The Spread of Younger House Buyer

鄭苑

摘 要：Real estate has no doubt been a hottest topic during these years and the house price has also increased dramatically in China.Though，the government has taken measures to adjust the real estate market，the house price is still far from what we can afford.However，in such circumstance，more and more young people rushes to buy houses.According to a report released by the China Everbright Bank and a real estate research firm in 2010;those applying for housing loans in Beijing have an average age of 27 years old，which is younger as compared to developed countries.The average age of first-time house buyers in the United Kingdom rose from 33 to 37 years old.In Japan and Germany，it is 42 years old，while it is 30 years old in the United States （Baoru，2010）.Thus，the purpose of this paper is to analyze the reasons of the first-time house buyers becoming younger in culture aspect，through paper reviews published studies found in relevant journals，books and databases that can be accessed online via Google Reader and Google Books.

關(guān)鍵詞：Younger house buyer;ideology;meaning;media

Nowadays，people think that the reasons why younger people rush to buy a house are as follow： ①one of the marriage requirements for a woman;②a way to let your kid get the Hu Kou;③If you cannot buy at the age of 27，then the more you cannot afford by the age of 40;④If you have a house，you would not feel so anxious （Baoru，2010）.In addition，a report from the China Everbright Bank and a real estate research market in 2010 also shows some reasons for the existence of younger house buyers（see table 1）.This kind of ideology has governed the way we perceive our world and ourselves （Becker，1979）.Hall （1986） defines ideology as "the mental frameworks-the languages， concepts，categories，imagery of thought，and the systems of representations." However，why people have this kind of ideology？ How this is created into people's mind？ Why a younger man buying a house has so many meanings？ As Merskin（1999） says，"Events and objects in life do not ，inherently，have meaning.Rather，through social agreement，meaning is created.In modern society，the medium for signification is language.Through language，social practices are organized into symbolic products and meaning is made." Hall （1986） also argues that the media are among the principle locations for making meaning.Thus，the author thinks that the reason why house buyers become younger is that the media helps to create and reinforce this kind of meaning.

The media folds into everyday life;it transverses it;it fuses into it and deterritorialises it;it forms blocks of emotion in the real world or grounds social activities there which appear and disappear in their own opaque rhythms （During，2005）.Forms of media culture like television，film，popular music，magazines，and advertising provide role and gender models，fashion hints，lifestyle images，and icons of personality （Kellner and Durham，2006）.

As for the soap operas about young people purchasing houses broadcasted in television during these five years （see table 2），it can be concluded that these soap operas not only deliver a kind of anxiety about the various severe situations of not buying a house at younger age，but also create and reinforce the meaning about necessity of buying a house，that is owning a house for a young couple becomes a sign of happy marriage，security，a wife's，parents 'and even the whole families' pride.When we notice some graduate can afford to buy a house in a city after several years working or even earlier，this will be a sign to show that he/she is so amazing and he/she will also be the pride of their classmates.Feminist theorists recuperated soaps，showing that their focus on dialogue and the personal，along with their melodrama and endlessness，enabled female viewers to find value in their own everyday lives（During 2005）.And soap opera was especially meaningful since it valued survival above all things（Brunsdon，2000）.

In addition to the soap operas，there are some films about young people buying houses.For example，"Qin Jia Guo Nian（親家過年）"in 2012 is about how a couple telling lies to show that they are still living in a big house，and the conclusion is that buying a house is not only relative to a couple，but also related to the other family members.The other film "Vitoria No.1"describes that how a young girl succeeds to buy a house through killing people to bring down the house price.Thus，films also create the emergency of buying houses for young people.

Thus，young people will not automatically rush to buy a house;it is the media such as television and film helping to create a meaning about the necessity for young people to buy a house through text and language.This meaning is what we mentioned above related to "Mianzi"，marriage and so on.This meaning has been a dominant culture of buying houses and the ideology of younger house buyers.

However，as it is known to all，media is under observation in the state administration of radio film and television in China.Each films and soap operas has to be checked by this organization，so that they can be broadcasted.That is to say，we only know what it tells us.Some may argue that it is possible that the government wants us to notice the difficulties of buying a house in China for young people，but the result is that more young people rush to buying houses.Within the Marxian tradition，Marx and Engels characterized ideology as the ideas of the ruling class which achieved dominance in a specific historical era （Kellner，1995）.Thus，the author holds the view that the formation of the ideology of young house buyers is the idea of the government.That is to say，the government wants young people to buy a house.

To sum up，the necessity and emergency for young people to buy houses has been a dominant culture，and is also continuing reinforced by the media.What we have do is to follow this trend and buy a house as soon as possibe，because we have the ideology that it will bring a lot of troubles or cannot live a happy live without a house，and the goal of saving money is to buy a house.

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