Houses in China - Part 5: Choice

China Travel Services

Peking, Tsinghua and Renmin universities are among the best in China. They are all located in the northwest of Beijing, gathering the best scholars and students from all over the country. Yet the housing conditions for teachers were far from ideal over the past half century. According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Education, by the end of 1996 there were tens of thousands of university faculty living in dilapidated tongzilou built more than 30 years ago. Their inferior housing and high social status were poles apart.

Chinese professionals are considered "high quality and inexpensive." During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, university teachers' salaries plummeted. Before a readjustment in 1985, the average income of university faculty was lower than that of labourers. Their expenditure and income were highly disproportionate and this imbalance haunted them for many years. In the early 1990's, when China switched to a market economy, the mobility of human resources increased. A great number of teachers left the universities for a better pay.

In 1997, a pilot tongzilou renovation project was launched in Peking and Tsinghua universities. The Central government of China finally decided to look into the living conditions of university faculty. In the following three years, State and Provincial governments renovated altogether 4 million square meters of housing in universities across 16 provinces. Added to this, houses built with funds collected by teachers amounted to 400 thousand square meters. The living conditions of university teachers had dramatically improved.

Lu Youjie and Yao Liyu are representative of two generations of Chinese intellectuals. The different choices they made in the face of the housing problem reflected changes in the State's policy towards intellectuals. Their salaries and accommodation were both improved and they regained the respect lost during the Cultural Revolution. Although the changes came late, the renovation of housing in universities still persuaded other young teachers to stay. At the same time, other reforms were also underway.