<p>A nation-wide survey conducted run by the China Youth Daily found over half of the respondents are planning to buy cars very soon.<br /><br />The survey polled 1,541 respondents, 40 percent of whom were from small and medium-sized cities, and 43 percent were from provincial capitals.<br /><br />Of the respondents, 60 percent said they were planning to buy a car in the next five years, while 16 percent already had one. Only 21 percent ruled out buying a car.<br /><br />Many respondents wanted to buy cars out of peer pressure and associated cars with their social status.<br /><br />Sun Shijin, professor in psychology in Fudan University said: "More and more people tend to use cars as show-off to satisfy their spiritual emptiness."<br /><br />A few respondents considered the "convenience" of having a car as the main reason for wanting to own one.<br /><br />Ma Liwei, a graduate student of Tsinghua University, bought a car a month ago. "The outreach of buses and subways is still limited, but with a car, I can go everywhere. Besides, driving saves time and effort compared to catching public transport," he said.<br /><br />However, as China's car ownership skyrockets, traffic jams are becoming a huge problem in many cities. According to statistics, the number of cities with over one million vehicles has reached 15.<br /><br />The Beijing Transportation Research Centre has predicted that Beijing's average driving speed would drop to below 15 kilometres an hour by 2015.<br /><br /></p>
<p>A nation-wide survey conducted run by the China Youth Daily found over half of the respondents are planning to buy cars very soon.<br /><br />The survey polled 1,541 respondents, 40 percent of whom were from small and medium-sized cities, and 43 percent were from provincial capitals.<br /><br />Of the respondents, 60 percent said they were planning to buy a car in the next five years, while 16 percent already had one. Only 21 percent ruled out buying a car.<br /><br />Many respondents wanted to buy cars out of peer pressure and associated cars with their social status.<br /><br />Sun Shijin, professor in psychology in Fudan University said: "More and more people tend to use cars as show-off to satisfy their spiritual emptiness."<br /><br />A few respondents considered the "convenience" of having a car as the main reason for wanting to own one.<br /><br />Ma Liwei, a graduate student of Tsinghua University, bought a car a month ago. "The outreach of buses and subways is still limited, but with a car, I can go everywhere. Besides, driving saves time and effort compared to catching public transport," he said.<br /><br />However, as China's car ownership skyrockets, traffic jams are becoming a huge problem in many cities. According to statistics, the number of cities with over one million vehicles has reached 15.<br /><br />The Beijing Transportation Research Centre has predicted that Beijing's average driving speed would drop to below 15 kilometres an hour by 2015.<br /><br /></p>