Happy Happy Joy Joy

Long ago, before anyone was reading this blog, I wrote about how China’s media loved to show how happy the Chinese people are. Just bubbling with mirth. Now we have further proof: they’re actually going to quantify the people’s happiness level, providing a new and valuable measurement tool for economists. Say hello to The Happiness Index.

China will formulate a new “happiness index” this year to include living conditions, the environment and salary, state television said on Wednesday.

“The Happiness Index will include ordinary people’s feelings towards their own living conditions, such as their income, employment, social welfare and the natural environment,” China Central Television cited statistics chief Qiu Xiaohua as saying.

“The more they feel satisfied about their lives, the higher the index will be,” he said.

Indices for “innovation” and “social harmony” would also be added, it said.

The report did not make clear if the happiness index would be incorporated into an existing indicator, or stand on its own.

Can you hear the reporter snickering as he typed that out? That last line is a classic example of stone-faced humor.

Thanks to the reader who emailed this to me.

Update: Here’s more, via the aforementioned email; not sure exactly which media it’s from, but it’s definitely from a Chinese pub.
———————————————–
This year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics will include a new figure in its reports — the “happiness index.” National Bureau of Statistics chief Qiu Xiaohua explained that the “citizen happiness index” is an indicator of the populace’s overall satisfaction with a number of everyday factors, including income, employment, social security, and the environment.


According to the National Bureau of Statistics, future indices will include the “creativity index,” the “social harmony index,” and the “overall development index.” Qiu said that the bureau intends to make fuller use of random-sample surveys and online direct reporting in order to ensure the reliability of its initial data, making the figures on the
national level more credible.

The announcement of the “happiness index” drew instant response from the media. The Yangcheng Evening Post, in its coverage, said that the happiness index will be a more reliable indicator of the quality of life for everyday citizens than the GDP. The article said that the reason people support the happiness index is that they look forward to seeing regional officials compete to top one another in happiness indices, as they currently do for figures of economic growth.

The Southern Metropolitan News reported that as long as controversy remains over how best to judge happiness, the government’s published figures may well end up being artificially inflated or falsified, as GDP figures were in the past. Previously, the government looked only at GDP results, without considering whether or not people were actually benefitting from economic growth.

Other reports speculate that results for the happiness index may not be optimistic. The Modern Express reports that people paying ludicrous prices for housing, medical care, and school tuition care more about these everyday difficulties than about an abstract figure representing an averaged contentment indicator, adding that the happiness index may become an empty figure used only by regional governments boasting of their economic development.

CCTV reports that the happiness index will not take into consideration matters of housing prices, water or heating costs, or costs for children’s cram classes, all issues of concern for many people. A report on global happiness recently released by Leicester University in England placed China 82nd in the world. While compiling the study, researchers found that that overall perception of happiness was closely related to health and
sanitation, economic situation, and level of education.

The Discussion: 18 Comments

I read recently on another blog that the Happy Planet Index (produced by New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth) that was put out last July places China at Number 85 out of 178 countries. The USA was ranked 150th and the UK where I’m from was ranked 108th (so were a bloody miserable lot compared to the Chinese.)

September 14, 2006 @ 2:27 am | Comment

I read recently on another blog that the Happy Planet Index (produced by New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth) that was put out last July places China at Number 85 out of 178 countries. The USA was ranked 150th and the UK where I’m from was ranked 108th (so were a bloody miserable lot compared to the Chinese.)

China’s Rising not only in economic growth and living conditions etc, but also in happiness.

September 14, 2006 @ 2:29 am | Comment

See my addition to the post, which touches on this.

September 14, 2006 @ 2:35 am | Comment

Ah, thats another study. The one I use is called the Happy People Index which puts CHina at 85, and the USA at 150, the UK at 108, thats out of 178 countries. The link is on my site.

The Leicester University study is new to me, but I’ll google it anyway, since its even more positive about CHina. Cheers!

September 14, 2006 @ 2:48 am | Comment

Yeah, the study I use puts Vanezuela at No 1, so happiness is a south Pacific Island (understandable) and misery is the USA.

September 14, 2006 @ 2:51 am | Comment

Complete, total and utter horse shit. More left- of- Fonda tribes of myrmidons out to run down the US. Thought you’d like that, Richard. That being said…you DO suport the USA…

Burkina Faso. Right. My ass.

http://www.happyplanetindex.org/list.htm

September 14, 2006 @ 2:57 am | Comment

Canrun, can run, can run from the US, the UK, etc., sprint to China, which is rising up like its Jinmiao Towers etc. Yeh, I can see that China is going to rule the world later this century (I wrote about this on my blog). The 19th century was a British century, the 20 was and American century, but the 21 is gonna be a CHinese one!

Canrun, just sour grapes, right?

September 14, 2006 @ 3:10 am | Comment

Didn’t Kerry’s campaign staff make some kind of “Misery index” of US life under Bush & Co. at some point?

September 14, 2006 @ 3:26 am | Comment

I visited Rising China’s little blog a minute ago. Very, um, interesting. I suspect any serious discussion will be challenging, because we are dealing with someone who has a very fixed notion of what China is and will be, and I sense little room for alternative viewpoints. I agree that China is rising. To talk about it, however, as though it’s already surpassing America based on the tinsel of the Pudong skyline appears premature. China’s rise is thrilling, but it’s also quite tenuous, with challenges on a level that have been faced at no other time by any other nation. I am rooting for its success, but I see lots of pitfalls. And there’s a lot more to China than the flashy skyline of tinny but colorful buildings in your homepage photo.

September 14, 2006 @ 3:38 am | Comment

Johnny, I’m sure they did – the idea of the “misery index” has been around for a long time. Of course, you won’t ever hear of such an index in China…

September 14, 2006 @ 3:42 am | Comment

Give us a break! I’ve already been slammed by the politically “correct” guy from Flowing Waters Never Stale for supposedly being a “racist” cause of what I wrote about Curry babes having a smell. I’m just expressing a point of view about CHina, trying to be positive. I never said China has risen above the USA or the UK alread, just think that it will later in this century, that’s all.

September 14, 2006 @ 6:17 am | Comment

Kilgore Trout would be rolling over in his grave
Laughing

What a propaganda fest!

Wallow in it all you like – But sooner or later any happiness or misery index will have to make way for a reality check.

Rising China has a few reality Checks yet to overcome – so does the USA and the rest of the world for that matter.

As for the comment “…supposedly being a “racist” cause of what I wrote about Curry babes having a smell”

Tell me – does your happiness index include a variable for the annoyance generated by such ignorance?

September 14, 2006 @ 6:32 am | Comment

Get off my case bobbb, I wasn’t being “racist”. Take a look at what I actually wrote, “Which would you prefer: a whiff of curry or lotus?” and see for yourself. I never said I didn’t like curry babes, I just pointed out that they have a different smell from Chinese chicks. That’s all. It’s a fact, not written out of ignorance man! Just stating a fact, thats not being racist. What ever happened to free speech. I make a simple comment and I get slammed as a “racist” by academic political “correct” snobs like the crowd over at the Flowing Waters Never Stale site. It hurts. I love curry babes too!

September 14, 2006 @ 6:51 am | Comment

Get off my case bobbb, I wasn’t being “racist”. Take a look at what I actually wrote, “Which would you prefer: a whiff of curry or lotus?” and see for yourself. I never said I didn’t like curry babes, I just pointed out that they have a different smell from Chinese chicks. That’s all. It’s a fact, not written out of ignorance man! Just stating a fact, thats not being racist. What ever happened to free speech. I make a simple comment and I get slammed as a “racist” by academic political “correct” snobs like the crowd over at the Flowing Waters Never Stale site. It hurts. I love curry babes too!

September 14, 2006 @ 6:52 am | Comment

I didn’t call you a racist – I called you ignorant
Your use of the derogatory terms like “Curry Babe” or Chinese Chick gives you away.

We are not disputing your “facts” here – just your choice of words.

I merely pointed out that such talk is annoying – and it is.

Where is the respect?
Failure to understand the need for respect along with the use of stereotypes = ignorance.

Did you not know?

No one is denying your right to free speech – yet you would deny mine?

What a relief to know that you like the Curry babes along with the Chinese chicks.

Here in my country we refer to these people as women.

Surely you must realize that if you make such comments in a public forum that someone will call you out.

Did you not know that either?

Of course if the shoe fits…

September 14, 2006 @ 7:59 am | Comment

Oh….wow…head hurts now.

September 14, 2006 @ 11:38 pm | Comment

Actually, I think I read that this “happiness index” was a compromise for what the environmentalists in the government actually wanted, which was a “Green” index – too many oxen being gored by that measurement, apparently.

A pity, because it’s another signal that Beijing is not committed to cracking down on polluters and taking into account the environmental costs of “China’s Rise.”

The comments still make my head hurt tho.

September 15, 2006 @ 12:06 am | Comment

Happiness Index? What’s the difference between that and a Quality of Life index (besides a less serious sounding name)?

In any case, I think it’s a pretty good idea in general, especially if measured over time… and of course not corrupted by the government.

September 15, 2006 @ 3:50 am | Comment

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