Surviving the cost of living and finding space to yourself are the biggest obstacles to this modern but yet old country. Majority of the population lives in 400 sq. ft. or less with 4 to 6 family members, that is about the size of an average bathroom in the states. Due to space there are no bath tubs or dryers in the majority of apartments. Apartments have a very small shower and most laundry is hung outside the one window that each apartment has.
Depending on your income you may qualify for government assistants which means your 400 sq. ft. apartment will be $300 per month, if not government assistance the 400 sq. ft. size will be between $2-3,000 per month and not in the best area. The government recently enacted a new law that one person can only own a total of 2 properties. So some couples are divorcing, moving the properties over to the wife and then the husband buys the 3rd which now only reflects as his one. They must not remarry for at least a year so the properties do not fall under the 2 ownership law. Even if you can buy you are only buying the unit for 70 years as the land belongs to the government and the unit goes back for resale at the end of 70 years.
Due to the tight living conditions they do a lot of travel which is a huge business for hotels for weekends throughout the cities. The amount of people in one place is hard to comprehend unless you experience trying to walk, drive or get on an elevator with an endless amount of people, 1.27 billion and growing.
They are all about luck and the number 8 is considered very lucky. They try to get the number 8 in their phone numbers, credit cards, addresses and even on the floor they live. The number 4 is not considered lucky so they try to avoid. Even combinations of 4, like 14 or 24 they avoid. Some buildings will skip the 4th floor and go to the 5th. They use lucky numbers to select their wedding dates and other celebrations as well.
Women retire at 62 and men at 65 and both receive some compensation from the government. Jobs and retirement are selected for you by the government. Gambling is illegal in all of mainland China. So if no grandchildren to help with a lot of the elderly can be found in the parks and shrine areas playing cards and game, no betting of course.
Burial plots can be rented for 7 years and then the remains are returned to the family. Most are opting for cremation due to cost and this 7 year rental due to space.
I found China to be surprising and not what I thought. I expected skyscrapers everywhere and proverty to abound. Instead I found alot of green areas amongst modern high rises in very urban settings. The were welcoming and at times you would have thought you were anywhere in the world. Smog is an issue as it is for us in LA or other major cities. Because of the amount of people they have to move their public transportation systems are some of the best.
The Great Wall is finally marked off My Life to Do List! Amazing experience and we were lucky that the amount of tourist on our section was low so as to get some great shots without thousands of people in them. Highly recommend China at least once and of course the Grest Wall is a must!