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You just don't get it, do you. $3400 is A LOT of money for some poor inland kid from rural area in China. His family may never see such amount of money before i
by AllenKids 15y ago
You just don't get it, do you. $3400 is A LOT of money for some poor inland kid from rural area in China. His family may never see such amount of money before in their life. People are really bad at dealing with astronomical numbers. Sadly to some boy in China, ￥22,000 is an astronomical number.
I'm Chinese, some of us are getting richer by the day，some of us are obscenely wealthy, most of us are still poor, and then there are young kids in China willing to jump off a roof so that their family will get some $100.000 as compensate.
- lebug 15y ago$3400 is only A LOT of money in a poor rural area if it is spent on local, non-traded goods: the consumption value of an iPad 2 is roughly the same in rural China and in NYC. If anything, it may be far lower in the poorer country due to lack of complementing infrastructure. It actually makes me think that the iPad 2 part of the story may be entirely fictional: perhaps the kid made it up in order to seek publicity and attention.
- AllenKids 15y agoYou are right, iPad is practically useless without WiFi. Still iPad/iPhone are just THE ITEMS to have in China. People in Asia are capable of crazy things for shiny gadgets they can wipe out and show off. Don't underestimate the lust. Especially in a case I think we can both agree is not rational to begin with.
- csomar 15y agoPoor child (to that extent) and has (probably) Internet and also the interest to own an iPad? A little strange to me.
- AllenKids 15y agoThis thing is entirely surreal, and I'm sure the vast majority of kids in his situation would not in a million year do the same. But some will, and it would be tragic. Also internet cafe and school both provide web access.