Chinese consumerism is different than Canadian consumerism. Chinese people like to make bank deposits more than Canadians, Canadian people use credit more than Chinese people.

 

Most Chinese people think the most important thing for banks is that people can deposit money in the bank and the bank will protect their money.  That is the most useful thing for people, Chinese long-term deposits from residents totals more than three trillion US dollar.  The per capita savings rate is 40% of earnings.  This figure is indeed great for a developing country which has sixty million poor people, many who will need social aid insurance (different areas have different distress subsidy standards, some rural areas give less than 8 U.S. dollars in one month ), and has eight hundred million farmers.

There are three points for why Chinese people must deposit money in the bank.  First, the traditional consumption habit of Chinese people is generally conservative. They do not like to use tomorrow's money for today's life.  Second, the social security system is imperfect so people must save money for future needs.  Many people deposit money in the bank for buying a house, education and medical needs in the future.  They do not dare to spend and must save money in the bank because the prices of these things are much higher than the subsidies from government.  Third, the Chinese securities, futures and the housing market systems are young and need to improve.  Most Chinese people don’t want to put their money in danger so they put their money in the bank to stay safe.

 

People of Canada like loans more than Chinese people.  In China, few people like loans. Usually a Chinese person goes to work after school to save money to buy a house.  When he is a middle-age man and he will save money for the education of his children and to care for his parents.  After that he is an old man he must save money for his own health needs.  Therefore, Chinese people think it is most important to save money and not take loans.

 

The Chinese high savings rate has advantages and disadvantages. The benefits are that people saving a lot of money to give banks and will let the banks loan the money to companies to grow the economy.  This is a reason why China can keep more than nine per cent economic growth rate (GDP) for thirty years.  Savings will help safeguard the stability of the currency and proves that China has a solid economic base.  The disadvantage of saving is that it suppresses consumer demand.  When all of people’s extra money is saved in banks they will have no money to buy things and that will put Chinese consumption rate in the doldrums.  Low consumption in turn will suppress production because low consumption means factories do not need to product a lot of goods and many workers will lose their job.  If people have no job will not spend money and let the consumption rate get worse.

 

Chinese consumerism is different than Canadian consumerism and it hard to say which is better because we have different social environments, history and culture.

 

I still suggest to everyone that consumption must have a clear and appropriate plan because excessive consumption might force an economic crisis.  This will cause a false prosperity where the true value of the economy is too high.  This is like the reason of world economy crisis that started when the US Subprime mortgage rate was too low and people borrowed too much money. They had trouble paying their loan, this affected the bank and everyone had problems that sent their money in the bank.  These are things all of us do not want to see so we must be careful how much we consume.

 

      中国人的消费观和加拿大人的消费观有很大不同。中国人喜欢存款，加拿大人喜欢贷款。

      对于普通中国老百姓来说银行最大的用途就是他可以存款，在中国居民存款高达3万多亿美元（人均储蓄率百分之四十）。这对于一个还有着6千万人依靠社会救济最低保险生活（不同的地区不同的补助标准，一些农村地区的人一个月才能领到不到十美元）和拥有近8亿农民的发展中国家来说这确实是一个巨大的数字。

      我想这个原因无非三点。第一，传统的消费习惯。中国人一般比较保守，不喜欢用明天的钱过今天的生活。第二点就是中国市场体制还不完善，证券市场，期货市场，房产市场发展不完善，老百姓手里的钱无处可去自然流入银行。第三，社会保险体制不完善，很多人为买房，子女上学，医疗攒钱，他们不敢把钱随便花了因为在中国社会保险很不完善，房产教育，医疗价格远远高于政府补助的钱。

      我觉得在加拿大人们贷款消费是远远多于中国人的。在加拿大很多东西都可以贷款买，而且可能并不是很贵的物品，但是在中国就很少有人这么做，因为一般一个中国人参加工作之后第一件事就是为了买房存钱，然后到了中年要为子女教育和瞻仰父母存钱，然后到了老年要为自己的医疗存钱。所以在中国人的消费观里，最重要的是存钱而不是贷款。

      中国的高存款率有好处也有坏处，好处是充分集资，投资建设。这也为中国三十年保持经济百分之九以上的增长率立下了功劳。并且它可以帮助维护货币的稳定，如此庞大的存款成为了中国货币坚强实体的有力证明，保护了货币稳定。但是也有不利，最显著的是打压消费需求，中国消费内需低迷，因为大量资金流入银行居民没钱大量购买商品，这样反过来还会打压生产。

      很难评价中国货加拿大的消费观念哪种更好。因为社会环境不同，历史文化也不一样。但是我还是建议大家消费一定要有明确和适当的计划。因为过分的超前消费有可能引起经济危机，这种事情是大家都不愿意看到的。