[seanmcdirmid]

A hamburger at McDonalds often costs more than in the states. Many things are more expensive here. You want to drive a car? Ah, that will be $60k please. We spent 120 RMB on a bottle of shampoo and conditioner last week..I told my wife that is almost $20!

[meric]

You're in Beijing - that's like someone living in NYC complaining US house prices are $0.9m each. Accurate for where he lives, but cannot be generalised to the entire country as a whole, where median US house price is only $0.2m each. Things are a lot more affordable out in places like Foshan (where I had my Maccas).

EDIT: Reply to below:

You're talking from your Beijing experience and I'm talking from my visiting relatives in Shunde experience...Maybe it'll be hard for us to agree. Rents, Food, Public Transport, Clothing, Education are all quite cheap compared to the U.S. and those goods are what enable people to carry out their day to day lives. Walmart made-in-china goods are naturally cheaper in China than in U.S. House prices, Car taxes, Luxury taxes are part of government policy in managing monetary policy and exchange rates with the U.S. and has as much relevance as the nominal GDP - not much when you're measuring the average person's income and the goods and services they can purchase. And remember, China's population is several times that of the U.S.

[seanmcdirmid]

Please, let's not even get into housing...I can never buy a house here. But at least rents are cheap!

Quality goods in China are expensive period. If you are in a second or third tier city, its even worse. We schedule trips to Hong Kong for shopping...we aren't the only ones also! Cars are expensive all over China as they are heavily taxed. Only food could be considered a bit cheaper, but you have to avoid the low end completely over food safety concerns (e.g. gutter oil).

All in all, I would save money by moving back to Seattle, I think. More to pay in rent, but houses are cheaper to buy, food is more expensive, but groceries would be cheaper. Taxis are much more expensive, but I could actually own my own car and park it legally without paying a whole bunch of money.