This is because with wealth has come more desires. The ever-widening gap between the very rich and ordinary residents has made a keeping-up-with-the-Jones mentality gnaw at the hearts of many, and some now box beyond their weight when it comes to spending.

Today most people would not consider having electric appliances or an apartment of their own as the criteria for leading a decent life as people in the early 1980s did.

A villa, regular overseas trips, luxurious motor vehicles or several apartments under one's name are now considered a must for a decent urban life.

What makes the situation even worse is the fact that young people in their late 20s or early 30s take it for granted that they should have an apartment of their own, have enough money for them to spend their holidays overseas once or twice a year and send their children to the best and most expensive schools. They complain and have grievances against everything if they do not.

However, the rises in property prices and education have made it less possible for some people to attain this.

What is needed is a more balanced view of life. Not all of us will have the opportunity or capability to squeeze into the club of the very rich. There is no such a thing as a life free of anxieties and problems. Even the very rich have problems and anxieties of their own.

Happiness comes from striving through one's own efforts for the life one wants. It is possible we are becoming poorer - but in spirit.

The author is a senior writer of China Daily. E-mail: zhuyuan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/06/2011 page8)