1、A new survey shows Beijing is the second most expensive city to live in on the mainland if youre a foreigner.As CRIs Ding Lulu reports, the same study has also found the majority of Chinas first-tier cities are now more expensive to live in than New York, given the stronger Chinese currency and risi
2、ng inflation.According to the 2012 cost of living survey city rankings released by U.S. human resource consultancy Mercer, Beijing is the second most expensive place to live on the Chinese mainland after Shanghai, and the 17th most costly out of more than 200 cities around the world.Alan Zhang, Mana
3、ging Director of Mercer in China, says the survey was designed based on a New York lifestyle to measure the purchasing power of expatriates who work abroad rather than a reference for local citizens.The survey is actually for expatriates costs of living, so its a little bit different from normal peo
4、ples daily life. The U.S., Europe and Japan used to be the three largest places to send out most expatriates around the world, but China is coming up quickly.Many Chinese cities are becoming more expensive, with Shanghai climbing five places on the global ranking list compared to last year. Shenzhen
5、, an economic center in southern China, rose to 30th place from 43rd in 2011 while Guangzhou City climbed seven places to rank 31st.This means all Chinas first-tier cities rank above New York City, which is in 33rd place.Zhang says the reasons for the higher rankings for Chinese cities this year are
6、 stable renminbi appreciation and inflation.Inflation in China is very fierce. In the past many years, China has experienced very fierce inflation. The prices of products and services are all rising. And on the other hand, Chinese currency appreciation, the RMB, is quite stable compared with other c
7、urrencies.The survey compares the cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment using U.S. dollars as the base currency.London, in 25th place, is still more expensive than other leading tourist cities.Jolene Zhao, a
8、 young Chinese woman who was sent to work in Beijing by a London-based firm, compares her life in Beijing to her life in London.The cost of living in Beijing deprives of me enjoying most of it. Proportionally speaking, its much more expensive living in Beijing. Im often surprised about the price tag
9、 in Beijing no matter if its in a grocery store or a shopping mall.Zhao also says shes been experiencing rising prices since she got to Beijing last year.Regarding the price, nothing is plummeting; basically everything is rocketing. I have a large number of friends complaining that their rent has be
10、en raised to ridiculous prices by their landlords.Other Chinese cities where the cost of living has risen sharply are Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, Nanjing and Chengdu. All below the top 100 last year, they have now made it into this years top 100.Shanghai and Beijing overtook the South Korean capital Seoul among major Asian cities, but Tokyo tops the rankings as the worlds most expensive city.For CRI, Im Ding Lulu.
