How Li Luyuan became middle-class

Image by Crazy AP via FlickrThe author Alexandra Harney (I'm still waiting for her book to arrive!) has personalized in the Financial Times China's recent development in the person of Li Luyan from Jiangxi. Telling the story of 600 million Chinese who have lifted themselves out of poverty is often not working anymore, but when you - and many in China would know a lot of those examples - take one of them, it explains better how things work on an individual level. About change in Shenzhen speed.
She is going through the transition of a factory girl to selling real estate.

Luyuan was living on fumes. She had launched her new career with a $132 nest egg from working at the factory and $158 in unpaid wages. In mid-May she wired her parents $66 because they needed the money. She cut her own budget to a minimum, spending just 79 cents a day on food: 13 cents for a bun for breakfast, 40 cents for lunch and 26 cents for dinner. In a city where a cup of coffee can run to $3.29 and a trip to the grocery store at least as much, this was a financial high-wire act.

(h/t CDT)