Visit a local's home in Beijing and learn about the challenges of middle-class life. Discuss housing, education, and status anxiety, and hear about the vanishing "Old Beijing."

Highlights

• Gain insight into the realities of middle-class life in Beijing
• Visit a local's home and learn about the challenges they face
• Discuss the pressures of housing, education, and status anxiety
• Hear about the vanishing 'Old Beijing' and cultural nostalgia
• Learn about the 'invisible ceiling' and the fear of downward mobility

Description

Experience the unvarnished, complex, and often stressful realities of modern middle-class life in Beijing, as seen from the inside of a local's home. Hosted by a true Beijing local, this experience reveals layers of life that tourists rarely see. Begin by visiting your host's apartment, likely in a sprawling residential complex. Learn about the immense pressure to provide, maintain, and eventually upgrade this asset. Discover how they are asset-rich but cash-poor, living in a valuable 'cage' they cannot afford to leave. Next, witness the relentless 'hustle culture' and educational arms race. Glance at the fridge—it's plastered with the child's color-coded timetable: school, Olympic math, English tutoring, piano, coding camp. Childhood is a high-stakes project. Learn how multiple income streams are not for luxury, but for survival and keeping up. Then, hear about the vanishing 'Old Beijing' and cultural nostalgia. Learn about the city's skyrocketing cost of living, demolition of hutongs, and influx of outsiders. Discover how they feel like strangers in their own hometown. Hear about the trade-off between modern improvements and the loss of community, slow pace, and unique cityscape. Finally, learn about the 'invisible ceiling' and status anxiety. Discover how middle-class in Beijing means being perpetually surrounded by people who are visibly, staggeringly wealthier, while also being acutely aware of those struggling below. Hear about the fear of downward mobility and the lack of a safety net.

Includes

Visit to a local Beijing home Discussion on housing anxiety Insight into hustle culture and educational competition Cultural nostalgia and the vanishing 'Old Beijing' Understanding of status anxiety and social hierarchy Discussion on digital dissent and dual realities local home cooking experience

Important Information

• Experience the unvarnished realities of middle-class life in Beijing Be prepared for candid discussions on societal pressures and cultural changes Understand the duality of love for culture and cynicism towards bureaucracy

Easy cancellation

Annuleer tot 24 uur van tevoren en krijg een volledige terugbetaling