Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

As Kathy’s second scheduled payday rolled around we were more in tune with how things work in China. Things happen when they happen. This is why nobody in administration felt it necessary to tell us that payday was six days later this month.

Some teachers at this school are paid in cash – you go to the office and they hand you a “bundle of cash”, which is loose bills in your hand. Now in many large cities around the world receiving a month’s wages in cash would have the muggers lining up outside. Not in Beijing. I have heard of people taking bags of money to stores to buy large ticket items.

The idea that things are cheap in China is both true and false. It is like most things in China – it is more complicated than it appears. People come to Beijing and go to the Silk Market to buy designer knock-off items for less than in Europe or North America. They still pay much more than they’re worth and they go home bragging about the deals they got.

If you buy cheap you get cheap. In the stores and shops all over Beijing, especially the large shopping areas, style costs and if you want trendy clothes or if you want quality clothing you have to pay. For example if you want comparable clothing to that of North America you will pay a comparable price. What is surprising is the variety of consumer goods available . As an example, in one supermarket we saw about fifty different kinds of soya sauce. Kathy bought snake oil hand cream today – no joke!

One should remember that Beijing is the capital city of China – the same China that is envied by the rest of the world for its economic stability in these times of recession. From what we see things seem good – lots of construction, stores full of shoppers, paid in cash, and snake oil for your hands. Life is good!