Ten hours a week
Recently, Tim Johnson, Beijing correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers (yes, Megs, that McClatchy) and the sole blogger of China Rises, blogged about Harper's Index now being online and searchable. One of the statistics he pulled out from there was this comparing Americans and Chinese
And don't I live that difference. When the kitchen is this small, when Chinese people at all income levels are likely to have a refrigerator this small (if at all), grocery trips for food are just about an everyday occurrence. Many non-rural Chinese families don't just shop to stock up once a week; many (probably most) are at the store or market just about every day to buy that day's vegetables, meat and/or fish. In Shenzhen, my own grocery shopping landed in between the very American and efficient four hours per week and the very Chinese ten hours per week. Our apartments were all equipped with larger than average (for China) fridges, so I could buy a few days' worth of milk, veggies, and eggs at a time. Additionally, I was really spoiled with once-a-month trips to Hong Kong to buy all kinds of imported foods, including frozen foods. And, being American, I would often buy canned food, mostly canned beans so I wouldn't have to mess with dry beans. However, most Chinese kitchens are not equipped to handle such extensive long-term food storage.
When I got home yesterday from the grocery store (my second trip in three days), I saw that our next-door neighbors had leeks lined up outside their door. (Leekfest anyone?) It seemed like a lot, more than I have ever seen a Chinese person in the store buy at one time, and instead of bringing them in the house, she has them in the hallway. Fortunately for them, the hall isn't heated and is just about as cold as it is outside (today it got up into the 40s F).
In China, the hallway of an apartment building isn't truly treated as public space. Whether an apartment is owned or rented, the square footage is calculated not only using the actually size of the apartment, but also an equal fraction of the hallway, the stairwell, and the elevator. So our neighbors' use of the hallway to store food, as well as all those other things they have out there, is really just using the space for which they are paying.
11/08 -- Average number of hours per week that an American and a Chinese person, respectively, spend shopping: 4, 10
(McKinsey & Company, NYC)
And don't I live that difference. When the kitchen is this small, when Chinese people at all income levels are likely to have a refrigerator this small (if at all), grocery trips for food are just about an everyday occurrence. Many non-rural Chinese families don't just shop to stock up once a week; many (probably most) are at the store or market just about every day to buy that day's vegetables, meat and/or fish. In Shenzhen, my own grocery shopping landed in between the very American and efficient four hours per week and the very Chinese ten hours per week. Our apartments were all equipped with larger than average (for China) fridges, so I could buy a few days' worth of milk, veggies, and eggs at a time. Additionally, I was really spoiled with once-a-month trips to Hong Kong to buy all kinds of imported foods, including frozen foods. And, being American, I would often buy canned food, mostly canned beans so I wouldn't have to mess with dry beans. However, most Chinese kitchens are not equipped to handle such extensive long-term food storage.
When I got home yesterday from the grocery store (my second trip in three days), I saw that our next-door neighbors had leeks lined up outside their door. (Leekfest anyone?) It seemed like a lot, more than I have ever seen a Chinese person in the store buy at one time, and instead of bringing them in the house, she has them in the hallway. Fortunately for them, the hall isn't heated and is just about as cold as it is outside (today it got up into the 40s F).
In China, the hallway of an apartment building isn't truly treated as public space. Whether an apartment is owned or rented, the square footage is calculated not only using the actually size of the apartment, but also an equal fraction of the hallway, the stairwell, and the elevator. So our neighbors' use of the hallway to store food, as well as all those other things they have out there, is really just using the space for which they are paying.
Comments
I've been in some average to lower income apartment buildings in Shenzhen, and even some of them weren't as disgusting in the common areas as you describe. One or two apartment buildings were that I had been to. I've more often seen streets like that, like near my old church, where people just throw everything outside and let someone else deal with it.
Beijing people follow rules. There's probably a sign that says what you can and can't do in our lobby, and with the exception of smoking in the halls (one sign I do know how to read) most people are very into following the rules.
I have been in a few apartments that were done up beautifully, but still the hallway/stairwell landings were very, very dirty. I think Linyi needs a few more years to catch up to the first tier cities.