Recent reports about "ant people" - graduates who throng the suburbs of Beijing to eke out a living - has caught the attention of many and aroused much sympathy. The TV series Dwelling Narrowness (Wo Ju) is also a heated topic for discussion.

I sympathize deeply with these young people, though I believe parents who spend all their savings to buy apartments for their children are spoiling them. Each generation must go through hardship and make its own life.

Some 15 years ago, when I was doing post-graduate studies and my boyfriend was earning a monthly salary of just a few hundred yuan, the issue of finding a corner that belonged to us always hung like a leaden cloud over our hearts.