Once termed The Sleeping Dragon, China has awoken from a sweet slumber of the depreciated Yuan to find a world in financial despair. The giant unfurls his wings, full of factories ready to manufacture the world’s good for a dime a dozen, and flexes his massive military muscles off the coast of Somalia while the world looks on.
Though still labeled a third world country, China’s major cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and others, have surpassed the US in their creative architecture, enticing jobs, and innovative apartments. Indeed, the cities in China offer amazing nightlife, unique culture, a plethora of drinking and dining extravaganzas and career opportunities. So, what does it cost to partake in this giant’s emergence?
The cost of living in China has, in recent months, declined somewhat thanks to the burst of the housing bubble. Naturally, as with US and UK housing, this leaves thousands of people holding property that has declined in value, but for which they continue to owe an inordinate amount of cash.
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Shanghai is known for its bar scene. Unlike Beijing, Shanghai’s bars display a wide diversity of genres, prices, decors, and entertainment. The hobnobbers convene nightly along the Bund drinking brandy for $30USD a glass while the English teachers rendezvous along Hangshan Road, where cold beer can flow for as cheap as $1USD. Everything imaginable lies in between these extremes, the most intense of which are the so-called all-you-can-drink bars catering almost exclusively to expats.
One of the top bars in Shanghai’s all-you-can-drink scene is De La Coast where for 100 RMB (about $14USD) you can do your best to damage your liver amid flashing lights and endless seizure-like dance offs. A truly gifted DJ blasts perfectly mixed tunes while friendly bartenders mix an unending barrage of rail drinks. The bar is successful primarily because it attracts a steady stream of regulars.
While De La Coast may be one of the more dual-gendered bars in the area, attracting a plethora of expats and locals alike, the traditional drink-for-a-sum bars in Shanghai use blunt human-nature tactics for attracting foreign currency: pigtails, pushup bras, and stick on purple eyelashes.
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Living abroad is an experience full of adventures in adaptation, diversity and change. As the global economic situation worsens, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to live abroad. While back home I was making a livable wage, I was not saving any money, nor was I able to enjoy the lifestyle I’d prefer.
In China, I make a similar salary to my former career in the States, but with added bonuses. Here I do not have car payments, my rent is low, my bills consist of a few random RMB for electric and water and my only real expense is food- of which there is a vast international array. That leaves me with the extra cash to invest, save, or blow on travel and other hobbies.
So, in the middle of an economic crisis spanning the entire globe, how am I in such a comfortable, care-free condition?
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