Fun Facts about China!!!!

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Since returning to China in August, I (Elyse) have been interested in learning more about the economy,rules/laws and culture of the PRC(People's Republic of China). I have been reading the weekly English magazine that our school receives called Beijing Review. I feel a little more "in the loop" of what is going on in this monstrous country, by size and population, after reading this since we gave our tv to another teacher. Let's face it, the 99% Chinese channels just don't do much for either of us.

For those of you that know me well you know I have a strange way of remembering odd facts and love to learn about them. So here is my quick lesson on China for all of our friends and family back in the USA.

I have thought that China was headed down the same path that the USA was on of buying houses, cars, high end brands(LV, Gucci, Prada, Fendi, etc) and when was their bubble going to burst. I have learned from a teacher at our school that there is no such thing as a car loan in China. If you want to buy a car you have to save up for it and buy it with cash. WOW!!! So all of the BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Toyota and Buick (considered luxury here) cars on the road are all paid for already.

I learned today, that the communist party in September put a stop to all home loans on third home purchases to an end. So if you want to buy your 3rd house(having 2 other mortgages already) you have to buy it in cash also. Next, instead of the previous 20% down for a home loan they now require buyers to have a 30% down payment for a home loan. Thirdly, if a developer hasn't broken ground on a site within 1 yr of buying the land they are banned from bidding on any new lots for sale. Lastly, in Shanghai, couples are now getting "fake" divorces so they can buy more homes as the local government put in a new regulation effective 10/7/10 that people can only buy one additional home. This is all in attempts to "cool down" the property market in China.

Price of the "Fake" Divorce certificate 300 RMB=approx $45
Price of the Real Divorce certificate 11 RMB=less than $2

From the 12th annual Hurun Rich List (Chinese addition of Forbes Richest People in China) individuals with 1 billion RMB=$150 million in China has drastically risen over the last 10 years. In 2000, there were only 24 individuals on the list, in 2009, 1,000 people made the list; but this year 1,363 people made the list of having at least $150 million USD.

On Wednesday, while I was teaching at 10:15am there were fireworks going off across the street from the classroom and it was so loud that I had to stop class for a few minutes. No need in me yelling or the students. I asked the students "Why is China are there fireworks going off at 10am?" Their response "Either someone got married or someone died." Really, that explains why during any random time of the day you hear fireworks going off in China. It would be a strange time to get married, but then again Pete & I got married on a Monday but at 5pm.

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Comments

[Mom]

facts
thanks for the fun facts!