As those students make their first step into adulthood, they will get a different perspective on life. It's difficult to see how each of them will do, but it's quite easy to observe their lifestyle choices. Now we have with us in the studio my colleague Tang Bo, who is going to talk more about this survey.
We can take a look at a joint online survey about young people’s lifestyle choices in 2015, which was conducted by a pictorial City Zine and Tecent, one of the biggest IT companies in China. More than 4,000 people in 273 cities across China participated.
Nearly everyone in the survey was born since 1980, so it shows to some extent how young people are living. The survey shows that more than 70 percent feel their lives have been deeply affected by social networking.
About a third treat social networks as merely a means of communication. Three in ten use it to expand their circles of friends. Just over a quarter prefer social networks to face-to-face interaction. They felt lonely and bored when they were offline. However, one in ten were frustrated by it, saying social networks were a disturbance.
The survey also shows that more and more young people are getting used to shopping, reading and ordering other everyday services on mobile devices. And they are more willing to accept marketing on the social networks.
What about their career development? Especially in the context of entrepreneurship?
More than 70 percent have thought about starting their own businesses. Nearly nine percent of them actually started their own businesses last year. More than 70 percent are interested in entrepreneurship. Over 15 percent had no real interest in it. To break that down further, three-quarters of the male respondents and about 65 percent of the females said they were interested. But only 10 percent of males and six percent of females actually opened their own companies last year. What’s worth noticing is that the younger generation is really good at developing their career and protecting themselves through the Internet. It echoes the fact that their lives are deeply affected by social networks.
What about their views on consumption and finance?
As for their views of consumption, away from the basic needs of life, digital products are their favorite. About a third of their money is spent on digital products such as cellphones, cameras and wearable devices. Over a quarter is on fashion. About 14 percent is spent on culture, such as movies, drama, concerts and art. As for their views of finance, a large number of them save their money in banks, 65 percent. Three in ten invest in stock or capital funds. Since house prices in major cities see no sign of decreasing, less than seven percent of them have invested in real estate.