Attended an evening seminar where they were talking about Chinas social problems and development. Topics were the rising cost of everything when inflation is growing 20% annually and even 40% on some products. Fruits have gone up 36% since last year and pork meat over 40%. When I came to China the gas price was just below 7 rmb and now it's over 8 rmb. If you imagine yourself having a salary of 400 Euros a month (or less) you can really feel it. And not to mention the apartment prices rising up to 30% a year. In Shanghai the average square meter price is around 4000-6000 Euros in the downtown area, that's more than Helsinki and salaries are 1/10 here. The gap between the rich and poor is growing so fast that if your stuck in "lower class" it's impossible to get up. But I got pretty lucky at the event and won a 300 rmb gift card to the downstairs restaurant :)
Most of the things in downtown looks nice, modern and rich. But under the surface it's a different story...
When I've been driving around in the evening I noticed that there are sooooo many homeless people sleeping outside closed subway stops, stores, streets, parks. This guy was making his lunch outside our office, he said no pictures but I still took one. Had a small bonfire and a kettle and was slicing something that looked like noodles. Wonder how China will look after a few years.
No comments:
Post a Comment