Who will become the middle class in 10 years?
 
China's middle class may be booming, but a majority of respondents to a recent survey said they do not feel so wealthy.

Only 12.7 percent of a poll conducted by China Youth Daily and Sina.com said they think they are living a middle-class life.

The poll, entitled "Who will become the middle class in 10 years?" found that about 83 percent of the 7,313 people interviewed think a typical middle class Chinese needs to have a good and steady income, a house and a car.

Nearly 70 percent think the middle class needs higher education and good manners. About 60 percent think a decent profession is a crucial feature that defines the middle class.

The survey follows a similar study released earlier this month by HSBC, Fudan University and MasterCard Worldwide.

That survey, which interviewed 1,736 people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou from February to May, researched spending patterns of the country's increasingly affluent¹ middle class.

It found that the number of middle-class consumers in the country is expected to increase to100 million in the 10 years from 35 million in 2006.

A Chinese middle class is defined by the survey as someone whose annual income ranges from $7,500 to $25,000 and who is between 20 to 49 years of age.

However, the latest survey found that only 2.2 percent of respondents agree with that definition.

More than 30 percent of those surveyed chose investment and finance as the best paths to becoming middle class.

Nearly 20 percent think a good collection of social networks and resources will make people richer and 15 percent believe in diligence at work.

The speed at which people join the middle class varies between professions.

The survey found Chinese think those in the science and technology and IT industries are the quickest to get rich, followed by those in the banking², finance and investment industries.

中国的“中产阶层”正在日益壮大，但近日的一项调查表明，大多数受访者认为自己并没有那么富有。

该项由《中国青年报》和新浪网联合开展的调查显示，仅有12.7%的受访者认为自己过着“中产的生活”。

该项题为“谁将在十年内成为中产阶层？”的民意调查发现，在7313名调查对象中，约83%的人认为“中产阶层”的典型特征是收入稳定丰厚、有房有车。

近70%的受访对象认为“中产阶层”的特征之一是受教育水平高，有良好的修养；约60%的人认为“工作体面”是“中产”应具备的重要特征。

本月初，汇丰银行、复旦大学和万事达环球公司公布了它们联合开展的一项类似调查的结果。

该调查从今年2月持续至5月，共对北京、上海和广州的1736人进行了访问，调查主要针对的是这些正在兴起的“中产阶层”的消费模式。

调查发现，未来十年内，中国的“中产阶层”人数预计将从去年的3500万增至1亿。

该调查将年龄在20岁至49岁、年收入在7500美元至2.5万美元之间的人定义为“中产阶层”。

然而，《中国青年报》和新浪网联合开展的这项最新调查发现，仅有2.2%的受访者同意这一说法。

超过30%的人认为投资和理财是成为“中产”的最佳途径。

近20%的人认为，拥有广泛的社会关系和充足的社会资源可以致富，另有15%的受访者认为努力工作很重要。

各行业的人步入“中产阶层”的速度有所不同。

调查发现，人们认为高科技及IT行业的人致富速度最快，其次是银行、金融和投资业。