{"id":699031,"date":"2024-04-18T09:57:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T16:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=699031"},"modified":"2024-04-23T14:24:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T21:24:49","slug":"quote-of-the-day-official-disposable-income-figures-derided-as-todays-daily-dose-of-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2024\/04\/quote-of-the-day-official-disposable-income-figures-derided-as-todays-daily-dose-of-humor\/","title":{"rendered":"Quote of the Day: Official Disposable Income Figures Derided as \u201cToday\u2019s Daily Dose of Humor\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 16, China’s National Bureau of Statistics <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> that the Chinese economy was <\/span>off to a good start in 2024<\/span><\/a>, with reported <\/span>5.3% year-on-year GDP growth in the first quarter<\/span><\/a> of the year. The better-than-expected data was <\/span>touted<\/span><\/a> by various Chinese state media outlets online, although many of those news posts had <\/span>comment filtering enabled<\/span><\/a>, perhaps in anticipation of negative or skeptical reactions from social media users. Two items in particular seemed to strike netizens as overly optimistic: the reported \u201cnationwide average per-capita disposable income\u201d figure of 11,539 yuan (equivalent to nearly $1600 U.S. dollars) for the first quarter of the year, and the claim that \u201cthe incomes of rural residents grew more quickly than those of urban residents.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both were the subject of withering commentary from social media users, particularly on Weibo. <\/span>CDT editors have compiled and translated some <\/span>comments from Weibo users, many of them profoundly skeptical about the government figures on average per-capita disposable income<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u6d1b\u6653\u6d1b\u8dd1\u5f97\u5feb\u5440: Today\u2019s daily dose of humor has arrived.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u5bf6\u516c\u5b50Young: My salary has not increased by one cent, and prices haven\u2019t gotten cheaper. I have no idea where they got this data, or how it supposedly increased.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u58a8\u5361\u4e0d\u662f\u6469\u5361: Why haven\u2019t I been informed about when I can expect to receive <\/span>my<\/span><\/em> portion of this increase?<\/span><\/p>\n

hikaru\u5c9a: I\u2019ll never catch up to the average.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u738b\u6d77\u4e1c15: As long as they [the people in power] are happy, that\u2019s all that matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

karlsnake: Does anyone believe this?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u5316\u505a\u4e00\u7c92\u5c18: I just did a quick calculation, and my disposable income is about one hundred yuan (less than $14 U.S. dollars). Not bad. I’m very satisfied. After all, compared to the many workers whose wages are in arrears, I\u2019m considered rich\u2014seriously!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u674e\u5c0f\u59d39863: As everyone knows, statistics is sorcery.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u7231\u7740\u5e05\u54e5\u7684\u5154\u5b50\u541bTVXQ: Data with Chinese characteristics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u8c26\u54e5\u7406\u67e5\u5fb7:\u00a0 Read the comments, look at the data, and compare. Is this some new form of \u201c<\/span>exaggerated crop yields<\/span><\/a>?\u201d <\/span>[<\/span>Chinese<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the strong first-quarter GDP growth, which appears to have been <\/span>driven largely by manufacturing<\/span> <\/a>and <\/span>external demand<\/span><\/a>, the Chinese economy faces numerous challenges, including <\/span>sluggish consumption<\/span><\/a>, high <\/span>youth unemployment<\/span><\/a>, and a troubled <\/span>property sector<\/span><\/a>. A recent WeChat post from audacious entrepreneur and philanthropist Chen Guangbiao urging the Chinese government to bolster consumption by <\/span>focusing on providing stable jobs, higher incomes, and a stronger social safety net<\/span><\/a> earned many supportive comments from social media users.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Reuters, Chan Ka Sing reported on the <\/span>conflicting economic indicators that make China\u2019s economic recovery \u201ca tale of at least two economies\u201d<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

An optimist will look at China\u2019s latest GDP figures released on Wednesday and argue they signal that the best of times is returning. The country\u2019s economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter year-on-year, comfortably beating analysts\u2019 expectations of a 4.6% increase and putting Beijing on track to hit its 5% target for 2024. Yet beneath the headline number lies evidence that the People\u2019s Republic has yet to put worse times behind it, not least near-zero inflation and sluggish lending and an enduring property market crisis. It\u2019s a tale of at least two economies.<\/span><\/p>\n

[…] Recent economic indicators have pointed to a rockier time ahead. Consumer inflation <\/span>cooled<\/span> more than expected in March and hovers around negative territory. An increase in monetary supply has also failed to translate into more bank lending. Fitch last week followed Moody\u2019s by downgrading its outlook on China\u2019s sovereign credit rating.<\/span><\/p>\n

When meeting a group of U.S. business leaders last month, Xi said his administration is planning \u201ca series of major steps\u201d to propel China\u2019s economy forward and that the Peak China theory <\/span>will not<\/span> be proved right. The remark has instilled expectations that the People\u2019s Republic is serious about a new round of economic reforms. Such a diverse and often conflicting set of data, though, is complicating Beijing\u2019s search for effective stimulus. [<\/span>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 16, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that the Chinese economy was off to a good start in 2024, with reported 5.3% year-on-year GDP growth in the first quarter of the year. The better-than-expected data was touted by various Chinese state media outlets online, although many of those news posts had comment filtering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[99,2,14744,5,38,4202],"tags":[1491,15997,1492,17776,134,1317,12,5940,3788,1203,3409,17964,4667,18521,6090,455,276,1821,2829,14820],"class_list":["post-699031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cdt-highlights","category-economy","category-level-2-article","category-society","category-the-great-divide","category-translation","tag-consumer-class","tag-consumer-prices","tag-consumption","tag-data","tag-economic-growth","tag-economic-growth-rates","tag-filtering","tag-gdp","tag-income","tag-inequality","tag-national-bureau-of-statistics","tag-netizen-comments","tag-online-public-opinion","tag-quote-of-the-day","tag-rural-income","tag-statistics","tag-unpaid-wages","tag-urban-rural-divide","tag-wages","tag-weibo","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nQuote of the Day: Official Disposable Income Figures Derided as \u201cToday\u2019s Daily Dose of Humor\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2024\/04\/quote-of-the-day-official-disposable-income-figures-derided-as-todays-daily-dose-of-humor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quote of the Day: Official Disposable Income Figures Derided as \u201cToday\u2019s Daily Dose of Humor\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On March 16, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that the Chinese economy was off to a good start in 2024, with reported 5.3% year-on-year GDP growth in the first quarter of the year. 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