Fools who sacrifice food for toys

During a conference panel on economic growth in China, one of the panelists, when talking about Chinese market research, said that many Chinese consumers would cut down on whatever little they spend on food in order to buy non-essential luxury goods such as jewelry, cosmetics, clothing, consumer electronics, etc. I knew exactly what he was talking about.

While living in Beijing, I dated a university student whose parents didn't earn much money, and who would earn only about 10 yuan an hour (about $1.40 CAD) doing part-time jobs. Still, she bought an i-book, which is as expensive in China as it is in Canada, probably 12,000-14,000 yuan. She also bought a 2,100 yuan Samsung mobile phone. Honestly, who needs a mobile phone worth $300+ CAD?

This girl also spent liberally on taxis. Even though I could be considered rather affluent in China, I almost never took taxis. The only times I took taxis was to (but not from) the airport, when buses stopped running, and when I was in a hurry. Sometimes, I didn't even bother taking buses because I didn't want to pay the 1 yuan (14 cents CAD) fare! I rode my bike instead and paid a 0.3 yuan parking fee. Anyway, this girl could have taken a 1 yuan bus ride to my house and back, but she instead spent 15 yuan to go to and from my house. Fortunately, she wasn't a gold-digger, and was actually quite low-maintenance.

The funny thing about this girl is that she paid next to nothing to eat. She was still a university student at the time, so she could eat at university cafeterias, where food can be extremely cheap, usually 0.5 yuan to 5 yuan. She ate only 1 or 2 meals a day, usually tiny meals. It didn't help that she thought she was fat and therefore needed to eat less to lose weight.

We broke up after less than 2 months, but very soon after that, I met a great girl who turned out to be one of the great loves of my life. Fortunately, she was much more sensible than the silly girl with the i-book and the Samsung phone, and she knew how to stretch her dollar quite well - except for phone bills. My current girlfriend is sensible too, but her disposable income - she's wealthier than me! - allows her to spend more frivolously than the other girls, but only sometimes. And yes, the latter two eat properly.