China's Desperate Homeowners
By Patrick Chovanec
I’ve come to learn that when something is banned in China, it’s probably well worth checking out. That's proven to be the case with a new hit TV series called woju 蜗居, which goes by the English name “Dwelling Narrowness”. The series, which aired on Beijing and Shanghai TV, focuses on the difficulties facing average Chinese people in an environment of spiraling apartment prices and official corruption. One blog calls it “without question one of the most influential television series to have aired in China,” and it must have touched some raw nerves, because it was yanked from the airwaves and ordered back to the edit room to be “recensored.” If anything, its abrupt cancellation has generated even more interest among Chinese viewers, who can still download it illicitly online.
The main story revolves around the two Guo sisters, who live in Shanghai. The elder, Haiping, and her husband are graduates of Fudan University, and together live on a typical “local” combined salary of RMB 9,000 (US$1,300) per month. In order to scrimp and save every penny, they rent an cheap one-room apartment and live apart from their young daughter, who is being raised by Haiping’s parents. Frustrated by their earlier decision not to purchase an apartment when prices were far cheaper, they are obsessed with buying one as soon as possible, even though they can barely afford it. They end up buying a place with a mortage of RMB 6,000 per month, 2/3 their income.
The younger sister, Haizou, is a pretty and naive girl who lives with her kind and loyal boyfriend, Xiao Bei. She works for a somewhat slimey property developer who relies on her to help entertain important contacts, one of whom is Secretary Song, an official in the city government who passes along valuable advice and information. Song is facing a bit of a midlife crisis, and is attracted to Haizao’s youth and innocence. Pressed by her elder sister to provide some of the cash she needs to buy an apartment, Haizao grows closer to Secretary Song, eventually becoming his mistress.
