[First published August 23, 2014] As we are adjusting to paying for things in yuan (also known as RMB) and not dollars, and learning the prices for various things in China, we're noticing that some things cost much less compared to back home, some things cost about the same, and a few things cost more.
I've mentioned that a single Starbucks coffee will set you back at least 30 yuan, ($5.33) A package of Starbucks coffee beans to take home costs 85 RMB (so about the same as in Canada, $15).
In contrast, Ross and I can get a simple dinner at the food court for 12 yuan ($2.13) apiece. A meal on the street, such as squid on a stick or a pancake with egg and sausage and lettuce is about 4 or 5 yuan (80 cents to 1 dollar). I put 100 yuan ($17.75) on my bus pass card and have used it all summer, usually every day, and I still have more than 50 yuan credit on it. A nice sit-down dinner for the two of us with beer (which is cheaper than the iced drinks at the mall) is about 100 to 120 yuan ($21.30). Taxi rides start at 8.00 yuan ($1.42) and we've never paid more than 20 RMB ($3.55) to get from A to B in Zibo (Beijing is a different story). Our strata fee this month is 60 yuan ($10.65) which I suppose pays for water, maintenance, gardening, and the guards who patrol the property. Natural gas for cooking is incredibly cheap, just a few yuan a month. We don't cook all our meals but we do heat water to wash dishes.
I've mentioned that a single Starbucks coffee will set you back at least 30 yuan, ($5.33) A package of Starbucks coffee beans to take home costs 85 RMB (so about the same as in Canada, $15).
In contrast, Ross and I can get a simple dinner at the food court for 12 yuan ($2.13) apiece. A meal on the street, such as squid on a stick or a pancake with egg and sausage and lettuce is about 4 or 5 yuan (80 cents to 1 dollar). I put 100 yuan ($17.75) on my bus pass card and have used it all summer, usually every day, and I still have more than 50 yuan credit on it. A nice sit-down dinner for the two of us with beer (which is cheaper than the iced drinks at the mall) is about 100 to 120 yuan ($21.30). Taxi rides start at 8.00 yuan ($1.42) and we've never paid more than 20 RMB ($3.55) to get from A to B in Zibo (Beijing is a different story). Our strata fee this month is 60 yuan ($10.65) which I suppose pays for water, maintenance, gardening, and the guards who patrol the property. Natural gas for cooking is incredibly cheap, just a few yuan a month. We don't cook all our meals but we do heat water to wash dishes.
Korean pizza But some things cost about as much as they would in Canada. Electricity is more costly than natural gas; we just paid 500 yuan for two months' worth of power. Not surprisingly, western things are comparatively costly. A liter of milk is 20 yuan ($3.55). A small container of Greek-style yogurt is 4.5 yuan (80 cents). A small brick of cheese costs a little bit more here than it would in Canada. Therefore pizza night at Pizza Hut is a fine dining experience. We actually had some pizza recently at a Korean restaurant and it was the first pizza I've had in six months. A small pizza that would cost maybe $6 in Canada cost us 56 yuan or almost ten dollars. Apparently Korean pizza does not have tomato sauce, which suits me fine. (Yes, I was eating my pizza slices with chopsticks. What, do you think am, I some kind of savage?)
But the thing that has really struck me as odd is the cost of plastic bins, the kind you would pick up at Canadian Tire or London Drugs for six to 15 dollars. They cost at least that much here and even more. When I first moved here I looked around for wicker wastebaskets and a wicker laundry hamper. Couldn't find wicker, which is plentiful in Vancouver's Chinatown. (Eventually Ross found me a wicker hamper at YiWu, shopper's paradise. )
But the thing that has really struck me as odd is the cost of plastic bins, the kind you would pick up at Canadian Tire or London Drugs for six to 15 dollars. They cost at least that much here and even more. When I first moved here I looked around for wicker wastebaskets and a wicker laundry hamper. Couldn't find wicker, which is plentiful in Vancouver's Chinatown. (Eventually Ross found me a wicker hamper at YiWu, shopper's paradise. )
Plastic store at local mall The photo at the top of this blog post was not taken at a dollar store, it was taken at a high end shopping mall, a mall that sells designer clothing, jewels and expensive watches. The plastic organizers are on display as you'd display some designer handbags. I'm not saying for a fact that the reason plastic objects are high-priced here is because they are higher-status than similar objects at home; that's more than I know.
However, it seems that colorful plastic goods, especially goods from Japan, represent the Good Life to the upwardly mobile Chinese housewife. I think wicker represents the past.
However, it seems that colorful plastic goods, especially goods from Japan, represent the Good Life to the upwardly mobile Chinese housewife. I think wicker represents the past.
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