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[BrandeX]

.... but I bet everyone here already knew 3k rmb a month is all anyone really needs to be happy. 
http://www.enquirerherald.com/2012/05/06/1902795/how-to-live-easy-in-china-on-475.html

[Escaped Lunatic]

Yeah, if you can spend less than 2 rmb a day on buses, get company supplied food, and don't mind a really plain apartment, it's possible.  It's just not enjoyable.

[El Macho]

Internet access costs her $3

Is she the last person in the world paying for dial-up access?

[opiate]

Internet access costs her $3

Is she the last person in the world paying for dial-up access?

I imagine her and her housemates split the cost. I thought the one who said that was sharing an apartment.

[Borkya]

Internet access costs her $3

Is she the last person in the world paying for dial-up access?

Actually, as someone who did use dial-up until recently, it costs more than that. About $9 a month.

[El Macho]

Internet access costs her $3

Is she the last person in the world paying for dial-up access?

Actually, as someone who did use dial-up until recently, it costs more than that. About $9 a month.

So that would come out about right…$3x3 people to share a dial-up connection. Not my definition of "living easy", but I guess I'm pretty decadent.

[opiate]

Internet access costs her $3

Is she the last person in the world paying for dial-up access?

Actually, as someone who did use dial-up until recently, it costs more than that. About $9 a month.

So that would come out about right…$3x3 people to share a dial-up connection. Not my definition of "living easy", but I guess I'm pretty decadent.

If it is dial up, that house must be a nightmare to live in. they probably have fist fights about who gets to plug the phone line into their computer and punch holes in the wall when renren takes 15 minutes to load.

[The Local Dialect]

That article totally pointless at best; at worst is almost irresponsibly misleading.

Young Chinese people, especially these young people here, have no significant expenses until they get married. Most live at home, rent free, and if they don't, living in an apartment on their own is a lifestyle choice, something they can give up at any time. Once they decide to get married, it is usually up to the parents to foot the bill entirely. Parents supply an apartment and generally cover the entire cost of the wedding, so a young couple starts out their new life without the "pressure" of a rent or mortgage. Once they have children, the grandparents are a built in source of free childcare (something that American families spend MASSIVE amounts of money on). Chinese families pool their resources and allocate them where needed. Why does the reporter think those young people send money back to their parents? Because that money will be theirs eventually anyhow. It all ends up in the same place.

Some of the "revelations" in the article are just silly anyhow. What do people expect, that people make a tenth of what people in the States or elsewhere make and yet goods and services cost exactly the same as they would in the USA? Is it supposed to be news that the cost of living in developing countries is low? Of course you can live comfortably on "relatively little," because "relatively little" is actually quite a lot compared to a lot of people in China. People survive here on less than 1000rmb a month. If things here cost what they did in America people would be rioting in the streets.