China by the numbers

Since we are hovering somewhere near post number 200 (and # 100 for this year) at Slow Boat Central, I thought I'd share a few numbers from a very interesting and humbling conversation we had with one of Jane's students yesterday.

J, as I'll call him in this post, is a really great kid, from a small village that's a six-hour bus ride then a one hour walk from Chengdu. He's been helping Jane a great deal with an atlas project of the surrounding area that she's been working on with her students (one reason why you haven't been hearing from her lately). Yesterday, we invited him to stay with us for dinner, and afterward, got to talking a bit about his family. The numbers below are what we found out.

Number of rooms in J's grandfather's house, where he grew up: 14
Number of J's aunts and uncles: 8
Amount, per year, in sales of rice, corn, and pigs, that the farm can bring in: RMB 7000 (approx. $1023 US)
Number of people currently living there: 3 (J's grandparents and 6 year old little brother. A few relatives are farming nearby, but most of the adults have migrated east to work, leaving their children to be cared for by the grandparents.)
Approximate number of people at J's grandfather's house last spring festival (the time, equivalent to Thanksgiving or Christmas in the US, when everyone comes home for the holidays): 30
Number of people present at spring festival between the ages of 20 and 30: 1
Age at which people from J's home town usually get married and have children if they do not go to university: 18

Combined monthly salary that J's parents make working at a steel factory in the east of China: RMB 4000 (approx. $585 US).
Hours that they work each day: 10
Amount they pay in monthly rent for their small (approx. 12'x12') room (shared toilet, shared kitchen): RMB 180 ($26).
Amount they borrowed, and have since paid back, for J's education expenses: RMB 10,000 ($1,460)
Money for clothes, food, and other living expenses that J's parents send him every month: RMB 600 ($88)
Money that J thinks he can earn in one month if he gets a job teaching English this summer: RMB 2000 ($293)

Some figures for comparison:
Cost of a bowl of noodles at an outdoor vendor's cart: RMB 3 (44 cents)
Cost of an average entree in a local restaurant: RMB 5-15 ($ 0.75 - 2.20)
Cost of an average entree in a Western-Style restaurant in downtown Chengdu: RMB 30-100 ($4.40 - $15.00)
Typical monthly housing allowance of an American employee of a multinational company based in Chengdu: RMB 40,000 ($5,873)