[micaksica]

> their middle class are now sending their children to western schools and many of them will probably go back to China

I disagree with the "middle class" being the ones sending their children internationally. The Gini coefficient in China is higher than that of the United States. Even if it was the same income distribution, America's middle class cannot afford to send their children to private schooling in other countries.

These people are not the middle class -- they are quite far away in income away from the median of the income distribution, even in urban areas. They are the upper class. Maybe the lower upper class, but it's a stretch to say they are middle class.

[umanwizard]

"Middle class", "upper class", etc. are not defined by percentiles. Otherwise it would mean nothing when we say a particular country has a "growing middle class".

[FabHK]

At any rate, GP is right that it's not the "growing middle class" in China that sends kids to private school in the US. It's the upper class.

Make it about half a million Chinese students in the US currently, so we're talking about the top 1%.

[ralusek]

If they were defined by percentiles (i.e. certain definitions of middle class dictate the middle 60% of the population by income), you could still describe a "growing middle class" as a middle class acquiring a greater percentage of total income. While the population of the middle class isn't growing, its buying power still could be.

[umanwizard]

Well sure, but that's not what anyone means by those words.

[dreamfactored]

Easy way to measure the middle class with your own eyes - count the number of Uniqlo stores (or Starbucks type places) and watch how fast the products are moving in them. In major Chinese cities that has rapidly accelerated over the last few years and they are now on a par with (or even ahead of) any major Western city.