There is a lot of this wooden lattice work throughout.
The price of housing in China is way out of proportion to their income. To buy a home you must have 30% deposit and the bank will lend you the rest. Alex decided he would buy a second apartment, a rather expensive one, in a location where he can’t be built out, so the views are pretty good.
The price of this one was about the equivalent of $200,000. But when you buy it you get just a concrete shell. There is nothing else in it, no wiring, no plumbing, just a bare concrete shell. To finish the building process you get builders in yourself to do it, or some professionals who source everything for you. This is another $50,000 or so. Remember that the average wage for many people is very low. One Australian dollar is worth around 6 rmb. A teacher I spoke to yesterday who teaches at one of the best schools here gets just under 3,000rmb a month, about $500 per month. So the relative cost for a house in China is very high.
Well this is one of the newer more modern places I have been in and it is beautifully done. It is not finished yet, still more furniture to go in and other stuff and the kitchen is finished but not been used yet. The décor is very Chinese, but very nice. I will add some pictures.
Carved chair. Part of a three piece lounge suite.
He is in the building on the right.
The kitchen.
The master bedroom again with lots of carving on the furniture.
The view from the balcony. The houses below are all villas, probably 5 million RMB each or more. There are some wealthy people around this city.
Like most of the cities in China the old is being demolished and the new is rising to the sky. The new is very un-Chinese, and could be a tall building anywhere in the world.
There is quite a lot of wooden lattice work in the apartment, it really sets off the walls.
Some of the furniture is highly carved. It is considered quite expensive here. He paid 45,000 RMB for the lounge suite, sofa and two chairs. That is about $6-7,000AU.
