The struggling reserves

It is harder for people to break into the middle class now, as well.

Zhang Jing, a graduate student in the Department of Finance at Peking University, has become part of the "ant tribes," a term coined by Chinese sociologists to describe the low-income graduates who move to big cities in hopes of a better life only to find poor living conditions and low-paying jobs. There is an estimated 100,000 living in Beijing, mostly in the outskirts.

Zhang lives with her boyfriend, Yang Lei, in a 60-square-meter apartment, which they share with another couple. The only appliances they have are an electric water heater and a cooker. They pay 800 yuan a month in rent. To save money, the couple frequently eats at the university's dining hall. Zhang prepares for her post-graduate exam while Yang, who graduated from the Department of Computers at the University of Science and Technology, works all day providing technological support for a Web site. His monthly salary is 3,000 yuan (US$440).

"The high Gini Coefficient is a direct evidence of our poor life," Zhang said.

"For children born in countries or rural areas, it may take 10 years longer than native city residents to become part of the middle class because they have to buy houses on their own," said Li Chunling, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(The Chinese version of this story was published in the latest issue of China Newsweek, and was translated and edited by Ma Yujia and Jessica Zhang.)