By “live”, I don’t mean in the common temporary sense, as a short-term contract teacher or business person might, but rather as someone who has no firm plans on the if and when of their eventual departure.

Moreover, it got me thinking not just about living in China, but the quality of that living.

The big sales pitch that is always thrown around to lure folks here on a lower-than-home salary is that the “standard of living in China is much lower”.

Countless English teaching jobs, even at universities, pay their foreign teachers in around 4,000 RMB/mo. (about $575 USD) based mostly on being able to convincingly tout that line.

And it’s not to say there isn’t truth to it. Stuff in China’s cheaper, right? Food, housing, beer, etc. I mean, it’s China?!.

But when you put that “standard of living” line into context, and you contrast it with the quality of life that standard of living entails, there are some rather large holes in it.

There is no mystery to the fact that if you live more like a local, it will cost you less money. Average wages in the city still barely push $300 per month.

And though living like a local may bring with it a certain “zhong guo tong” prestige, in the long-term, it also brings with it cold nights, crap food and very possibly health concerns.

I made the conscientious decision a while back to begin demanding a bit more from my living environment here. However, I have a Chinese wife, and one from a family that’s not all that well-off, so it’s been a bit of a process explaining to Maggie that spending an extra few dollars here or there and not pinching every jiao does have its advantages.

First to go was the need to wear a jacket of any sort in my apartment during the winter months. I appreciate that heating costs electricity, and I could be reasonably cozy in two pairs of long-underwear and a winter parka – but looking like I’m ready for a snowball fight while watching DVDs just didn’t cut it.

Then came the purchasing of better quality foods – both from supermarkets and restaurants. There was a time when I would gladly slop down a greasy bowl of 5RMB lamian or a few 0.5RMB sticks of [insert random meat] chuar, all washed down with a 2 kuai bottle of China’s finest suds. Hell, it was short-term and I was eating my way to a better understanding of the “real” China.

What they don’t tell you at the stalls though is that the meat’s been sitting unrefrigerated for a day or two; the oil isn’t just full of trans fats, but it’s recycled (yup, recycled); and most of the cheap beer is fake and contains more formaldehyde than my high school science class.

Nothing that’s going to kill you in a week or a couple months, but when you start considering eating this stuff over the course of a few years – it’s time to make a change.

Last on my list of changes was where I live. Most the time I’ve lived in China I’ve lived in some form of school-supplied housing. Generally this is a budget apartment with the barest of necessities. Admittedly, the quality of apartment was much better than I had imagined before arriving in China, but again – over the long-term, it tends to lose its luster.

Unfinished and dirty stairways with no lighting, windows that let mosquitoes in and heat out, the absence of hot water outside of the shower, beds with box springs disguised as mattresses and foul odors escaping from all open drains for the country’s complete denial that U-bends were ever created.

Now the problem with these changes is, quite frankly, they cost a fuckload more money. When all’s tallied, living what would be considered a modest lifestyle back home could very easily cost you more money here in China.

High-quality items and better living standards have traditionally been for that smaller but much, much richer upper class that sits on the opposing side of China’s wide economic gap. As such, it has created a faux pricing system not all that in tune with the slowly-growing middle class or their moderate incomes.

I think the solution is not to go to extremes one way or the other. Find a hybrid between zhong guo tong and decadent expat that allows you to live comfortably and gives you the permission to spurge on what in any other country would be considered essentials, but at the same time allows room to accept that you are in a country that is still just getting a grasp on all this, and also doesn’t isolate you too much from the country you live in.

Will it work? Not real sure. Thoughts?

However, in recent months I’ve been so swamped with other commitments that my blogxpeditions have become fewer and fewer, to the point where I do all I can just to keep all my own blogs up to date.

It’s a tangy taste of irony that my love for this stuff led me to make it my career, which, in turn, gobbled up all my free time to do the funner things the net has to offer.

But, I want to change all that. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been trying to put time back in my day for the things I enjoy, including browsing blogs. Getting reacquainted with some and discovering some new ones.

I’m also going to try and feature a couple lists of blogs that I really like on here. And where better to start than my backyard.

Cool Suzhou Blogs

• This is China! – Easily one of the most interesting blogs in the English-language China blogsphere. Written by William Dodson, it offers an in depth, candid and rather personal glimpse into business and life in general of a long-time China resident.
• Just Another Laowai – The rough-around-the-edges humour infused blog of a good friend of mine. Man-purses, Chinese Viagra, and how to take a shit are all featured topics.
• People’s Republic Of… – Another blog of a good friend – Steven, whom some may know as a contributor at the Lost Laowai China Expat Blog. Thankfully his posts on LLW are more frequent than his blog, which hasn’t been updated since autumn.
• Rice Again – A fantastically titled blog which is relatively new on the scene. Penned (?) by Nick Dobson, it’s an eclectic collection of insights on China and Chinese food.
• Bob’s Blog – Another soon-to-be contributor at Lost Laowai, I’ve only recently come across Bob’s blog. As might be guessed, I’m a sucker for site design, and I dig his. Simple, dark and slick. He’s also got a sweet collection of photos from his various travels.

Special mention should go to ChaBuDuo, a long-time fixture in the Suzhou blog scene. Though Matt’s left the Middle Kingdom for now, his blog is still an excellent resource and great read. Also, frequent commenter Jamieson needs mention as well… if you find his blog, let me know.

Well, there it is, my short list of Suzhou blogs. If I missed yours, either the aggressive shock therapy has finally worked, and I’ve managed to block it out, or I just don’t know about it. If you’ve got a Suzhou blog, and you happen to read this Suzhou blog, please let me know in the comments.