Economics and Development of Dalian

I would like to give you in this post some facts and research about the economics and development of Dalian. This is not a comprehensive summary of all that there is to know about the economy and development of Dalian, but it is some information I have gathered that I think will be helpful to you.  I hope you enjoy the info.  I found it very interesting.

What is the salary of the people?

The average salary for someone living and working in Dalian, China is about 4175 RMB per month.  This equals about $684 US dollars per month.  By comparison, the average monthly wage in my hometown of Atlanta, GA is $2927 US dollars or 17,845 RMB per month.  Dalian is definitely not one of the highest ranking cities in China as far as average salary goes.  In many other cities in China, people average over $5,000 RMB per month, but still $4175 seems to be a decent wage for someone working an average job in China.

I asked some different university students here in Dalian about how much of a salary they wanted or expected to make after receiving their college degree and getting their first job.  Most seemed to think that anything under 3500 RMB would be too low, and they acted like they hoped for a job paying over 4500 RMB.

What Menu Do The People Have

There is a huge variety of food in Dalian.  It seems like you can get nearly any kind of dish you can imagine.  I took some photos of the more common foods that I see at restaurants and for sale on the street.

Noodles: They are for sale everywhere in Dalian.  You can eat them in many different ways and try many different kinds, but probably the most common way they are served is in a bowl with hot broth with maybe some other meat and spices added.

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Chinese Dishes and Rice: Another item on the menu that you will find very common throughout Dalian is rice with some sort of meat or vegetable dish. Usually, people will have a bowl or serving of rice with one or more other food dishes on top or put to the side.  These dishes will usually be made of some kind of pork meat or tofu mixed with different sauces and spices.  You eat the dish along with the rice, and it is very tasty.  Many restaurants have a variety of dishes that you can choose from that are served with rice.  Here are some photos of the different dishes.

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Seafood: Dalian is located right on the coast which leads to an abundance of seafood on the menu.  You will find shrimp and squid in many different dishes that are served.  They are very commonly eaten here.  Fish is also common.  Also, you will find all kinds of other exotic and strange seafood being cooked and prepared.

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What type of housing do the live in?

In Dalian, the majority of housing is located in some sort of apartment building. Many of these apartment buildings are only about four to six stories tall, but also many of them are high rise buildings of about thirty stories tall.  The average home size in China is about 646 square feet, and Dalian wouldn`t appear to be much different.  The average house in America is about 2164 square feet making it about three times bigger than the average Chinese house.  In Dalian, you really have to plan to live in what we would consider an apartment in America.  There aren`t many other options.  You can easily find bigger apartments, but the average person is going to be living in a small space.

Housing is fairly expensive.  The average house size of 646 square feet equals about 60 square meters.  Houses in Dalian are sold by the square meter.  The price for a house depends on its location and facility but it seems like the average house will be between 7500 RMB and 1250 RMB per square meter. This means that a house that is $10,000 RMB per meter will cost about 600,000 RMB or $100,000 US. dollars for the total price.  The price for a house is based on the cost per square meter, so you definitely pay more for a bigger house.

How is the health care and hospitals?

Pharmacy: What do most people in Dalian do when they are sick? The first step would be to go to a local health clinic or pharmacy.  A pharmacy can give you many remedies and medicine without a prescription.  You tell them your symptoms, and they will recommend to you what medicine you are to get.  This is usually the cheapest route because there are no doctor fees involved.  Here are a few photos of a local pharmacy.

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Local Clinic: The next step would be to go to a local medical clinic.  Here you can have a doctor examine you and prescribe medicine or some other remedy for your sickness.  A local medical clinic cannot do any type of major surgery or help you with any special disease, but they can help you with a common sickness that you have.  It is very popular here in China for them to give you an IV for even just a small sickness.  In the local clinic they have an IV room for people to get fluids and nutrients put into them. (See the fourth picture down)

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Hospital: If someone in Dalian has a serious ailment, they need to go to a local hospital. There are quite a few hospitals available that people can go to.  I went and visited one of the bigger hospitals in the city.  I did not know what to expect when I visited.  The hospital impressed me with its size.  It was definitely a big facility.  It seemed like it offered a lot of different medical services and could handle many different kinds of operations.  I am not sure exactly what health problems they could handle and which ones they could not, but it seemed like unless you had some sort of really strange problem that you could go there for treatment.  The hospital rooms were not very nice.  It seemed like you always had to share a room with someone else and the rooms seemed mostly bland and barren except for the medical equipment.  The entrance and waiting facilities seemed functional but not very nice.  From the visit, my impression was that the hospital would be able to take care of someone and give them the medical treatment that they need, but the visit would not be very comfortable. It definitely would not be fun to go through.

Outside of hospital facilities:

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Inside hospital, outside of hospital rooms:

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Hospital rooms:

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Banking, How to get your money in Dalian?

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If you are moving to Dalian from a foreign country, you may wonder how to get your money converted from your local bank`s currency.  In Dalian, there are several banks and twenty-four hour ATMs everywhere.  In fact, the four biggest banks of China all have several branches here.  The easiest way to get money is to use your local bank`s debit card to withdraw money at a local ATM.  You can find any bank and use your debit card there.

You will be charged bank fees depending on your local banks policy.  There are some ways to avoid the fees.  Bank of America does not charge an ATM fee for withdrawals at China Construction Bank, but you still have to pay the 3% foreign transaction fee.  Charles Schwab offers a checking account that reimburses all ATM fees incurred overseas.  A helpful article that explains foreign ATM and transaction fees can be found here.

How stable is the economy?

Dalian`s economy seems to be doing very good and is growing year after year.  It is well known for its port that is the biggest in Northeast, China and the 19th busiest port in the world.  Some of the main industries of the city are machine manufacturing, petrochemicals, oil refining, and electronics.  The city is also developing an impressive IT and software industry.  The city is the financial center of Northeast China, and one of China`s four commodity exchanges is located in Dalian.  With a mild climate and many miles of seacoast, Dalian also has a lot of income from tourism.  The city is currently booming and it appears that it will continue to grow in the future years.

What is the main source of income?

About 51% of Dalian`s income comes from manufacturing and construction industry, while nearly 43% of income comes from the service industry and only about 6% of the income comes from agriculture.

Info for the article obtained from the following websites: http://news.dl.fang.com/2014-12-16/14400923.htm     http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=United+States&city=Atlanta%2C+GA             http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/how-big-is-a-house http://thepointsguy.com/2013/07/avoiding-atm-withdrawal-fees-when-traveling-abroad/                                                     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Dalian http://www.thechinaperspective.com/topics/city/dalian/ http://www.chinaknowledge.com/CityInfo/City.aspx?Region=NorthEast&City=Dalian                                               http://shenyang.usembassy-china.org.cn/dl.html