A post caused heated discussions in the Chinese community, about a Chinese Canadian who recently returned to China to visit relatives, and the expenditure was as high as 20,000 Canadian dollars (about 106,000 yuan), which made her frantically complain that she was "hollowed out". However, what I didn't expect was that the comment area at the bottom became a stage for netizens to "show off their wealth", and they all reported their expenses for returning to China, and tens of thousands of Canadian dollars were just "small cases"! Spending money is like burning money, why is it?
Is it so expensive to return to China? Let's look at the cause of the matter first
The incident originated from a Chinese from Vancouver who posted a complaint about the huge cost of returning to China. She counted all the expenses of returning to China this time, first of all, the round-trip air ticket, which cost 2,500-3,000 Canadian dollars one way, and 7,000-8,000 Canadian dollars if the whole family went back.
In addition to air tickets, she also bought electrical appliances for her parents, took them shopping, traveled, etc., all of which she paid for. Coupled with the cost of eating and drinking, the total cost was nearly 20,000 Canadian dollars (about 106,000 yuan).
"Everything in China is really good, but there are too many places to spend money, and spending money is like running water!" She sighed helplessly, admitting that the expense had almost wiped out her hard-earned money.
Show off your wealth live! Netizens collectively exposed the staggering expenses
As soon as the post came out, it sparked a warm response from netizens. Some people agree with this Chinese feeling, "20,000 Canadian dollars is indeed a relatively normal number"; "I spent 12,000 Canadian dollars in two weeks, and the air ticket alone cost 30,000 yuan."
What's even more exaggerated is that the expenses of individual netizens far exceed this figure: "I'm really a loser compared to you, I went back for 21 days close to 20,000 Canadian dollars, and I ate and drank without doing anything";
"40,000 RMB does not include air tickets and gifts to take home"; "I spend a total of 50,000 RMB, of which 20,000 yuan is given to my younger brother to take care of my parents."
In general, the average cost of returning to China ranges from 10,000 to 50,000 yuan, of which the majority is the cost of air tickets and entertaining family members. It is worth noting that no matter how cruel netizens add cruel words, no one seems to think that there is anything abnormal in the expenses, but instead take this kind of spend-thrift for granted.
Foreign foreigners: Canada spends money like paper, and of course it is not soft to return to China
In fact, for Chinese in developed countries such as Canada, the habit of spending money lavishly is nothing new. In 2022, Chinese citizens spent $3 billion in Canada.
The reason behind this is simple: Canadian immigrants generally have higher incomes, so they are naturally more generous in spending. Taking Canada's 3.44 million ethnic Chinese as an example, the median annual household income is 78,891 Canadian dollars, far ahead of the Canadian average of 61,800 Canadian dollars.
Moreover, out of attachment to their homeland, many Chinese do not mind paying more money to entertain their parents, relatives and friends when they return to China, which can be said to be a kind of psychological compensation.
There are also people who point out that the excessive expenses caused by returning to China are directly related to the face-saving mentality of some people. Some netizens bluntly said: "Are you treating guests everywhere for the sake of face?"
Spending money to prove one's success and generosity is indeed an indisputable fact, no matter where it is. However, with the income of Chinese Canadians, this amount of money is really nothing.
Man-made disasters are not eliminated, natural disasters are still there: don't underestimate the cost of returning home
However, the cost of air tickets, accommodation, food and drink, etc., may underestimate the cost of returning to China. In recent years, frequent extreme weather and supply chain crises have made returning home more expensive and troublesome than ever.
Taking 2022 as an example, the epidemic has caused airlines to cut routes, air capacity is in short supply, and aviation fuel costs are rising, and air ticket prices will only rise but not fall.
According to Air Canada, the cost of one-way transatlantic travel to Canada in May this year increased by nearly a third compared to 2019, with the most expensive Vancouver-Beijing route reaching $2,685, up more than 40% from before the pandemic. Prices are still rising as the recovery resumes further.
And even back at home, high inflation, exchange rate depreciation and other factors have made consumption stretched. Taking the 40,000 yuan quoted by a netizen as an example, compared with 2019, the rise in prices has shrunk his actual spending power by nearly two percent.
Not to mention that natural disasters are also ruthlessly crushing everyone's expectations: in the event of hurricanes and heavy rains, flight cancellations and delays are inevitable, and temporary expenses such as ticket readjustment and rescheduling will also follow. A few years ago, many people had to go back to Chai Wan Airport at a cost of thousands of dollars.
Just now, due to the violent thunderstorm in Vancouver, many flights were delayed or canceled, and a netizen angrily accused Air Canada of poor service and discounted air tickets, but temporarily paid the airline to change flights, and had to pay a sky-high "rebooking fee".
So it's no surprise that a trip back home is not only costly to participate in, but also a determination to risk natural disasters and unscrupulous airline failures in the event of a change, and tens of thousands of dollars or more.
Netizens concentrated on scolding: Air Canada has a flood of bad reviews
Strangely, even though middle-class incomes make spending the "icing on the cake", there is anger and anger at the inaction of airlines and other channels.
Following the flight delay caused by the violent thunderstorm in Vancouver, netizens scolded in the comment area, describing the airline as the worst in history: "There is no truth, it has been fooling us, the delay has been silent, and the service staff behind it can't be found?" No one called for more than an hour! Bad review!"
"The weather deteriorated, the flight was delayed, I couldn't return, and the customer service couldn't get through. Two hours to queue for formalities! Later, it was said that there would be no delay, and we didn't believe it! Let's wait a little longer!"
"Air Canada is terrible, and I don't choose it right now. Now the monopoly is too strong, every time I engage in these delays, I have to add money to change flights!"
Anyway, it's all kinds of complaints, air tickets are expensive, returning to China is expensive, favors are expensive, and prices are expensive. In the end, a netizen in China replied directly, since this is the case, then why did you go out in the first place. Haha, one sentence left them speechless!