So you pay a premium to live in a big city: the major cities in inner China are characterized by high rents and high food prices... but you can get anything. Coming out west, the housing prices are much cheaper (though rising), but you there western food and drink items (bottles of scotch, cheese, etc.) are almost double the price as on the coast. Chinese Amazon looks momentarily like a good decision until you realize that they will not ship alcohol at the least to Xining. Very disappointing.
Sample price comparisons: Item Xining Price Amazon Price Johnny Walker Black Label 375 RMB 159 RMB Sutter's Home Wine 199 RMB 99 RMB This is not exactly a statistically significant sample size, but it's the best list of things I have actually taken to compare. Amazon also has an enormous selection. Very sad they won't ship here. Maybe it's just because I live on a university campus.
1 Comment
Yoyo
9/29/2012 05:38:27 am
When I conducted my fieldwork in a rural montain area in northern China this summer, I could buy almost nothing even I had money in hand. The villages are too far away from towns or cities, and only a limited list of things are available on a local small shop. Of course, the living costs were very low, maybe I should say, the material life is poor there, but the spiritual life is rich:_)
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About TimAs you can see elsewhere on this webpage, I conduct research on ethnic minorities in western China. This blog offers semi-academic musings on the minutiae of daily life out here--the sort of information otherwise destined for footnotes. Categories |