You have been dreaming of being a member of middleclass for a long time. You picture yourself living in a gorgeous house, driving a luxurious car and holding a decent job. Cool, isn’t it? Well, that is not the whole story.

     You think that it is footloose and fancy-free to be a member of middleclass in China. You don’t have to work as much as others do, but your salary is higher than theirs. You often fly to foreign countries for sightseeing on vocations. In your spare time, you enjoy yourself in the alternating of playing golf, going to the gymnasium and attending a concert. And you buy a pile of goods (most of which are unnecessary) in the store whenever you feel like it. Being a little tired after you return from the store, you relax yourself by listening to classic music after a hot bath. And of course, you ask your maid make nutritious and delicious refreshments for you. Those are what you think the life of a middleclass is like, and it is to some extent true. 

     One day your dream of becoming a member of middleclass comes true. So you feel the urge to adapt yourself to your new mode of life. You convert from the restaurant you used to patronize to another one which is of better decoration. You renew your wardrobe with expensive light-colored clothes. Bit by bit, you are introduced to circles of upper class. And you occasionally have some entertainment with them, but you have to make sure that you behave well in order to show courtesy and urbanity. You should be satisfied by what you’ve got, but you discover that you lose something and that your old friends become respectful to you. You begin to think that it is not that comfortable to be a member of middleclass. You feel a bird in locked cage. For example, you have to refrain the desire to have a fantastic time in a discotheque with your friends because it is not the place the middleclass belong in. I the meantime, you are tangled with routines such as parties, dinners, balls and what not. You are also supposed to be in good taste. You have to be familiar with the miscellaneous rules of social occasion. In the end, you feel tired and what you want most narrows down to honest joy, open amusement and pure childlike delight. 

     So when you are asked what you think a member of middleclass is like, now your answer is probably “It’s nothing special, uh?” As the proverb “The grass is always green on the other side of the hill” goes, being a member of the middleclass does not live up to your dream totally. On the contrary, you feel kind of relived after you come to yourself.