Disciplined shopping
Mrs. Xue lives in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. In order to confront the pressure of rising prices, she now strictly limits her shopping trips. Because Xue and her husband have a girl at school age, they spend most of their income on the child. By reducing opportunities to spend money outside, Xue says that they are able to manage.
Chen Li has also devised a way to fight inflation. In the past, whenever he treated his friends to dinner, he would ask them to order anything they wanted. Now Chen keeps an eye on group buying websites and uses coupons to treat his friends. As a boy in pursuit of fashion, Chen has also started buying clothes on sale, which is the last thing he would've done in the past.
Chen says he has not found a way to increase his income. Although, he has been buying lottery tickets for a long time, he added, and hopes he will win the jackpot some day.
On the issue of tackling the pressure caused by rising prices, according to the survey 83.3% claimed that they would avoid spending money outside and cut down on expenses, and 46.8% said they would seek more discounts through group buying and by purchasing bargain-priced goods.
Prices affect happiness
An article on a microblog that has spread nationwide claims that high housing and commodity prices have embittered the youth of this generation and destroyed their dreams. Young people who should be traveling, reading and clubbing are instead carefully calculating and strictly budgeting every single expense.
Chen Li understands this feeling well. Although he and his girlfriend like watching movies and reading books, they have given up such luxuries for fear of not being able make ends meet.
In the survey, 79.7% believed that the current high prices have already affected their feelings of happiness; 40.1% thought the influence was significant.
Huang Hongji, a professor at Shanghai Normal University, says that young people have a higher demand for consumption but their incomes and savings are low, so the high prices have a larger influence on them. He adds that young people should be living their passions and dreams, but most of them are now suffering from the pressure of inflation and high prices.
The government must pay attention to this issue of livelihood, by ensuring social stability and creating a better environment for people's well-being and happiness, he says.
