China’s Reality in Pictures- Homeless and Luxury Cars

Here is a photo of a Chinese guy sleeping on the bridge of Dawanglu in Beijing. This man represents an all to present phenomenon these days, homeless elderly people in China. While the Chinese usually revere their elders, a new sentiment may be taking hold vz the younger may be abandoning them. This is dangerous as China has no safety net ie social security. This is a homeless man in China, he is at the mercy of the oft heartless locals for assistance. This man loves China, he says it is a great place to sell expensive cars as the title here from wantchinatimes shows. Title “Land of Ghosts and Phantoms: China now Rolls Royce’s number two market” ” title=”Far from being spooked, rich Chinese buyers have snapped up Rolls Royce’s new Ghost. Picture: Torsten Muller-Otvos, Rolls Royce CEO. (File Photo/CFP)” class=”photo”> excerpt “Far from being spooked, rich Chinese buyers have snapped up Rolls Royce’s new Ghost. Picture: Torsten Muller-Otvos, Rolls Royce CEO. (File Photo/CFP) Rolls Royce chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos remembers the moment last year in Beijing when a man walked through the auto show crowd to the carmaker’s stand and set down a suitcase containing stacked wads of renminbi. “Really, that was amazing. He bought a Phantom,” Muller-Otvos said. … Sales of luxury cars are booming, reflecting the explosion of wealth in China, which has 115 billionaires — second only to the United States, according to Forbes magazine’s 2011 rich list…..Using connections to enter the show on the media preview day, millionaires bought two Rolls Royce Phantoms, which start at 9 million yuan (US$1.3 million) and four of the new Ghosts, starting at 5.1 million yuan (US$780,000)…. Last year, China passed Britain as the company’s number two market after the United States…China’s luxury car sales are expected to rise to more than 909,900 vehicles this year, up from about 727,200 last year, according to forecasts by IHS Automotive. “There are more cities with millionaires in China now than in Europe,” Matthew Bennett, the Asia-Pacific director for British luxury car maker Aston Martin told AFP. Aston Martin caused a buzz in Shanghai by selling one of its One-77 supercars for 47 million yuan (US$7.2 million). The company will make only 77 of the model and five were set aside to sell in China. Bennett said China sales should double in 2011. “We are very, very excited about the potential in China,” he said.” end of article The happy man above said he is excited about China, he likes to make money. The man below uses a step for a pillow. I doubt the man below has ever ridden in a car. It seems like the poor man below has been excluded from China’s dramatic climb. In this article “China: the next lap of luxury?” the chinadaily is asking if China will be known as a place of luxury but the man who sleeps on the steps will never know this. The brutal reality is that China, unlike other countries ie the USA has a homeless problem. and unlike the USA where many of those who are homeless have opted out of society ie drug use, addiction, but even still there is a safety net. All people are eligible for foodstamps and govenrment cheese and tere are food shelters. In china there is nothing more than the hard cold reality of the steps on the Dawanglu bridge. This is the future of China and it oftentimes looks grim.