I can corroborate this. I had a newer 3,000 RMB per month apartment in Beijing. So many things we take for granted (hot water anywhere other than the shower,

I can corroborate this. I had a newer 3,000 RMB per month apartment in Beijing. So many things we take for granted (hot water anywhere other than the shower, plumbing being inside the wall instead of running along the baseboard, carpeting or tile in the hallway) just aren't there. When you're in China, you'll see rows of constructions cranes --there's an incredible building boom. I don't know the details of the construction labour market, but I can only imagine that there's a real skilled labour crunch. (There's lots of workers, but not so many skilled ones.) So the building will go up quickly, but it won't compare to a western building. That said, the buildings aren't all that bad compared to recent history. In the 2008 earthquake, the more modern buildings survived much better--it was the 60's cultural-revolution-era buildings that were death-traps.