Middle Kingdom's Middle Class

Experts warn that the gap between the well-heeled and the down-at-the-heels is widening at an alarming rate. More and more of the country's wealth is being concentrated in fewer hands. After China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization later this year, the situation may worsen. Protests around the country are already commonplace, if scattered. That is why, says scholar Cheng Li, the Chinese government is more worried about the potential for resentment and unrest at the bottom of the social scale than it is about rising demands and expectations from the tiny, albeit important, middle class. "The political role of the middle class in China at this point is still marginal," said Li, who teaches at Hamilton College in New York. "This may soon change as it's number and influence increase." For now, he said, "the middle class is interested in social and political stability. So is the Chinese government."