Summary Of Age Of Ambition

Words: 1470
Pages: 6

Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos gives the reader an extraordinary idea to reader on what life is like in modern day China. Evan is currently a writer at The New Yorker, and he spent countless amount of time examining China. From interviewing a rich matchmaker named Gong Haiyan, to a young English teacher named Zhang Zhiming, Mr. Osnos gave different perspectives in what it’s like to live in China. Age of Ambition has a wide variety of themes throughout the book. One in particular I would like to focus on is the gap between the rich and the poor. Throughout the years in China, there has almost always been a gap between the rich, and the poor. It all started with Deng Xiaoping. Xiaoping was a persuasive but plainspoken statesman, but he was repeatedly …show more content…
“The income gap between the rich and poor in China has surpassed that of the U.S. and is among the widest in the world, a report showed, adding to the challenges for President Xi Jinping as growth slows” (Bloomberg.com). This goes to show how the first people to get rich are dominating wealth in China. Evan Osnos explains in his book how the “Got Rich First Crowd” pretty much came from nothing. They had to work constantly, and it soon paid off. In fact, they were pulling away from the rest of China big time. By 2007 the top ten percent of urban Chinese were earning nearly nine times as much as the bottom tenth; it gets even worse. “In 2012, the households in the top five percent income bracket earned twenty-three percent of China’s total house income” (theglobalist.com). The gap between the rich and the poor is dramatic, and I personally think it’s surprising coming from such an ancient country. I would understand if the gap wasn’t so significant, all countries have that gap. China’s on the other hand is a huge problem they’re having, and it’s getting worse and worse each year. Deng Xiaoping influenced many people with the “Get Rich First” saying, but nobody thought it could turn against the country. It’s unfortunate to see China endure this problem, but I bet this prosperous country will find its way out of