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Freshmen drive cars to campus?

By He Na (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-17 09:23

A laptop, a desktop, a 90,000-yuan ($13,000) bank deposit and a Santana car. These are the rewards 19-year-old Yang Yang received for squeaking past the entry cut-off point for the less-than-stellar Shanghai University this year.

He cleared his driving test over the summer and had his license ready for the freshman semester that began this month.

A freshman of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics drives to school on the opening day of the new semester. Jiang Dong

He was not alone. Lines of new cars swarmed into campuses nationwide with their young owners.

In a country where the majority of the population lives in the vast rural areas and ekes out a simple life by toiling in fields or at city construction sites, these young faces in brand-name clothes and luxury cars stand out most incongruously.

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This simultaneous emergence of the "rich second generation" and "poor second generation" has triggered a heated debate in the Chinese media.

While the lavishing of gifts by the country's nouveau riche on their children is seen as beyond reproach, the sharp contrast they present with the poor students, who have never seen 10 100-yuan-notes at one time, is arousing concern over the yawning wealth gap.

Yang was born and grew up in a wealthy family. His father studied at Yale and works in a hospital, while his mother owns a large mechanical and electrical equipment company.

While he had planned to drive his car to school on the very first day to show his driving skills, he changed his mind at the last minute.

"My classmates will definitely think I am very rich. People who make friends with me may actually be eyeing my money, or some may think I am trying to show off," he says.

So he decided to drive only after school or at weekends.

Pang Wenqi of the Beijing Zhongshi Yuanyang Automotive Sales & Service Company says that this past summer vacation, the company received three enquiries from parents planning to buy cars for their college-age children.

According to a survey by the Xinhuaxin International Information Consultation Company of 2,959 students, 46.6 percent of those at university have cars.

The survey also shows that 75.8 percent of these cars are bought by immediate family members or relatives, and only 16.8 percent students put in their own money from part-time jobs, stock market investments or earnings from other businesses.

Li Xue, a second-year graduate student of Journalism in Tsinghua University, owns a brand new white Toyota Corolla - bought by her parents. The 23-year-old has already been driving for more than five years.

Her home, located in the southeastern part of Beijing, is far from school and is not connected by a subway line. Before she got the car, commuting between home and school took up a lot of her time.

"Owning a car offers a lot of convenience. I also help out my friends, like when we do late nights or go shopping," says Li.

"I do not think of it (owning a car) as showing off. If our economic condition allows it, and makes commuting more convenient, why should we say no to a car," she says.

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