2005年NPR美国国家公共电台十一月-Traditions of Saving and Consuming in Ch

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Anchor: From its massive trade surplus with United States to its funding of America's ballooning deficit¹, China's economy has become increasingly intertwined with her own. And this wouldn't be possible without the extraordinary thrift² of ordinary Chinese who save about half of what they earn. With NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing, this frugality³ can cause its own problems for China's economy.

Anthony Kuhn: In northeast Beijing, 58-year-old Dong Yiyuan is making a deposit at a post office which also functions as a savings⁴ bank. She is depositing the equivalent of 120 dollars, that’s roughly a month's pension for Dong, an ethnic⁵ Manchu woman who retired⁶ a few years ago from her job at a semiconductor⁷ plant. Back home, Dong makes tea for visitors, she explains that like other people of her generation, her spending and savings habits were formed during the 1960s and 70s, an era when food and material goods were scarce and nothing of use was wasted or discarded.

Dong Yiyuan: In those days, we needed a little booklet of ration⁸ stamps to buy everything, from bean starch⁹ noodles and sesame paste to soap and detergent¹⁰. The amount was limited. We didn't even see peanuts or melon seeds, except on holidays.

Anthony Kuhn: China's societies aging faster than the government can build social security and health insurance systems. As for Mrs. Dong, she started saving 1/3 or more of her income when she opened her first bank account decades ago. She sees no reason to change her financial habits now, and she has no interest in credit cards, loans or insurance.

Dong Yiyuan: I won't buy things on credit. If I were to borrow money, and spend what I hadn't already earned, I'd be nervous. I'd always be thinking about what I owe people. If I have extra money, I save it. If not, I just (have) to get by as this.

Anthony Kuhn: China's high savings rate allows a high investment rate. This helps Chinese factories churn out more goods for the U.S. market. It also enables China's Central Bank to buy U.S. dollars at the rate of some 20 billion a month. This in turn keeps US interest rates low, allowing Americans to borrow and consume more than they earn or produce. But economists¹² warn that it's risky¹³ for China to produce so much more than it can consume. Tang Ming, a chief economist¹¹ in Beijing for the Asian Development Bank, notes that China state banks are doing a poor job of allocating¹⁴ the money from savers' nest eggs.

Tang Ming: But with 45% GDP investment, China creates the 9.5% GDP growth. Similar country like India, the saving rate or investment rate is around 24 or 25%. They create a 7% growth. So you can see the efficiency in China is quite low.

Anthony Kuhn: Tang says the government could boost consumer spending if it invested less in often unprofitable factories, and more on health, education and reducing poverty. He adds that the answer to the savings rate problem lies partly in future generations of Chinese.

Anthony Kuhn: Dong Yiyuan and her niece Chen Wen go to pick up Chen's daughter from school. Chen is 29, works in retail¹⁵ sales. As her daughter makes paper cutouts, Chen explains that her financial behavior is very different from that of her aunt.

Chen Wen: I have some savings, but when I have to spend, I may use it all at once. I don't really save money.

Anthony Kuhn: Chen wears a black fleece vest and carries a folding silver cell phone. Her wallet bulges¹⁶ with credit cards. She says she was recently confident enough about her economic future to shorten the term of her mortgage from 15 years to 11. Eventually, Ms. Chen and people like her will transform China from the world's factory into the world's market place. But economists say it could take years or even decades.

Anthony Kuhn: Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.