The economic crisis forces people to retrieve the virtue of frugality. Prudent spending has become prevalent nationwide in 2009. According to a Survey Report of Urban life in ten big cities published by Horizon Research in June, 2009, residents in different cities show a distinctly different degree of prudence in spending. The degree of prudence in spending by residents in Beijing is ranked the third in the survey.
　　
The survey asks residents which city has the most prudent in spenders. Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing rank as the top 3. Among them, Shanghai ranks first with 40.1%, nearly 30% more than Guangzhou and Beijing. Moreover, residents in Shanghai are also highly proud of their prudence in spending. Nearly 70% Shanghai respondents think that people in Shanghai are the most prudent spenders. This ratio is much higher than the self-evaluation by people in other cities. The other seven cities are ranked as follows: Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Dalian, Nanjing and Harbin.
　　
When respondents are asked to give self-evaluation of their degree of prudence in spending, respondents from Southern cities declare greater prudence than people from Northern cities. Among them, residents in Wuhan show the highest degree of spending prudence in their self-evaluation, even higher than the people of Shanghai who are famous for their prudent spending. Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing rank the third, fourth and fifth.

Experts think that besides cultural reasons, living standards in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are generally higher than that of cities like Qingdao and Nanjing, therefore it is reasonable for residents in those bigger cities to spend more prudently in the midst of economic crisis.

Prudent spending does not equal to a lower quality of life. Residents simply cut spending on luxuries. Almost half of respondents express that they would cut spending on luxury goods. Tourism (45.3%), eating at restaurant (43.8%), entertainment (39.6%) and health products (38.1%) are the main areas where people would cut their spending.

By People's Daily Online