Ant army colonizes suburbs
- Source: Global Times
- [23:43 January 20 2010]
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Mr Ma reads Ant Tribe in his 14-square-meter apartment in Xiaoyuehe, a popular ant colony in Haidian district, Beijing. Ma thinks the book "a little sensational" but enjoys some of its observations.
By Zhang Han
Tangjialing has 3,000 original villagers and more than 50,000 new residents: mostly young people, about one-third college graduates.
It's an urban-meets-suburban settlement of narrow brick lanes, hair salons, clinics, small grocery stores and Internet cafes about 20 kilometers and 23 bus stops north of downtown Beijing.
The young live in bunk houses stuck on top of villagers' own one-story housing. The buildings sometimes spiral up to seven floors, with hundreds crammed in night and day.
Hu's day begins every morning by wedging himself into "the most spectacular squashing in the world.
"It's so hard getting on that bus. It nearly kills me every time," says the 26-year-old cyber game customer service representative who works in Zhongguancun, about a one-hour ride away. Hu refused to tell the Global Times his full name.
Tangjialing is among six villages scheduled for demolition for safety reasons later this year, an official announced at a Haidian District People's Congress meeting on Monday, according to Beijing Youth Daily.
Some 300,000 square meters of new apartment buildings with higher safety standards will be constructed on the rubble, the official reportedly said.
"I will stay and see what's going to happen," says Hu, who has lived here more than two years.
The 26-year-old earns 1,500 yuan ($220) a month answering player inquiries by posting well-written answers online or reciting them across the phone. The computer science graduate has worked this position for two and a half years.
Hu and his ilk have been labeled the "ant tribe" by Lian Si, a post-doctoral student of Peking University who studies the recent Chinese phenomenon of low-income university graduates living in groups.
Lian spent two years interviewing 600 residents and published Ant Tribe in September last year.
"They are like ants: clever, weak and living in groups," Lian says.
Lian and his research crew believe 2003 marks the spot when the first groups of studenty-looking young people moved into the cheap apartments built by Tangjialing villagers, but nobody can say for sure.
In 1999, China launched a massive increase in college enrollment, 48 percent alone in 1999, according to chinanews.com.cn.
Employment pressure kicked in about 2003, the year the first batch of 1980s-born students graduated.
Housing prices in Tangjialing have risen from 90 yuan ($13) a room in 2002 to 600 yuan ($88) today, according to Lian's research.
There are several similar communities to Tangjialing in Beijing with cheap accommodation in the suburbs where college graduates cluster, including Malianwa and Xiaoyuehe.
Colonies can also be found in large cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Xi'an.
The total population of the "ant community" in major cities across China is 1 million, with about 100,000 in Beijing alone, Lian estimates.
Most hail from poor rural families and take temporary and low-paid jobs as insurance agents, electronic product sales representatives and waiters. Some are either unemployed or underemployed.
