If you're interested.
Its simply a ridiculous comparison. Do they honestly think that these are the standards of the average Beijing Chinese?
C'mon folks...use some common sense.
Many companies are also there trying to sell things and manage factories for the domestic market. A lot of the outsourcing people don't need to live there..just send buyers..like Wallmart.
Interesting places to visit,,but I prefer living in Singapore.
That seems so wrong. No, I believe the accuracy of the report, it just seems so wrong. Here, check out this snip from China Economic Net:
The number of indigent Chinese with less than 637 yuan (US$77) of annual net income rose by 800,000 in 2003. This is the first time the number increased since China began opening-up in the late 1970s, said a senior Chinese official.
China has over a billion citizens. 800,000 of 'em make less than 77 bucks a year, and that's not some dusty old figure, that's 2003 data. And a set of walls for an expatriate goes for $9400 a month? Talk about markup...
Southeast China, also known as the "Gold Coast" is as prosperous as any other of the high-powered Asian economies.
In fact, many scholars believe that the massive wealth accumulating there will tear at the fabric of China, splitting the country into multiple states. There are million-man worker protect in central China that the world doesn't talk about, but the dimplomatic and business communities do. I read a piece in COMMENTARY Magazine a few years ago even speculated where these new boundaries would lie.
Here is how I forsee the new Chinas breaking down:
-A "Cantonese Republic of China", incorporating Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou (greater Hong Kong), part of the Gulf of Tonkin, and possibly even Hainan Island. This region of China speaks a different dialect than the rest of the country and is the most economically advanced of any part of China. Civila liberties are also higher here than anywhere else, with the spread of Hong Kong-based individuals to Guangzhou.
-A Nanjing-Shanghai-Fuzhou nation-state along the Taiwan Strait. This is the second-most economically-advanced part of China. Jiang Ziamen and his cronies run Shanghai and therefore possess massive political clout. Nanjing was the capital of China until the WWII (remember the Rape of nanking?) The bulk of PRC military assets are also in this region.
- A "Republic of Manchuria" will incorporate Beijing, the Chinese rust-belt in Shenyang Province along the North Korean border, and the Gobi Desert in North-Central China. This will be the leftover husk of the PRC.
- The "Republic of Yunan", probably the most beautiful part of China, will be centered around the massive city of Kunming. The region has a shared bistory with the Buddhist cultures to the South and is currently expanding trade through the region.
- Tibet. No explanation needed.
- Eastern Turkestan. This is the muslim separatist movement in China you hear so much about. They literally have nothing in common with China's ethnic Han majority and have been brutally reporessed by them for centuries. Eastern is basically a Central Asian muslim state just like all the other "-stans"; no different.
- Taiwan. Taiwan is the original Republic of China. THEY ARE ALREADY THE SECOND CHINESE STATE.
So, we have 7 Chinas in the end.
The first and most annoying is the title: "Cost of living for expats in China higher than New York, Tokyo: survey". That is not at all what the Mercer survey says. The actual survey rankings does place Beijing at number 11 in the world, slightly (101.1 versus 100) more expensive than New York at number 12, but Tokyo is rated number 1 at with a far higher score of 130.
In point of fact, Beijing actually is slightly decreased from 2003 when it was 105, and Tokyo's score is up from 128. The next Chinese city is Shanghai, which is ranked 16th with a score of 95.3; after that, Shenzhen is number 30 with a score of only 85.6. The only other Chinese city to make the top 50 was Ghanzhou was at 32 with a 84.9. (29 was Hanoi, 31 was Taipei, 33 was Tel Aviv.)
The SAR, however, is a bit more expensive; Hong Kong came in number 5, with a score of 109.5. Otherwise, there is nothing to indicate that costs of living for expats in China ex Hong Kong were anything like those in, say, Japan, which had Tokyo at 1 and Osaka at 4.