I've been reading the Shanghai Daily these past days; it is the paper left on the door of our hotel room. The news are dominated mostly by incidences of theft: fraud and imprisonment of government officials, extortions by garbage collectors; toxic ingredients in food products (cancer causing red dye from Malaysia (?) found in the rarest birds nest delicacy) and; murder or maiming by upset spouse, neighbour, colleague. It soberly depicts Shanghai as a slightly dangerous place to live.
Two articles that particularly caught my attention were about a pair of parents flogging a young son in a public area for stealing the rent - CNY 300 (47USD) to play Internet games {so sad!} and generations of families living around a rubbish dump making a living out of collecting cast offs and recyclable items. The children are not in school and spend their days working - The story came with a picture of a little boy looking not more than 5 clutching refuse {also so sad}.
I don't know what the average salary is in Shanghai. I was surprised to learn during a conversation last night that some graduates are paid only CNY2,000-5,000 (c.USD 300-780) per month. I suppose this is not terribly far off from Malaysia yet it makes me shudder because cost of living especially housing are significantly higher here.
Post script: I suspect with rising inflation in Malaysia, people are also suffering there.
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