People from all walks in China are focusing on the upcoming 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the emerging Chinese middle-class is watching from their unique perspective.

Chen Peng, senior auditor from Ernst & Young, concerns himself with the influences on the real estate market and the automobile market that result from adjustments made by macroeconomic policies. This senior hard-working white-collar man is planning to buy a new car.

Chen also pays much attention to China's economic reforms. "I want to know whether the policies worked out by the Party congress can lead to further rapid economic growth. The more prosperous China's economy is, the more listed companies we'll have, and that means more customers," Chen said.

Chen lives together with his mother. "My mother is elderly, so I'm also concerned about retirement and social insurance policies," Chen said. Additionally, Chen indicated that personnel changes in high levels of the CPC and anticorruption issues also interested him.

Personnel changes in the CPC are also one of Jiang Chong's concerns. Jiang is a senior engineer in a Beijing real estate company and he owns five apartments in Beijing. "Will the traffic during rush hours be improved?" Jiang queried.

Peng Dongqing is a deputy general manager of a consulting firm in Beijing. She has good income but always commutes to work by subway instead of car. "I often see beggars and vagrants along the roads, so I am especially interested in the issue of social justice. A big gap between the rich and poor will lead to problems of instability and personal safety," Peng remarked.

With 25 years of Party standing, this senior manager of a private enterprise is also interested in China's diplomatic policies, especially China's relations with the US and Japan. "The US is the most powerful country in the world, and Japan is China's close neighbor. I do not anticipate wars; we need safety and stability," Peng said.

Not everyone in the middle-class is concerned with the 17th National Congress of the CPC. Xin Xueliang, the owner of an iron powder production factory in Hebei Province, said that he was too busy to focus on the congress and policies worked out by high levels of CPC would not have immediate impact on his investment.

Although the concept of middle-class is still not defined clearly in China because it is not the mainstream, there are tens of millions of middle-class consumers. This number is expected to increase rapidly in the next ten years. An "olive society" – small on both ends and big in the middle - may take shape in the future. If so there is no doubt that this process will have great influence on modern Chinese society.

(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, October 13, 2007)