Middle Class: All Work, No Play

The latest report on Chinese people's pastimes by the National Tourism Administration warns that the nation's middle class is too preoccupied with work to engage in leisure activities. Of members of this group surveyed 90 percent say they are overworked, over 80 percent feel great pressure at work, and more than 28 percent think the stress is pushing them close to their limit. According to the report, urban residents' leisure activities are decided by income, disposable time, transport, job type, and personality, among other factors. Of these, disposable time is the decisive factor for the demographic aged 31 to 50. The report predicts that the unabated inflation that started in 2010 will throttle recreational spending. The report also found that only 66.9 percent of Beijing respondents have ever had paid vacations.