |
120.48 |
120.83 |
121.32 |
|
Motor bike |
21.94 |
24.71 |
28.07 |
|
Phone |
26.38 |
34.11 |
40.77 |
|
Mobile phone |
4.32 |
8.06 |
13.67 |
|
Hi-Fi |
7.76 |
8.67 |
9.73 |
|
Colour TV |
48.74 |
54.41 |
60.45 |
|
Video |
3.30 |
3.33 |
3.32 |
|
Camera |
3.12 |
3.23 |
3.34 |
Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2003.