Daniel Kwan finds a forum about expats complaining how 10k RMB per month just wasn’t enough to live on comfortably and so he decides to go through his expenses finding that he estimates he spends around 5k RMB per month for necessities, dinner with friends after work, weekend strolls, bars & clubs, website ownership, and other stuff.

Sounds reasonable if you try to live somewhat frugally, but here’s the important thing he subtly notes:

Necessities

Rent + utilities: 0
Mobile phone service: 100 RMB/month
Groceries: 70 RMB/week
Dinner: 20 RMB/day average
Beverages: 4 RMB/day average
Haircut: 40 RMB/mo (Upper-body massage included!)
Subtotal: 1123 RMB per month

Zero RMB for rent + utilities?! Lucky man! That’s quite a savings for expats who like to live with the AC or Heater on while surfing the web, having a hot shower, watching TV, and other electrical uses.

Still, I’ll agree with him (even if he does not say it directly) that the complaints of 10k/month is not enough is bogus. Many of the expats want to live like kings in Shanghai and feel that the 10k (roughly $1500) will not cut it when you want to continually go to places like Xintiandi or Hengshan Road for foreign food.