Shopping In China - Not So Cheap
Because I’m going to be teaching in Shanghai, where appearances, especially compared to the United States, are extremely important, I needed to go buy a few dress shirts, along with a pair of black pants and a pair of leather shoes. I ended up going to this mall, about ten stories, where there were a bunch of different little booths on each level, each selling a different brand, which is slightly different from the American version of a mall: there aren’t too many walls, i.e. it’s almost like a swap meet, with minimal amounts of separation, except inside a building. Also, the expectations that things are cheap in China really isn’t true: Wal-Mart FTW, to a certain extent. Two dress shirts were 150 yuan, a pair of black pants (which aren’t even that black because apparently it’s not in the fashion to do so – black pants convey waiter status) were over 300 yuan, and leather shoes over 300 yuan as well. And then this morning, I went to buy a cello; the cheapest set me back 1085 yuan for a cello, bow, soft case, set of extra strings, rosin, and a music stand.
In relative terms this stuff is pretty cheap, but I am highly suspicious of the quality of Chinese products, regardless of the price. And the thing is, wages really aren’t that high here; a college graduate, if he or she can land a job, will only be able to make about 2500 yuan a month. Of course, many jobs carry along extra perks that reduce the cost of living, so that 2500 yuan could equal about 5000-6000 yuan a month, but that’s really not that much; it’s just that there are so many college graduates and the competition for work is so high that wages do not have much room to grow. But at least it’s not taxed.