What Can 100 RMB (≈$14.7) Buy in Rural China? It Takes Me 10 Hours to Earn
About this video
After spending ten hours working at a sewing machine in a village shoe factory, a 50-year-old woman heads to the local grocery store with her hard-earned 100 RMB. She fills her basket with simple, everyday food items, offering an honest look at what a full day's wage can buy in rural China. It’s a quiet, unfiltered glimpse into her real countryside life.
Video transcript
In rural China, I need to work 10 hours to make 100 yuan about $14.7 after a full day sitting at the sewing machine. How much food can this money buy, and what kind of day can it bring? Follow my full-day recording of simple rural life. Hi everyone, I’m Shyla. I’m fifty years old and spend most of my days living alone in a quiet rural village in China. I’m taking advantage of my lunch break today to do a special shopping experiment that many overseas viewers are curious about. At the current real-time exchange rate, 100 Chinese yuan converts to
roughly 14.7 US dollars. For rural people like me who work at the local shoe factory to make money, this sum equals 10 full hours of my income on the production line. I won’t set any purchase limits today. I’m going to take this 10-hour wage and walk into the largest supermarket in our village, to see how much groceries and daily supplies I can take home entirely within this 100 yuan (about 14.7 USD) budget. This supermarket has no fancy storefronts or imported high-end goods. Most of its fresh produce comes directly from local farmers, alongside
daily necessities sold at affordable prices for villagers. I head to the vegetable section first. I’m planning to make braised chicken with potatoes for lunch today, so I need to pick up some potatoes and green peppers. Potatoes: 1.38 yuan (about $0.20) per 500 grams This bag of potatoes cost me 2.5 yuan (about 0.37 USD). (about 0.37 USD). I don’t need many green peppers just two will be enough. Groceries are easy to get around here, so I don’t like stocking up on vegetables. I only buy as much as I need. These two green peppers cost 1 yuan (about
0.15 USD). After picking vegetables, I head over to the fruit section. All fruits here are pre-packaged, priced between 6 to 12 yuan. I grab a box of crisp green grapes and a box of blueberries for daily snacks. The green grapes cost 6.1 yuan (about 0.90 USD) and the blueberries are 6 yuan (about 0.88 USD). Fresh eggs: 4.55 yuan (≈0.67 USD) per 500g Eggs are daily necessities for cooking, so I pick some fresh ones. Here’s an easy trick to pick fresh eggs. Rough shells with a thin white film mean they’re fresh, and heavy eggs won’t have broken
yolks. This bag of eggs cost 7.6 yuan (about 1.12 USD) Fragrant rice: 3.18 yuan (≈0.47 USD) per 500g Next I come to the grain section. I don’t eat rice very often, so I just scoop a small amount. Buying little by little keeps it fresh. This bag of fragrant rice cost 7.5 yuan (about 1.10 USD) Now I’m at the fresh meat counter. Fresh chicken legs are 8.5 yuan (about 1.25 USD) per 500g. One big chicken leg is enough for my lunch today. This big chicken leg cost 6.5 yuan (about 0.96 USD) Fresh pork here is 9.5 yuan (about 1.40 USD) per 500 grams.
It’s quite affordable. I won’t buy any today, just sharing the price for reference. Steamed buns are also a staple I eat regularly. One bag of 6 costs 1.7 yuan (about 0.25 USD), great for breakfast. Now let’s check out the flour. This 5kg bag of wheat flour is 19.9 yuan (about 2.93 USD). I use it now and then for steamed buns and flatbread. For one person, this big bag lasts over a month, which is really budget-friendly. Now I’m at the cooking oil shelf. Large bottles of peanut oil and rapeseed oil cost nearly 70 yuan each, which is over my
budget. This small bottle of soybean oil is much more affordable at only 25 yuan (about 3.68 USD), enough for my daily cooking. I’ve roughly calculated my spending, only around 16 yuan(about 2.35 USD) left in my budget, so there aren’t many things I can buy. This sparkling water is on sale, 4 bottles for 9.9 yuan (about 1.46 USD), really good value. This lychee-flavored sparkling water tastes great chilled in the fridge during summer. Lastly, I head to the snack aisle and pick up a bag of potato chips for 6 yuan (about 0.88 USD). I only have 0.3 yuan
left after shopping, time to check out. Here’s everything I bought: flour, steamed buns, cooking oil, sparkling water and potato chips. All my daily groceries are ready. I watch every cost closely, this is how average people live frugally. I don’t usually spend this much at one time. Today I mainly want to show you how far your money goes here. These are all basic daily groceries, these simple items cover all my meals for days to come. Let’s take a close look at everything I bought with roughly 100 yuan.(about 14.7 USD) This whole pile will keep me
going comfortably for quite some time. What do you think of the prices here? Feel free to talk about prices in your area and share in the comments. Now I’m going to cook lunch, and rice will be our staple food. First I’ll steam the rice, that’s our staple for lunch today. I blanch the chicken in boiling water. This removes impurities and fishy taste, making the meat cleaner and more flavorful. Now we start stir-frying. Add oil to the wok, put rock sugar in to make caramel. Add scallion, ginger, garlic and spices to fry the aroma out. Pour in
blanched chicken, stir to coat evenly with sauce. Add cut potato chunks and stir briefly. Pour enough boiling water to cover all ingredients. Cover with the lid, set a 20-minute timer and simmer on low heat to absorb the flavor. The long beans I grew in my yard are ripe, I’ll pick some for a simple vegetable dish at noon. No need to buy them from stores, they’re all natural and super fresh. Let’s add seasoning mid-simmer. Add salt for basic savoriness, then a little chicken powder for extra umami. I’ll take a break while the chicken stews. It’s
been extremely hot here for days, I sweat a lot just stepping outside. what’s the weather and temperature like where you live? I’ll make a light cold dish with home-grown long beans. Blanch beans in boiling water, cool them down for crisp texture. Mix with garlic, chili and a little salt, super easy and refreshing. No fancy feast, just warm tasty home cooking, this is the simple and peaceful life for ordinary folks. After lunch, I lie down for a rest with 30 minutes left before work at 2 p.m. The weather has been scorching hot these days, cooking
wears me out, a short nap refreshes me. After a 30-minute lunch break, I head to the shoe workshop and start my afternoon shift. Around me are local ladies I work with, everyone sits at sewing machines, focusing on shoe parts. Our workshop only handles one part of shoe production, stitching semi-finished shoe uppers. These semi-finished pieces won’t become finished shoes here; they will be transported to other workshops for follow-up processing. Around me are local ladies I work with, everyone sits at sewing machines focusing on shoe parts. Repeating
stitching for hours while enduring hot weather is really tiring. This local handwork pays little, but I don’t need to travel far for work. It lets me earn money for daily expenses while taking care of home cooking. I finished work early today, so I take my dog Lucky to get his remaining vaccine shots. Between sewing work and cooking daily meals, I also make time to look after my little companion dog. Sitting at the sewing machine every single day makes life repetitive and tiring. Luckily I have this little dog for company. Whether I rest at noon or get
home after work, he stays right beside me. Quiet rural life lacks bustle and entertainment, yet this tiny creature who depends on me wholeheartedly brings me so much soft comfort. Summer heat is unbearable. After work, I don’t want to stay cooped up in the sweltering house, so I ride my scooter with Lucky to the river embankment outside the village. The breeze along the riverbank is cool in the evening, shaded by lush trees, the air feels far fresher than indoors. I lie on the hammock to rest, with my dog staying quietly beside me. No sewing deadlines,
no house chores to rush through, this quiet moment is just mine. As the sun sets slowly, warm golden light covers the lawn. Walking slowly with Lucky, all the tiredness from a full day’s work fades away with the evening wind. Many villagers come here the same way after finishing their daily work, gathering to beat the heat and unwind. There’s also an open-air KTV set up by the embankment, with green trees as the backdrop and lawn as the stage. It’s free for everyone to sing as they like. This is the simple joy unique to us rural folks. We don’t
have fancy expensive entertainment venues , no complicated plans for fun. People of all ages come to join in the fun—elders, adults and kids alike. Everyone feels free and relaxed, all small joys of ordinary life gather right here. Lastly, sincere thanks to everyone who watched this video all the way through. Thank you for taking the time to learn about my ordinary rural life, and for all your warm comments and company. Wish you all easy and joyful days every day.
