The young Chinese strivers desperate to become “car-and-home-equipped”—to find a mate and elbow their way into the New Middle-Income Stratum—now knew the truth: China’s new fortunes were wildly out of balance. By 2012 a typical apartment in a Chinese city was selling for eight to ten times the average annual income nationwide. (Even at the heights of the American property bubble, the ratio peaked at five to one.)
