Su Peng, a foreign trade businessman in Beijing, regards the Santana 2000 sedan he bought four years ago as a sort of right-hand man that has transformed his lifestyle.
The sleek vehicle lets him drive his seven-year-old son to school, get to business meetings and conventions much faster and at the weekend he can take off on day trips out of town with his family.
And in the near future, he hopes to become part of the growing trend of white-collar workers driving to his city centre office from a spacious apartment in the suburbs where air quality is better and the environment more spacious for families.
"The car is giving me more freedom and power over my own life," said the 35-year-old mustached and stylishly dressed Su.
By the end of 2001, there had been 7.71 million private cars on China's roads with no sign of a let-up in the potentially bottle-necking pace.
Leading the tide are the big cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics released late last month reported that the number of private cars in Beijing alone has hit more than 600,000, with experts predicting that figure to soar to 800,000 by the end of the year.
The car craze is bringing with it a new kind of revolution.
For centuries, inhabitants of this vast land have remained largely rooted to the village or town where they were born. Individual mobility was limited by poverty, bad roads and a household registration system.
Now, however, people who own a car, especially those in the 20-to-30 age group, can savour a new taste of life - travelling far inland into once inaccessible or remote areas like Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
Yang Sheng, a 26-year-old public relations manager in Beijing, dreams of owning a chic sports utility vehicle to take him and his girlfriend on long-distance journeys.
Though his ambition has yet to be realized, Yang has already abandoned his bike and got a taste of the four-wheel-drive experience by hiring one from an auto club.
"I think the younger generation is being shaped by an auto culture - more freedom, open-mindness and independence - compared with their parents' generation who rode bikes," said Yang.
However, Yang's voice was challenged by Zhang Bo, a 24-year-old technology engineer, who said he preferred an improved public transport network instead of encouraging people to join the car-buying binge.
Zhang said a balance between car ownership and environmental protection was vital.
"You cannot mislead people into a one-side story. When there are more cars on the roads, there are worse air pollution, car accidents and traffic jams," argued Zhang.
Other voices, meanwhile, are taking the middle ground, suggesting that a compromise can be reached by taxing car drivers, stricter regulations and compliance on exhaust emissions and encouraging motorists to opt for greener, less environmentally damaging, automobiles.
At the moment there is no convergence of opinion between the nation's cities, let alone its citizens.
(China Daily December 10, 2002)
