Rising prices of consumer goods have become the top concern of
urban and rural residents, followed by "income gap" and
"corruption," according to a survey by the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences (CASS).
Results of the survey on urban and rural residents' life
satisfaction were published in CASS's 2008 Blue Paper of Society on
Friday.
Director of the Institute of Sociology under CASS, Li Peilin,
said that 30.5 percent of the people surveyed chose "rising prices
of consumer goods" as the most serious social problem, followed by
"income gap" and "corruption."
Both urban and rural residents feel the pressure from rising
prices of consumer goods in 2007, according to home visits
conducted in October of 2007 in seven cities, seven small towns and
their surrounding rural areas, and eight rural areas in Huangpo
district of Wuhan City, capital of central Hubei Province.
"Laid-off and re-employment" and "social security" used to be
top concerns in the 1999-2005 period. But "Rising prices of
consumer goods", to which 66.5 percent of urban residents and 57.5
percent of rural residents surveyed expressed concern, jumped to
the top of the list this time. "Housing reform" with 24.6 percent
and "food and drug safety" with 26.6 percent ranked second on the
lists of concerns of urban and rural residents, respectively.
The country's accumulated Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased
by 4.6 percent in the first 11 months of 2007, to which food price
hike contributed more than 80 percent, reported China Finance
Information on Friday.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2008)