Chinese Changing Living Habits, Politics

Yesterday, I wrote about the changes in living habits created by Americans responding to high energy prices. Today, FT has a great picture and audio story entitled "Shanghai's suburban rebellion." The story, reported and narrated by Geoff Dyer, describes a developing suburban middle class whose lifestyle - and therefore energy use patterns - will look remarkably familiar to Americans. Gated communities and personal automobile ownership are sought after commodities, consumerism has taken off, and the model of urban living - working near where one works - is no longer the desired norm.

Just as American political behavior change due to lifestyle, so too, does China's. Dyer speaks about a community near Shanghai that does not try to involve itself in politics, but becomes politically active only when a much maligned maglev train is slated to be routed near their luxury apartments and vocally nationalist due to protests abroad in the lead-up to the Olympics. China's economy and politics will be thrown under the microscope over the next two weeks; these four minutes of photos and narration documenting an important trend that will affect the politics, economics, and energy use of the world's most populous nation and largest carbon emitter are worth taking a look at.