Xing Wei graduated from a vocational high school in northeastern China in 2003 and went to work as an electrician in an auto parts factory in the country’s south. The only set of wheels he could afford was a black three-speed bicycle.
He earned $1,150 a year and shared a sweltering dormitory room with three other workers. "There was air-conditioning, but because we had to pay the electricity ourselves, we basically didn’t turn it on,” Xing said.
Two decades later, Xing, 42, makes close to $60,000 a year. He works as a senior electrician installing industrial robots at electric car factories for Nio, a Chinese automaker. Last winter, he bought a $52,000 Nio ES6 sport utility vehicle.