Oh well... I know this sch isnt a very good one but i expect the education force in singapore to be equipped with at least some general knowledge. Can you believe it? The OM in this school actually claimed that China is a babarious state which is highly dangerous for any singaporeans. He actually said that any singaporeans going into china will just disappear without reason and could never be found ever after. hohohohohohoho...ignorance is a bliss. He is such an old ignorant man. After I told him to rethink about what he said because Singaporeans who were lost in china must have done something that made them deserve to be "gone" of course, how many cases of murder and kidnapping was because that the victim was simply unlucky? there's always a reason for something. And he says that beijing is not safe for olympics. Mr Teo was whispering to him to stop as he told the OM that my father is personally invovled in the olympics security planning. And he carried on, this, is not tolerable. What a big fat joke. He must be mad. And I told him that, if he is saying because he's feeling sour that he has not enough money to go to beijing due to its high living cost then be it, dun try to cook up excuses. And he told me that shanghai's living cost is much higher than that of beijing. hahahaha...what a big joke again. I printed out this and gave him immediately.

Beijing tops costly cities for living on mainland
By Chen Qide (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-21 23:51


Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have been listed Wednesday as the three cities with highest living cost in the Chinese mainland by the US Mercer Human Resource Consulting firm.

Beijing tops the chart at 101.06 points in a cost of living index, while ranking 132nd in quality of life.

The cost of living index in Shanghai was down from last year's 11th position to 16th this year. It is at 95.3 points and ranks 144 of cities surveyed. Its quality of life is listed in 107th place.

"The high indexes indicate that living in Shanghai is expensive and one can't enjoy high life quality," said Lu Qiang, general manager of Mercer Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd.

The survey takes New York as the base city in the survey, scoring it on an even 100 points.

The gap between the world's least and most expensive cities has narrowed only marginally this year, but less than 2 points compared to 4 points last year and 15 points in 2002.

The survey covers 144 cities and measures the comparative costs of more than 200 items in each location. They include housing, food, clothing and household goods as well as transportation and entertainment.

"The data is used to help multinational companies to determine compensation allowances for their expatriate workers," said Lu.

Tokyo remains the world's most expensive city in the world at 130.7 points, while London moves up five places in the rankings to take second position at 119 points, followed by Moscow at 117.4 points, according to the survey.

"The quality of life in Beijing and Shanghai is quite unsatisfactory with a view of their high living costs," he said.

The survey said Singapore is still a favourable city for people to live and work in. Its cost of living index ranks 46th and the quality of life index there puts it at 33rd.

High expenses for expatriates to live in Shanghai is mainly caused by high rent, food, clothing, bill costs and education for children.

A furnished apartment of 200 square metres at the best place in Shanghai for expatriates, for example, rents at US$9,400 a month, higher than US$7,500 in New York. Rent in Beijing reaches US$14,000.

In terms of education for expatriates, a kid should pay an average US$17,000 for his or her yearly tuition fee at kindergarten, US$18,000 at primary school and US$19,000 at a middle school,higher than average US$15,000 in Hong Kong and about US$17,000 in Tokyo.

Expatriates in Shanghai also pay more for their bills than in Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York.

"So expats in Shanghai can't support their lives without earning 30,000 to 50,000 yuan (US$3,632 to US$6,053) monthly," Lu said.




Print This Article E-mail

I really do hope that some singaporeans could just face the reality that china has already been developed. It is no longer what it used to be, and mocking the china citizens on their wealth is no longer funny, no longer that easy to boost your ego because... simply because WE ARE MUCH RICHER THAN YOU ARE NOW. yes...we can throw in cash of 2 million bucks on the spot and by a house. we are no longer living in the days when we longed to own a television set. come on, wake up...we are filthy rich compared to you, dun always try to undermine us this way, it does not make you look good anymore mr OM!

I take this as a personal offence seriously, my dad, has devouted every single minute of his life for the past 7 years in trying to make sure that olympics will go well and besides that, he has spent his entire whole life trying to think of better ways to protect china, and to make china a safer place. anyone who claims that beijing is unsafe should go there and take a look at it himself. it is simply unfair, he must have never visited china before. With all his fats and vacuum brain which i am sure has a deficit of common sense, i doubt he'll on day, be able to understand the consequences of spreading such irresponsible comments on another country at a point of time when his own country is desperately trying to find ways to please that country in order to benefit from its re-emergence. And becareful, it's "re-emergence" we were strong last time for many years, and we will again be strong, and come on, go kiss your ass if you think that china cannot make it. bloody ignorant old man.

I hate this school more.