Cost of Living in China

[roddy]

I thought this might be a nice complement to the Accommodation in China topic - a similar idea, but about your cost, rather than location, of living. If the mood takes you, do a quick write up on what you spent on any one particular day, with any necessary notes (ie, which actual city you live in, how typical a day this is, etc). Obviously you might not want to bother if your last day's expenses were 80Y for a pile of pirate DVDs to watch alone in your cold lonely hovel - but feel free to invent a 'typical' day, or wait until you have an interesting looking day to talk about. My sample day is below, although an average one would involve less booze and taxis. I also suspect I've missed a meal somewhere. This is in Beijing

Breakfast - some kind of baked 饼 I don't actually know the name of. Pretty substantial breakfast. 3.50

Bus ride 0.40 (on my bus card)

McD's coffee - 7.50

Paper to read while I drink it - 1.00

18Y - cafe coffee, would be 20Y without my discount card. Includes one free refill.

22Y - beef and tomato noodles - I walked past 10Y and 5Y noodle places to get here - both the setting and the food are nicer.

15Y taxi ride

110Y - three gin and tonics (25Y?) and a whisky sour (35Y), nice cafe on Gulou Dongdajie

60Y - four Qingdaos, dingy pool bar on the same street.

17Y taxi ride home

Add your own if you want, if it takes off we'll make this sticky.

[m_k_e]

breakfast - free

lunch - free

dinner -free

snack - 3Y

awesome Chinese family who is willing to host and feed a poor foreigner - priceless

[sebhk]

This is for Hong Kong. My spending is on the low side tough and I am usually in the New Territories or Kowloon, but not Hong Kong Island.

Sample working day:

Breakfast: 10 HK$ for bread, no coffee

Lunch: 30 HK$ for a shanghai noodles lunch set at a 茶餐聽

Dinner: 50 HK$ for a steak dinner set at a 茶餐聽

Transport: 12 HK$ for MTR

Sample Saturday:

Breakfast: none

Brunch: 50 HK$ at Delifrance

Dinner: 120 HK$ at nice restaurant in Kowloon Tong.

Alcohol: Around 100 HK$ for 2 beers and 1 Gin Tonic in a bar in Prince Edward.

[cui ruide]

BEIJING

A guestimation:

WORKDAY

1-2 kuai breakfast (either a "bing", an apple, or a sandwich I make at home)

3 kuai coffee (brewed at home from a 95RMB starbucks bag--hoping for cheaper coffee from kunming as soon as a friend goes)

5-15 kuai lunch (noodles or 盖饭 somewhere)

3 kuai green tea bottle

3 kuai canned nescafe

2-3 kuai yogurt

2 kuai subway ride

10-40 kuai dinner (depends if I go lunch-style, or if I eat out with folks, and how well I eat out)

15-50 kuai beer (a few drafts of TT/YJ (the range depends if it's restaurant beer or bar beer) or a combination with a nicer beer at a bar with some music if I go out)

20-30-50 kuai taxi (ride home if I go out of my neighborhood to 3 general locations)

WEEKEND (not too raucous usually cause it's mon/tues):

-----------------

1-2 kuai breakfast (either a "bing", an apple, or a sandwich I make at home)

3 kuai coffee (brewed at home from a 95RMB starbucks bag--hoping for cheaper coffee from kunming as soon as a friend goes)

2 kuai subway ride

40 kuai climbing fee

15 kuai lunch

2 kuai subway ride

20 kuai coffee at a cafe

5-10 kuai various snacks/water

10-40 kuai dinner (depends if I go lunch-style, or if I eat out with folks, and how well I eat out)

15-50 kuai beer (a few drafts of TT/YJ (the range depends if it's restaurant beer or bar beer) or a combination with a nicer beer at a bar with some music)

20-30-50 kuai taxi (ride home from 3 general locations)

[liuzhou]

Today

Breakfast

肉包 (Pork Steamed Dumplings) 3 for ¥1

Can of tomato juice - ¥3.80

Lunch

Lanzhou Lamian ¥4

肉夾饃 (Lamb in Arabic Style Bread- the Chinese hamburger!) ¥3

Local Beer ¥4

Taxi home - ¥5

Dinner

Home cooked

Chicken (¥10), Clams (¥5), Veg (estimate around ¥3)

More beer - ¥7

Phone calls, electricity, gas - no idea but not a lot.

Oh!

Newspaper - ¥0.60

New 4GB USB Memory Stick - ¥75

[Loriquero]

Shanghai

Breakfast:

可的 egg+chicken sandwich: 5.5Yuan

or

two street egg pies: 3Yuan

lunch:

XinJiang or Lanzhou noodles or rice with meat from 5 to 11Yuan

or

Kungfu meal: rice, beef, chicken soup and salad: 23 to 28Yuan

or

Street dumplings with pals: 16Yuan each person

or

Saiseriya restaurant ("Italian" food): from 11 one past dish to 25 a seafood pizza if you feel a little bit hungrier (no drinks, 太贵了, good sangria though...)

bottle of iced tea, 农夫果园 juice or something related: from 3 to 4.5Yuan

dinner:

school ordinay food: 5-10Yuan

宵夜:

fried rice with egg: 5Yuan

Or

各种各样的 meat skewers: 10Yuan

Beer in store: 4-5Yuan isn´t it?

average drink in common laowai club: 40-50Yuan

Lowest taxi ride: 11Yuan

Average metro ride: 3-4Yuan

Bus ride: 2Yuan

3 hours in karaoke with some beers and fruits in nanjing east road: almost 400 yuan

Expensive brazilian barbecue restaurant or japanese teppanyaki (both all you can eat) with drinks night out: 150Yuan/person

xintiandi, lujiazui theater: almost 100/person

Bowling in hengshan road: hum... almost forgot, let´s say 2 hours 40Yuan per person?

Haircut: 15Yuan

[Prodigal Son]

average day of expenses for me in Chengdu:

wake up around 11:30am, 20元 sichuan food for lunch (2 dishes + rice)

mid afternoon sushi snack - 25元 (12+ rolls, this place is cheap!!)

taxi fee to run an errand and return home - 30元

sichuan food for dinner with my girlfriend, 40元 (4 dishes + rice)

evening snacks, ice cream - 15元

beers at a local bar - 40元 (two bottles of heineken)

massage across the street - 20元

middle of the night chao fan delivery - 7元

damn, added up that's 190元. seems like a lot more when I add it up.

[simplyolaf]

man... you have an expensive life!

[roddy]

Eats well though

Does prove though, if you compare Cui Ruide's and the Prodigal Son's spending, that getting out of Beijing and Shanghai doesn't necessarily mean saving money.

Here's my day today so far:

Out and about

Breakfast 饼。 4Y (孜然羊肉,could have saved 0.5Y for a 黑椒牛肉 one)

Bus, 0.4Y

Bakery Diet Coke and Chicken + Cranberry Sandwich, 26Y

Restaurant Milkshake, 22Y

Bus 0.4Y

Supermarket:

Sleeping mat (凉席), 29Y

Shower Gel 11Y

Half KG of apples, 9Y

Quarter Watermelon, 3.55Y

6 bags of milk, 8.40Y

Bottle of juice for walking home, 2.45Y

and a bag to put it all in, 0.30Y

I'll probably spend more later, but I doubt there'll be anything interesting.

Edited June 3, 2009 at 11:43 AM by roddy

[Prodigal Son]

definitely true - my biggest area of savings (over somewhere like BJ or SH) is rent - mine is 1700 for a 3BR apartment! otherwise a lot of second tier cities like Chengdu can still be quite expensive.

[roddy]

Yesterday I spent . . .

Jianbing for breakfast 3.50

Coffee 18Y

Bowl of noodles for lunch 9Y

3 T-shirts, shirt, 250Y (shopping mall prices, this wasn't down and dirty bargaining)

Diet coke and a sandwich 25Y

Late night BBQ and a beer, 20Y

[skylee]

Yesterday (Sunday) I spent (HKD) -

Movie - 45

Popcorn - 30

Bottled drink - 6.5

Subway - 35.2

Cobbler's service - 185

A pair of corcs - 298

A meal - 125

Library reservation service - 2.5

Household hardware - 74.9

Total - 802.1 (excluding all prepaid services)

[skylee]

Today (Monday, a typical working day) I spent (HKD) -

subway - 11.2

apple (lunch) - 4

green tea latte (lunch) - 25

quarter pounder with cheese (dinner) - 16

3 more apples (future lunches) - 12

Total - 68.2

Edited July 27, 2009 at 01:21 PM by skylee

[roddy]

Let's bump this one . . .

Yesterday:

Lovely full English breakfast and coffee:68Y

Milkshake:25Y

Another milkshake elsewhere:32Y

Book: 16Y

Buses: 2Y (forgot my card, should have been 0.8Y)

Six small tins of not-the-cheapest beer (shop, not bar): 20Y approx

Dinner at home, cheap

More beer due to fear of not having enough beer:15Y (six small tins of Yanjing, shop again)

Whisky at bar: 30-50Y, I didn't pay.

That's a fairly expensive day for me, although could have been a lot worse if more drinking had been done in bars. I do still have some beers in a fridge down the road, but not sure I'll ever see them again.

[putonghua73]

Saturday:

Girlfriend day

Breakfast: 10Y

This was x2 big bowls of noodle soup with vegetables and one with meat (I'm vegetarian). I treated my friend to breakfast before she had class and my girlfriend arrived.

Lunch: 36Y

Myself and my girlfriend shared rice, a large plate of stringy greens with hot peppers, plate mushrooms of some description, plate of mashed potato, and a large bowl of vegetable soup.

Bus: 2Y (1Y p/p - prepaid on card)

Paid for myself and girlfriend.

大观公园entrance fee: 40Y (20Y pp - girlfriend paid)

Electric boat hire (1 hour): 50Y

Bottle of coke: 3Y (girlfriend paid)

Bus: 2Y

Paid for myself and girlfriend

Dinner: 38Y

Myself and my girlfriend shared a medium pot containing a vegetable broth consisting of egg-plant, potato, smelly dofu and ginger, and a plate of something else, as well as a large pot of silk dofu.

A packet of dried lemons: 8.64Y (girlfriend paid)

10 fresh coconut biscuits: 9Y (girlfriend paid

Total: 138Y

Sunday:

Lunch: 60Y

Tall glass of ice Mocha with chocolate and double shot, and a vegetable burger with salad and potato wedges at Vintage cafe

A bottle of coke: 3Y

Dinner: 44Y

A large vegetarian pizza and a can of Sprite at Aoma's.

KTV and lots of beer (all paid for by friends as it was a friend's birthday)

Total: 107Y

Weekends are always my biggest expenditure as I have my breakfast, lunch and dinner provided by the school chef. I tend to treat myself to ice Mocha's and Western food, although I would prefer Chinese food. However, once in a cafe I tend to stay there and they generally serve Western food.

Cheers!

[skylee]

Yesterday (typical working day)

breakfast - coffe at home (cheap)

lunch - apple (HKD4)

afternoon - coffee at office (cheap)

dinner - box BBQ rice (HKD28.5)

transport - underground (HKD15.8 )

wine at home - 250ml (HKD26)

total - HKD 74.3 (shopping of accessories excluding)

[esz]

Hey!

I'm going to study one year in China on a Scholarship from September, and I'm a bit worried about the money circumstances...

(Actually I'm from Hungary, and although I do think that China is quite cheap for somebody from Western-Europe or the US, compared to the Hungarian prices the Chinese prices seem to be not in any cases that low - which is bad for me, 'cause I'm not that rich here in Hungary either and I don't want to end up not making ends meat in China because of the "no worries, everything is cheap in China"-way of thinking.)

Anyways, my questions is:

Could you please tell me, ca. how much RMB a month do you need to actually just *survive* in China?

And by survive I mean cutting all the money for partying, cinema, etc. from the calculations and counting only the very neccessary things, like food, water, mass-transport, etc.

Any help would be appreciated ^_^

[skylee]

it very much depends on which part of China you are going to. So where are you going to?

[esz]

>Skylee

I didn't add that, 'cause I have no clue yet... But most likely I will be going to Tianjin. (Or maybe Qingdao, or maybe elsewehre if the Chinese have decided so I'm waiting for the admission letter to arrive, and the exact infos will be written in that.)

But I'm thinking of saving money for travelling in around a bit in China, so infos from all parts of China are welcome That would be the purpose of the topic anyways, and it's sad that so few people are writing here, because I think it would be a quite useful info to share...

[SiMaKe]

Lovely full English breakfast and coffee:68Y

Milkshake:25Y

Another milkshake elsewhere:32Y

That's a fairly expensive day for me,...

WOW!

That ($10 USD) would be a relatively expensive breakfast in the US unless you ordered a steak (as opposed to bacon or sausage). The $3.65 milkshake is about right but the $4.70 would be pricey where I live (Central Connecticut, USA).

As skylee points out, and as putonghua73's post supports, it depends on where in China you are talking about (and certainly on the specific items purchased). I recall buying some snacks and two bottles of soda or tea for about 10Y in Kunming that would have cost 35 -50Y in the US.

Maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised based on what I've heard and read about some places in China (like Beijing - as roddy's post from a year ago compared to today's suggests) feeling the effects of large numbers of people "moving into the middle class" (i.e, now having more discretionary income).

@esz

Kunming is a nice place to study.;)