How much to do the shopping?

[Lil']

Hi, I'm going to live in Beijing for six months.

As I'm staying in an apartment, I'd like to know how much I have to plan to spend to do the shopping...

I heard that eating in restaurants is very cheap, but I suppose that eating at home is even better!

Anyone can tell me how much I'm supposed to spend monthly?

Thanks very much.

[sui.generis]

The cost of living in Kunming, where I am, is cheaper than beijing, but frankly, I'd have had a hard time cooking for less than I get across the street. What I consider a full meal I get for 5 kuai (That's probably around $0.60 US). Whatever I could save on that, assuming I could actually cook, wouldn't be worth it to me.

I leave to someone in Beijing to help you with a monthly estimate. Good luck.

[RobinChase]

1000-4000RMB/m to rent the apartment,

600-1000RMB/m for food

things are cheap in China.

commute 100-200RMB if you take bus.400+ with taxi.

0.6 RMB/minite for mobile phone

Intertional phone call is expensive

2000-6000RMB per month is enough. or 250-720 bucks

[Lil']

Many thanks sui.generis and Robin Chase!!

Hope my money will be enough!

[jianmei]

I'd like to make a trip to china, probably for a month or so. Right now it's only in the planning phase, but I'm curious and want to know as much as possible ahead of time. So.. my question regarding the topic:

Is an appartment easy to get for such a short time? Is it reasonable, or should I look into other choices? What's cost-effective?

I think I will go to either Beijing or Shanghai, but looking at the airfares, apparently I will save a huge bunch of € if I only go as far as Beijing. But if I want to continue to Shanghai anyway, is train a comfortable way to travel? Any idea on that cost?