A recent City Weekend Shanghai article pondered: how would Shanghai expats fare trying to live on 100 RMB per week? This hypothetical challenge (no one quoted in the article actually seriously thought of trying) was inspired by a similar challenge started last June by 24-year-old Wang Hao, a Chinese office worker in Beijing. Wang apparently has 55,000 participants subjecting themselves to such frugality, to what degrees of success we don’t know. After generalizing that life for Shanghai expats is about “taxis, massages, and dining al fresco on spring evenings at New York City prices,” City Weekend left us with this concluding quote:
“In the expat world here, it’s not even really worth trying,” de Calonne says. “There’s a 100 percent chance we’d fail.”
Ouch, that’s definitive…about 100% definitive.
Source: M1NT Shanghai
The King of Expat Indulgences: The Massage?
The article mentions a few expat indulgences like organic veggies, going out for drinks, or indulging in a steak but interestingly, “massages” is repeatedly mentioned no less than three times, and this amuses me to no end. Why? Because to be honest, I never quite understood the expat penchant for massages (of the legit kind). I mean, guys, how old are you? Are you really so rickety and strung that you need massages that often? How the hell did you guys survive back home without such cheap (and cheap is relative here) labor to knead your weary muscles? Or are we to conclude that life in China is just that stressful that such regular, even daily, indulgences are actually necessities for the continued survival of your sanity?
Of course, I reckon most expats who do partake in such regular massages do so not because they actually need them, but more because it is so accessible to them. Hey, if it feels good, why not, right? That’s fine, it was just never my thing personally and you’ll just have to pardon me for thinking you’re all a bunch of self-indulgent sissies.
Breaking Down The 100 RMB Per Week Challenge
Joking aside, the 100 RMB a week challenge is seriously and incredibly tough to meet (much tougher than even quirkyBeijing’s own 1000 RMB a month challenge). For reference, 100 RMB at the current exchange rates is about 14.70 USD or just a little under 11 EUR. More importantly, this isn’t just hard to meet for the Shanghai expats out there, but for the local Chinese that live in major metropolises like Shanghai as well. Consider the following:
Bus fare: 2 RMB one way
Subway fare: 4 RMB one way
A reasonable meal from a street vendor that can fill you up: 4-6 RMB
If you commute to work every weekday and eat three meals a day for the entire week, that comes out to be about 104 RMB (bus) or 166 RMB (subway) per week. We’re already over the 100 RMB challenge limit.
Rising To The Challenge? Or Lowering?
The only way to cut down on this is to live close enough to work to walk, skimp on meals, or cook your own meals. Most office workers like Wang Hao must commute, so let’s subtract from 100 RMB the cost of daily roundtrip bus fare. That leaves us with 80 RMB to work with and a week’s worth of food to cover. That’s a little over 11.40 RMB per day, which won’t even buy you the cheapest Extra Value Meal available in China from McDonald’s (16.50 RMB, includes small sandwich, drink, and fries). It’ll almost get you 4 chicken wings, or 10 chicken nuggets though…but can you survive on 10 chicken nuggets a day?
Yikes.
So obviously you’re going to have to opt for Chinese food, of the “prepared on the streets” variety. Now, as long as you’re not a hypochondriac, health-nut, or cuisine snob, you’re going to have plenty of options that can be quite tasty and fully satiating. Fried rice, fried noodles, and buns with meat of veggie fillings are only the beginning.
If you want more for your 80 RMB’s worth though, you’ll want to seriously consider cooking for yourself. This, of course, will involve grocery shopping and the best deals won’t be at the local Carrefour. Instead, they’ll be the neighborhood farmer’s markets, vegetable markets, wet markets, etc., which will be great for health-nuts but maybe less so for hypochondriacs. Cuisine snobs shouldn’t have an issue, since you’ll have plenty of ingredients available to you and you’ll only be limited by your own culinary skill. Rice, noodles, and vegetables will all be cheap but the big question might be the protein. You’ll have to choose your cuts carefully, but eggs are always a good alternative.
Either way, it can certainly be done without you starving, but short of you being really creative with cooking, it will still be a no-frills lifestyle.
Temptations In The Desert Of China
Let’s look at some easy frills that could trip you up:
- Can of soda: 2-3 RMB
- Bottle of juice: 3-4 RMB
- Bottle of beer: 3-6 RMB
- Lamb skewer (“chuan’r”): 1-2 RMB
- Pirated DVD: 5 RMB
- Short-distance motorcycle taxi ride: 5-10 RMB
- Taxi ride: 11-14 RMB and up.
And a few higher-end expenses:
- Starbucks coffee: 20 RMB and up.
- Alcoholic drink at cheap bar: 10-15 RMB
- Alcoholic drink at expensive bar: 65-80 RMB
- Discounted movie ticket: 30-40 RMB
- Normal movie ticket: 65-80 RMB
100 RMB a week isn’t looking too hot, is it?
The 100 RMB Per Day Challenge
So what if we were to go with a much more generous (7x as generous) 100 RMB per day challenge? Again excluding accommodations and fixed expenses like utilities, how many expats could swing that for at least a full week or, better yet, a month without losing their fragile sanity?
There’s going to be a lot of you who will think that’s easy. Some of you will say so, but never actually try. Of those of you who do, many will fail. I’m sure, however, that many will actually succeed as well. However, there’s also going to be a lot of you who think that’s completely nuts and I applaud your honesty. To be fair, many foreigners came here to be expats, and that “expat lifestyle” includes all the perks a far higher purchasing power comes with. Those who came to be expats certainly never intended to be penniless sitar play…er…backpackers. Why bother subjecting oneself to what one doesn’t have to, right?
Nevertheless, let’s put that 100 RMB per day limit in perspective so we can marvel ourselves with just how good most expats have it. The 100 RMB a day challenge is about 3000 RMB per month in discretionary cash. As with the 100 RMB a week challenge, it excludes housing and other set bills like utilities. Even so, it isn’t hard to see how much more money this is to live on compared to what the average Chinese local makes per month after taxes. Moreover, the average local must further deduct housing and utilities from that monthly pay. Even at 100 RMB a day, most expats are spending at least 2-3x more money than most of their local Chinese counterparts.
If an expat at 100 RMB a day feels unbearably restricted or unhappy, how do those average local Chinese do it?
Have you ever done a budget of what you spend each month? Would you be willing to try the 100 RMB per day challenge for a week? Two weeks? A month?
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Whilst I do live in a smaller City (Suzhou) my current set up means that after rent, utilities, etc. I have about 90Y a day to live here. I’m only here on an internship from a break from University hence the low pay. But for a while pay was even worse and it worked out at about having 50Y a day to survive.
You get used to only having that much. It’s easy enough to get by only spending about 30Y a day on food and drink on weekdays then you find you have enough left over for the weekend to enjoy yourself. I dont eat just cheap Chinese takeaway food everyday, but by doing it for more than half the week you manage to eat more recognised food the rest of the week.
I must admit, however, that for travelling round China I have had to use money from back home. Otherwise i’d be stuck in the same City my whole time here.
“Can Expats Live In China On 100 RMB/week?”
Assuming accommodation is taken care of; without any problem.
I take it the massage dig (or do I mean ’stroke’) was this week’s “invitation to derail” as Froog so eloquently put it ;)
When money gets tight, we go for dong bei style jiaozi. 10-15 RMB per person.
Even the buses are more expensive in Shanghai??
In Beijing, it’s only 4 mao per trip, so commuting to work for the week is only going to set you back 4 kuai. And Beijing’s actually pretty walkable: I know a lot of people who’ve taken apartments within 15 or 20 minutes stroll (or bike ride) of where they work. So, doing without subway or taxis isn’t going to kill you.
Even so, 100 per week is going to be pretty miserable: no booze, no cigs, and only one square meal a day (and, of course, no massages!).
I had a friend who tried to live on 1,000 kuai a month a few times last year. I think she just about made it, but was eating at home most of the time – doufu and instant noodles – and utterly miserable.
In my first year here, I was on a salary of 4,000rmb a month, and saving half of it for my summer back in the UK. I’d usually manage to to blow 1,500rmb within a couple of weeks or so, and thus have to tough out the final week and a half or two weeks of every month on just a few hundred yuan. If you can get a big bowl of noodles for 5 or 6 kuai and a large Yanjing beer for 2 kuai, it’s very doable….. unless you’ve developed a dependency on nice bars and restaurants – in which case, you need at least 8,000-10,000 a month to get by.
I am considering trying a “back to basics” month where I live like I did in that impoverished first year, hanging out all evening at hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Considering it….
Yeah, Shanghai buses are pricier than Beijing. They used to have 1 RMB buses without air conditioning when I first got here but I haven’t seen one recently.
After doing the 1000 RMB challenge (which proved to be too difficult in the end because of the costs associated with a scholarship application), I would say that my best friend transportation-wise is definitely my bike! I also cooked all the time, which is fine by me because I love cooking and I’m tired of all the restaurants near my work and my home.
I have to say that the first thing I plan to do is make an appointment with my TCM doctor to resume my tuina massages for my back problems.
To respond to some of these:
* Can of soda: 2-3 RMB
* Bottle of juice: 3-4 RMB
* Bottle of beer: 3-6 RMB
I don’t actually drink any of these things (I’m a tea and coffee snob), but if I did, I’d buy a big bottle and parcel it around in a smaller bottle.
* Pirated DVD: 5 RMB
http://youku.com is your friend.
* Short-distance motorcycle taxi ride: 5-10 RMB
* Taxi ride: 11-14 RMB and up.
Bike or take the bus.
And a few higher-end expenses:
* Starbucks coffee: 20 RMB and up.
Make your own coffee at home, it’s a lot tastier.
* Alcoholic drink at cheap bar: 10-15 RMB
* Alcoholic drink at expensive bar: 65-80 RMB
Go to house parties instead. ;)
* Discounted movie ticket: 30-40 RMB
* Normal movie ticket: 65-80 RMB
I love watching movies at the cinema as much as anyone else. In Beijing, there are discount cards that offer off-peak films for 20 RMB a film. And check out what kind of movies the embassies are offering. A lot of these are free or 10-20 RMB.
This is such a fun article! :-)
When I stayed in Xiamen for a few months, I was so frugal. So maybe, yeah…100RMB/week. Hahahaha…
No massages for me.
When I was in Luoyang, this was an entirely plausible weekly breakdown:
Transport: 0 RMB – walk or bike everywhere
Food: 40 RMB – this would buy me as many vegetables and eggs as you could shake a stick at from the local market, plus a couple of decent loaves of bread and 2/3 cartons of (possibly contaminated) milk.
Afterthought: 10 RMB – better throw in enough for two pieces of fruit a day. Again, no problem at the local market.
Afterthought 2: 4 RMB for a tub of cookies from the deli. Lovely with a cuppa!
Street vendors: 4-6 RMB – after evening classes I often used to buy a delicious flat bread kind of thing, or a sweet potato.
Tobacco requirement: 0 RMB – I’m one of those ‘lucky’ people.
Alcohol requirement: 0 RMB – if I really felt the need after a day listening to my students telling me that “most foreigners in Luoyang are spies – but we like you, teacher”, then I’d head down to the four-star hotel where my engineer buddy was camped out in a suite that had a bathroom bigger than my apartment. Naturally his company were picking up the tab, including all the extras. Thus, if a beer, a few ribs, and a movie were in order they were always on standby. Let me tell you, engineering’s the way to go in China.
That still leaves me with a minimum 40 RMB, which, admittedly, would rather restrict my main ‘indulgent’ pastime: sitting in my favourite corner of Dio Coffee (coffee bar/restaurant with free internet access and a ‘western’ style menu) and write/read/people watch to my heart’s content as a fascinating world went by outside the window. But I can make a 20 RMB coffee last a long, long time – so I could still spend two afternoons a week in the place.
Alternatively, I could sacrifice one Dio Coffee visit for either a bottle of Enduring Pulchritude (from the famous vineyards of Tibet – worth buying just to read the label) or an hour of acupressure (no hot towels and oil – sorry to disappoint) if my back was playing up.
And this assumes that I wasn’t the recipient of many invitations from Chinese friends and colleagues just for being a good guy. Or was it because it’s easier to keep track of a spy from inside your own living room? Guess I’ll never know for sure.
Anyway, there you have it: a playboy lifestyle on a 100 RMB per week budget. You will be needing a decent bike and a buddy who’s an engineer, though.
Could I live on 100RMB a day? Or, a week? If obliged to, probably yes as in my student days but… I’m sure my wife and I living in our comfortable apartment in Puxi fully paid for do spend as little or less than native Shanghainese of the same income level and age group. How do I know that? No need for a car, designer labels, memberships to “in” places, glitzy kitsch and other accoutrements of conspicuous consumption to define social status nor to satisfy delayed gratification. Also, no 二奶 or 小秘.
Oh, by the way, my wife is from Taiwan and we do travel out of China often, but no need to travel France for the photo opportunity.
Its easier to live on RMB100 a week now, than when it was when I first arrived in Shanghai in the early 90’s.
Although now I’m cheating a little on this (I have sunk costs which aren’t counted – eg petrol, housing, stuff in the freezer etc), here is last weeks weekly spend. (this week, I blew it all at Munchies on Wed).
Transport – 0RMB (I have a car, but mostly cycle if i can help it)
Parking – 20RMB
Lunch – 0RMB (treated 1 day by client, other days didn’t eat lunch)
Dinner – 40RMB+- (local market for groceries+ some veggies from City Shop @ RMB10). My freezer is fairly full though, so probably not fair, but… Treated to dinner by friends also this week.
Friday – I went straight home, as was pretty exhausted from working long hours.
Sat – Out taking photo’s, house party at friends (0RMB)
Sun – lazy day in watching youku+doing some blogging (0RMB)
Week total: 60RMB
Most weeks I do last all week spending zero, or close to that, then spending on Friday or Sat.
Actually my budget tends to get blown when I’m in a relationship here – dinners, etc eat up money like no tomorrow!
Assuming all costs, this month would be something like this:
Housing – zero (I own my own)
Electrickery – 200/month (I have an expensive US 2 door fridge, which sucks up the juice)
Parking office, Apt: 650/month
Apt Management Fee: 200/month
Water: 50/month
Gas: 50/month
Food/Groceries: 500/month (usually way less, shopping at local markets can get you a weeks groceries for way under 50RMB here, but averaging out)
Internet: 150
DVD’s: 0 (Internet)
Partying – 900RMB a month.
Gas – 300RMB a month
————
Full costs are around 3000RMB a month (usually less to be honest!), so 100rmb a day is fairly easy. If I didn’t have a car, would be even easier.
I could probably do the 100RMB a week challenge with ease!
I live a pretty boring life though looking at that – Home -> Work -> Home…
:)
Hi am looking for once room apartment in Guangzhou aound jin bin area or guangyuan pls help. its a 3month stay
I have done better than that on 2 occasions.
First was as a student when my routine was to grab up 1000RMB from the ATM when I started to run low. Usually it lasted about 2 weeks. Well, the ATM network was down when I showed up one day, and it stayed down for 2 weeks. I’m sure it was still up elsewhere, but locally, it was all down and I had about 20RMB in my pocket and was able to dig around and find another 2RMB in coins in the dorm room.
1 pack of zhongnanhai = 4.5 RMB
daily transportation = not needed
Food – you can get rice for 0.5 RMB at the caf, and if you wait till closing they will give you a lot extra (enough for 2 meals) as well as some other leftovers.
Water – boiled water in the dorms is free
Also, jogging around campus when you are hungry can reduce the hunger pains for a while, as does slamming down a few glasses of water… also free. Not a great way to live, but survivable.
2nd time:
Started my new job and I had about $50 to my name at the time. Had to take a 1 month advance to cover deposit and rent on the new place, and another 1 month advance to cover a trip to Hong Kong as well as a visa overstay fine. So, 3 months on 350RMB.
Transportation: bike to work – free
Food: Rely on the company-provided lunch and save some for dinner. Grab a 1-2RMB breakfast on the way to work. Fast on the weekends unless someone else is buying.
Cellphone – work paid for
ADSL – work paid for
The only thing that sucked was the fact that I had moved into a new apartment with a queen-sized bed, but no money for sheets/pillows. I slept on the couch for 3 months instead.
Very possible to live on the cheap, so it doesn’t really shock me when Chinese friends have managed to save up huge amounts of money relative to their salary. But the simple fact is that it is very doable if you have to do it and knowing that you are capable of doing it feels good. Then again, ordering out, taking a taxi everywhere, skipping on the company meal to eat steak, stopping at starbucks in the morning, and buying stuff to fill the apartment feels good too :)
LOL, Mike, you’re a trooper! While certainly no one wants to live like that if they don’t have to, simply having done so, being able to do so, and having the stories to tell gives one a lot of character. I’d buy you a beer just for hearing you tell those two stories!
But, one thing I have to ask: Wouldn’t jogging around eventually make you even MORE hungry, what with all the extra energy expenditure?
I am originally from Beijing and everytime I go back there my aunties and uncles will look at me in shock with the way I spend. I’m your average white collar in Australia.
They won’t say much but I know from their look that I’m living in luxury when I’m just shopping for my weekly groceries. Just buying my regular shampoo like Clairo to them is already something they would never ever do. Eating out is splurging, and even my favourite, lamb skewers once a week is splurging. Taking a taxi is probably once in a quarter experience for them, so I’m always scared to tell them I took a taxi home in fear they’ll give me “that” look. I always feel so guilty about telling them I spent 20RMB on lunch so I just say I had a meat bun from a side street for 3RMB (and even then they’ll ask why I don’t come home to eat).
They always shop at the local markets for fruits/veggies/meats. Never at a well known supermarket. Very rarely buy processed foods, and eating out is a never almost. Bikes to commute everywhere, instead of buses. Brands of choice always the local brands, and depending on income what kinds of local brands are chosen. I’d say their average weekly spending is actually really close to 100RMB a week if not less because a trip to the wet markets with my grandma will cost us around 70RMB, and that’s enough food for the whole week or more for 3 people. But she also has her own chickens so she doesn’t ever buy eggs.
So I think it’s just people in more developed countries in the west are already used to this standard that is really luxuary to the ordinary Chinese. At least I would try my best to hide my spending ways from my relatives because it always gives them a sense of waste.
Your relatives don’t get out much, do they? They don’t have to look down their noses at the extravagant foreign ways but could just mosey on over to the shopping malls, coffee shops and boutiques that attract youth of all ages to see spendthrifts, and not a foreign face among them. My point is, conspicuous consumption in China is not built around and for foreigners, is it?
ScottLoar, while it is true that the heavy spenders are not just western, but the people who do visit such places are well off OR are spoiled by parents who do not earn so much. I don’t have to mention that 90% of Chinese are normal people just like my relatives. You’re getting the point wrong.
And my point is, yes, splurge spending in China was ORIGINALLY built for the westerners. You weren’t there when the first supermarket opened and they required you to have a foreigh passport OR a visa for a foreign country to enter it. KFC was only visited by expats when I was young. These days it’s not obvious because there are no restrictions, only money. How many Chinese people earn the same as westerners?
Jinglez, read my post here (yes, read it) dated May 7, 2009; I’m not getting the point wrong. Also, you think all these Italian and French fashion and watch shops were originally opened to cater to the splurge-spending foreigners in China? That foreigners anywhere in China not more than three hours removed from duty-free shopping in Hong Kong just had to have a Versaci or Gucci store at 100% duties in Beijing or Shanghai to keep them occupied? Go in to those stores, talk to the sales staff and find out just exactly who is their typical customer, and find out also who buys the top-end luxury cars in China.
I was in China when currency was managed, when foreigners had to use a different currency and we were dragged from one Friendship Store to another; that’s not what I’m talking about and that’s not what you’re talking about. The point is Chinese are voracious consumers when they have the money, and there are enough monied Chinese in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing to supply their fetish for name brands and conspicuous consumption. Jinglez, foreign expats are not driving sales of this stuff in these cities.
Thanks for the great read Kai Pan! But I must say, (even though it’s a year later) @ScottLoar, You sound like such a party-pooper! Chill out! :P You ruined my enjoyable reading with your negativity. You gotta learn to relax! lol…
Jasmine, Australia
100 RMB a week? Do-able but not comfortable.
100 a day? Way to easy.
Right now I probably spend 10-12 a day;
-morning eat a 2 RMB rou bing.
-lunch eat 2 RMB of spring onion pancake.
-dinner; either 4/5 RMB noodles OR free dinner at a students house
-1 RMB bus to work, 1 RMB bus back (0.5 if i hadn’t lost my card)
I work all day so by the time I’m back I’m too tired to do anything else, just crashbat home and sleep.
I live in Xi’an.
100 RMB a day is easy. To be honest, if you can’t live on that, you are not really trying. That equals 3000 RMB a month??? My goodness, many of my younger (mid 20’s, early 30’s) Chinese friends live on that much AND still save, or in some cases support relatives in Fujian, Hunan, etc. I know that doesn’t include 红包 but thats bank, and YES even in Shanghai. In fact just two months ago I got an email from a friend who bought a new apple laptop yet she lives alone in Shanghai and sends money home to Mayberry, Fujian. All this on, yes, exactly 3000 RMB a month.
2005 – I paid 1600 RMB a month for an apt on 2 blocks north of Jing’An Temple. I was a student at Donghua University at the time. I spent 20-25 RMB A DAY on food… snack food mainly, but sustaining none the less. Steamed bread and a cup of milk for breakfast, street noodles (7-9 RMB) for lunch and similar fare for dinner. 2 RMB bus to school, then walk home. My entertainment was studying like a madman. Occasionally I would splurge (100 RMB every two weeks) on noodles, 28 RMB jar of pesto, a jar of Korea jelly tea mix, some condiments.
But, that’s still not hardcore. Before that I had a roommate and we split the 1900 for a two bedroom. That cut back on rent, but I spent the difference on 10 RMB beers and 10 RMB burgers and wings at Jing’An Windows on the weekend. I could go there with 40 RMB, get full and get my drink on too.
Not hardcore enough? I met a woman who worked in a KTV along Nanjing Donglu one night. I didn’t meet her at the KTV, I met her when we were both walking along down the 行人街 there, and we started chatting. She paid 300 RMB a month for a tiny room, no toilet, along one of those narrow alleyways just off Nanjing Donglu. Her room was really comfy; bed, dresser, small and windowless so it stayed warm at night. Believe it or not, there are thousands of such rooms on either side of Nanjing Lu, and most waiguoren have no idea. Anyway, at this time security still wasn’t as serious as it’s become now, and so I am sure that I would have been allowed to rent a room there. Well, the authorities might let me rent a room there now, I guess my saying they wouldn’t is speculation.
That would be nice and hardcore. My ex-girlfriend lived in a similar set-up, as did my friend’s parents, and when he and I would go to their house for dinner, it would be cool to be in a 450 RMB a month room that was a few feet away from the river.
I average somewhere between 3000 to 4000 RMB per month.
100 Yuan per day is really really easy! I did that when I was in Nanjing and it left plenty of extra money for manicures – which is the girly equivalent to massages in China.
Wow, 100rmb a week looks pretty hardcore for me, I was expecting to spend 7k rmb(usd$1k) a month or less to live a comfortable life in a good rented furnished apartament near the center, it doesn’t need to be a four seasons suite but it has to look decent.
Do think that is possible with under usd$800/m? I’ll probably buy an average car too if I stay long.
Hey Magnator,
It depends on what kind of apartment are you looking for. Size? Everyone’s definition of comfortable is different so it’s hard to say but I personally would say $800 per month is definitely possible.
If you’re coming from the States, I have to warn you that cars are typically more expensive in China and at least in Shanghai, license plates must be bid for and aren’t exactly cheap either. If you live near the city center, there’s probably little financial sense to get a car.
Hi Kai, I just made a small research and found this,
http://www.sublet.com/spider/supplydetails.asp?supplyid=651421
something with 60-100sqm and looking like that I think is fine for me.
Regarding cars I’m already aware and used to that, in my homeland people pay around 120-140% over the price we get in US or UK. lol
I just think it’s good to have one for when we want to visit distant cities.
Anyway I’m not going anywhere anytime soon but I like to plan things I’ll probably do in future. :)
Thanks for the help.
Hey Magnator,
Checked out your link. It’s a studio apartment but it doesn’t say how large it is. I reckon it’d be similar in size and furnishings to the studio I’m living in, except in Beijing. At 700 bucks, though, that’s (*6.8) 4760 RMB, which is over twice what I’m paying for my place.
Obviously, we can’t make a precise comparison since I can’t see that place, but I imagine Shanghai rates should be higher than Beijing. It sounds like that place is in a decent location if it is at least 5 minutes away from a subway station (hopefully that means walking) and 20 minutes away from Sanlitun. I’m also in a decent location and, while my place is farther from a metro station, it has super convenient bus routes. The listing says there’s high speed internet and utilities included, but I’d double check if that was literally included in your monthly rent or if you’ll end up paying for them separately as the bills come. Otherwise, pretty similar setup…
…and that price is expensive. For that price, I think you can get a one-bedroom apartment with a proper kitchen and living room and balcony. You might even be able to swing a two-bedroom place. Of course, much of the time, it’s about location and I’m not familiar with Beijing as I am with Shanghai so take that for what you will.
I thought cars were more expensive in the UK than the US? Shrug, anyway, I understand what you mean about taking road-trips. Just know that it will be more expensive and probably a bit of a hassle in a big city. You know, parking and traffic, that stuff.
Thank you for the info, I actually thought the same about price, $700 is too much for that and I think I can find a better price for something similar. Based on what you said I think I should expect prices like $300-$600 depending on the city.
About cars, well, cars are cool, I love cars :D and road trips too and I know this pleasure comes with a price since I own one. :) Anyway I predict an additional $100-$250 monthly expense in China for a simple car of $10-$15k not including depreciation and for more expensive ones probably the same or more than what I already spend here.
Btw cars in UK are cheap too, just very expensive to maintain if you live in a city like London. Cars are cheap in first world nations with a few exceptions like Australia and a few others. A new audi tt roadster 2.0 quattro for example costs usd$50k in UK against usd$42k in US(I just checked that now lol), nothing expressive but if you go to Brazil for example the same model costs usd$125k(lots of taxes) and in China usd$81k plus the chinese model doesn’t have all wheel drive.
*That’s why in UK if you drive a TT people will say you’re a normal guy but in Brazil they’ll say you are a millionaire and they’re quite right you can see. xD
“I’ll probably buy an average car too if I stay long.” This says you have no experience of China and little or no idea of what to expect. An “average” car is well beyond your budget as compared to your predicted housing expense (US$800/month) and without the tacit understanding between drivers you are bound for an early accident. The cause (you) and consequences of that accident will quickly educate you to living in China.
@Stott I actually could spend up to around usd$35k on a car if I sell the used one I’m using now, and my average income is way over usd$800/month, I don’t work to earn usd$800/m and then spend usd$800 if you get what I mean, I focus on my assets profits since I was a kid, not on regular income, even if I’m earning like usd$10k a month I probably won’t go over the usd$1500 barrier at least if I’m in China since it seems to be a lot of money there.
I think spending usd$3-4k a month as a single guy in US is like 1k in China or even less. Which means if I move to China I’ll be able to spend less, save more and granted I’ll get a whole new life, get to know different people and new experiences. It can’t get any better. :D
Anyway I think a usd$10k car is good in China that’s what I’ll probably get it but I’ll do a lot of research first. Regarding accidents I’ve travelled to lot of places mainly in Europe and I’ve always drove to unknown places with heavy traffic without any problems.
I heard koreans don’t respect red lights, I don’t know how it works in China that’s why I’ll take some time to test waters with cheap rented cars. :D
Anyone on this thread know what the best way is to find a room-share with a non English fluent family? Ideally not to far away. I like Xujiahui, Gubei, Hongqiao, Zhongshan Park, Jingan, Luwan
Interesting article … but…as pointed (and sadly accurate) as the article is , an essential expat costs are overlooked.
the cost of “guan xi”
the author of this article pushes the question of “how does the average local” manage to do it on less, negelecting the “face” factor.
example: I want to buy a … (anything)… a … bike, lets say… a bike. And i do the things every expat does, I trod down to the local bike street , hangle , fight, walk away come back, fight, etc. until i get a price that is at least 40% of what was orginally offered and i buy a bike.
thats not how locals do it… they call a cousin of a friend of a neighbour and magically they get a bike at 2 or 3 times LESS than what i would pay.
Social networking in China is a finacial venture, and greatly alters the money landscape.
The statement should be altered to read “most expats are spending 2x to 3x than their local counterparts for the same goods and services”
now this of course doesnt apply to those expats that live and die in carrefour/walmart/beijinghualian… but for the rest of us shmucks on a budget, we who haggle over 2 jing of potatoes… it BREAKS the bank.
well, me and my chinese partner do not live in shanghai, but we can and have lived on 500rmb for a month. (shijiazhuang, capital city of hebei)
walk to work = free, food = rice/ noddles/steam cooked buns + veg and some meat. we only earnt 4500 and needed to save money. once we had the savings we required we went back to spending 2000 a month. life on 500 a month is minimal but leaves allot more time to learning chinese and teaching english + lesson plans.
but on the other side of the coin i have spent upwards of 3,000rmb in a night out, well that was entertainment from about 7pm-10am. then retreat to my hotel to feel terrible for a couple of days. i have had some good nights out lasting 15 odd hours for 300 rmb though.
strange thing is when i head out for a night on the town i always seem to get back around 10am…
any one else find this is the case as well?
Hi Mark,
Well, I don’t find your case “weird”. I think it’s just normal to be thrifty. Then splurge on some days. Hmmm…let’s see, in my case, I can live for a lot less than 100RMB a week. (But I’m not paying for rent anyway.)
I think it also depends where you are coming from. The currency exchange and everything. Like if you come from this country, 100RMB is like loose change only, etc. etc.
seriously? can’t cut it with the 100rmb per week, so decide to amp it up to 100rmb per day, and still overspend? jeez.
i have incredibly busy schedule, especially during summertime, and i find it tough to spend more than 100rmb per week. i walk to work, as well as to my student’s homes for private lessons, so i never spend much on transportation. i live in rent-controlled housing owned by the state electricity company, so rent is cheap. food is a breeze: i cook everything at home.
my money-saving habits throughout the year are sort of tossed out the window during the spring festival, may holiday, and october holiday though. i almost always am flying internationally or something, during those times.
Hey Tamstar,
Thanks for sharing your experience. That really is saving to the ultimate level! Holidays are moments when splurging is allowed. :-P
ummmm what? didnt quite under stand any of that message…..