Beijing, March 06’ a RMB15,000 worth bicycle in a crumbling hu tong…
Mr and Ms Chan are married and in their 40. They live in Beijing downtown in a 10 square meter hutong room with their bed, a dining table, two washing machine, a saturated color portrait of her in her wedding dress, a voluminous cheap TV they got when they married ten years ago … and a Laurent Jalabert competition bike worth 15,000 RMB (about 1,500 euros) !

When we saw that it became clear that the Chan's lifestyle did not really match with the place they were living in. So we digged further…

10 years ago, they created their own business in mechanics, and now have about 40 employees. They work hard and devote most of their time to that. They don’t have kids and don’t want any. Unlike many Chinese families they prefer to secure their future financially by focusing on their business rather than by having a child and invest in him/her.

They actually own a second apartment much bigger and further away from the city center, but live in the smaller one for now, waiting to get expropriated by the construction eager Beijing government to get the financial compensation. A compensation that tells a lot about pre olympics up and rising Beijing : they expect 20,000 RMB per square meter !