[Super74]

Cost of living ain't low, unless you live in a village. Shanghai is more expensive than NY. A beer is 45RMB, and that's for a Bud, not a fancy micro. Live like a local and you forgo comfort for cost. Anything foreign or of genuine quality is 2x the price as the western world. Even HK is a deal, unless you have to buy or rent property.Every time I go for business, I do all my shopping for 100% originals, not fakes. The price difference is astounding.

By not caring about the politics, you enable the problem. The CCP is making a mint off the US and becoming unstoppable. Society is crumbling and the rights and freedoms of the average citizens are falling as quickly. Culture? Where does the CCP fit into that? Communism, when did that become China's culture?

Stepping on 1 billion people to raise up 300 million is not progress.

[xiaoma]

You really, really got a bad deal on your beer. I've had imports at Shanghai restaurants for a fraction of that. Shanghai can be expensive, but it's nothing like NYC. In Shanghai, you can live within a short walk of the subway line, eat out every day and have a maid to cook your other 2 meals for under 1000USD/month. Loads of college grads in the city earn less than half that.

If you have absolutely no ability to adapt to local food and need to have everything as you had it at home, then it will definitely cost you. Immigrants to the west can't always find their favorite food or products, either.

[felipe]

Really, you complain about China because a Bud is 45 kuai?!?! Of course anything foreign is more expensive than the west. You realize you are in the other side of the world, right?

About the CCP making a mint off the US: Keep in mind that is the US that's selling treasuries.

[nostromo]

> Of course anything foreign is more expensive than the west. You realize you are in the other side of the world, right?

Actually that has more to do with Chinese currency manipulation than anything else. By refusing to adjust their currency appropriately, foreign goods are unaffordable to most domestics. This is the reason their economy is growing at amazing rates -- it's not magic. Long term this will cause problems, such as local property bubbles and potentially tariffs imposed on their exports as other countries get pissed.

[felipe]

Funny how no one used to complain when it was the rich countries who dictated the rules of the game (via the IMF).

[vorg]

A Snow, at 3 to 5 kuai, tastes good. King Long's cheaper, but tastes awful.