If you’ve never been to China, here are a few photos that we took this past week of things which might catch your eye.
One of the few stores that sells some Western products (Metro) is quite crowded on the weekends. Interestingly, a major contributor to the crowding are pallets, stock clerks, and forklift trucks (in spite of the fact that it is a busy Saturday afternoon).
On a recent visit to our local Walmart we bought two small bags of sugar. Even though they were packaged the same, it was interesting to see the difference in colors when we poured them both into a clear container.
While riding to the store today, we passed this large apartment building. We were somewhat surprised to see that it was being painted by a bunch of guys hanging from ropes and using rollers.
Coming from the west, we find it unusual that similar stores often open side-by-side (or many filling an entire city block) with no visible differentiation. Here is the grand opening of a second drug store right next to one that has been in place for a few months.
Here is the stack of money that we used this week to pay for our apartment rent (6 months in advance) and prior year utilities. Most transactions here are still done with cash, usually requiring several trips to the ATM.
Finally – a point of familiarity, regardless of where you go in the world. A road repair crew with a few guys working while the rest stand (or sit) around.
Has the cash economy bit been changing at all? (Asked then question, then decided I should look it up myself…)
Fun facts about credit cards in China:
* 331M cards were issued as of last year
* That’s an increase from 142M in 2008
* Debit cards outnumber credit cards 10:1
* Annual interest rates are fixed at 18% by gov’t
* Only 3-8% carry a balance (vs. 40% in US)
* More than half of issued cards are inactive
* ICBC is the dominant issuer (w/ 77M cards)
Chinese attitudes about spending are quite different than those in the West. We recently shared a medium two-topping pizza at Pizza Hut here in our city. Many locals nearby had multiple dishes (pizza, pasta, appetizers, salads, etc) covering their tables. While there wasn’t a scrap of crust left in our pan, the Chinese often have excessive leftovers (and bills). But while they eagerly show big-spending at the public dinner table, they argue intensely over 1 kwai (16 cents) in the market). Almost every transaction still seems to be handled in cash.