As I walked into the store, I could almost smell the bargains. I was sure they were waiting for me inside. I was a couple of weeks into a posting as The National's correspondent in China, and there were plenty of things I needed for the flat I had just moved into. And where better, surely, than China to find bargains? This is the country that has shown the world how to make everything from cars to CDs at lower prices than everyone else can manage.
But after a few minutes inside the store my hopes were dashed. While the UAE branches of this major international chain were filled with ultra-low-cost Chinese brands, here in China they were nowhere to be seen. Certainly, the CD players and irons filling up the shelves were made in China, but they nearly all seemed to come from Japanese brands that charged a hefty amount more. Where were the cheapies?
In the end, I did manage to find a few bargains. My ironing board was just 30 yuan (Dh16), and the small desk I bought for my translator and news assistant was a fairly reasonable 129 yuan (Dh69). But I balked when I saw the cost of the clothes racks: 200 yuan (Dh108), which is about three times as much as I paid for the same item in Abu Dhabi. I just dry my clothes on chairs instead. And I haven't replaced the CD player I had to leave behind in the UAE.
This pattern has been repeated time and again when I have been shopping here in Beijing. The overall cost of living could not be described as high - the rent on my flat is 3,500 yuan (Dh1,829) per month, or about a third of my rent in the UAE capital. But when it comes to many other things, the prices are as high or even a little bit higher than they are in the Emirates. Add to that the fact that you have to pay tax here, and it brings home what an unusually profitable place the UAE can be to live in.
Just as the hypermarket did not offer an abundance of low prices, neither did the computer stores I visited. I had waited until arriving in China to buy myself a laptop, thinking they would be almost free in the country that makes pretty much all of them. Nothing of the sort. For some reason - people said the machines were first exported then imported back - prices were, I would guess, maybe a third higher than in the Emirates. And on all of the machines the operating system was in Chinese, which meant I had to go through the considerable hassle of finding a place that would replace the original software with its English equivalent.
For sure, there are pirated DVDs and even books openly on sale for next to nothing in China, but the high street stores themselves are far from the penny pinchers' delight you would expect them to be. I have concluded that this is because the average Chinese consumer can be much more brand conscious than the typical shopper in many other nations. But their brand awareness is not the vanity of the fashion-obsessed who will only be seen wearing Dolce & Gabbana or Yves Saint Laurent. No, I suspect this preoccupation with brand names is born of bitter experience.
Here in China, I think people realise that if a price is too good to be true, then there really must be something amiss. There have been many consumer scare stories in a host of industries, and many tales of fakery and piracy, so what people want most is a name they can trust when they hand over their hard-earned cash. They would rather pay a little more and go with a tried-and-tested household name than take their chances with the music centre, the DVD player or the laptop with the lowest price.
When shopping for a computer, I was all for selecting the cheapest machine on offer. But my translator knew every single brand name, where they were from and what their reputation was like, and he told me to avoid the cheapies. The fact that many of the big stores had decided not to stock the cheapest irons, the cheapest CD players and the cheapest televisions seemed to indicate that countless other discerning Chinese consumers felt the same way.
So, here is a piece of advice to any of you contemplating a move to the Middle Kingdom: buy your cheap Chinese goods before you leave the UAE, because you may struggle to find them when you get here. dbardsley@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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EVIL%20DEAD%20RISE
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The%20Last%20White%20Man
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Victims%20of%20the%202018%20Parkland%20school%20shooting
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
DUBAI%20BLING%3A%20EPISODE%201
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We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
Company%20profile
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments