The city of Wuhan is now in the 6th week of a complete lockdown. Residents in Wuhan are very worried as vegetable prices keep soaring.
When you watch this video, keep in mind that in China, the salary for an average government employee ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 yuan ($430–$717) per month. The variation mostly comes from regional differences.
“Take a look at the current vegetable prices in Wuhan. Potatoes, six yuan ($0.86) per pound; turnips, four yuan ($0.57) per pound; napa cabbage, four yuan ($0.57) per pound. These two napa cabbages cost me 41 yuan ($5.88).”
“These are what I bought today from a grocery store, four different types. A bottle of cooking wine, 300 grams (10.6 oz) of brown sugar, these two cost me 125 Yuan ($17.93). Unbelievable, isn’t it?”
“These two turnips, 35 Yuan ($5.02). Two pounds of leek, 24 Yuan ($3.45).”
“Usually, a bottle of cooking wine would cost 4 Yuan ($0.57). Now it is 12 Yuan ($1.72). They try to make a fortune when our country is experiencing a calamity. These crooked vendors! It is a special period of time. We can all understand it if the prices are (reasonably) higher. However, these prices are outrageous. Now we cannot go to work, and we don’t get paid. Other regions are making donations to Wuhan, including vegetable donations. A while ago, someone used a truck to deliver vegetables to our community, as free donations to us. As I said, we can understand it if your prices are reasonably higher, but how can we afford such outrageous prices?”
“If it continues this way, we will all have to starve. How can we afford it? Now we cannot go to work and there is no regular salary payment. We are paying Chinese Renminbi, not Japanese Yen or Korean Won … This is the phone number of the vendor. I just called him to argue with him. He said the prices are not very high! A bottle of cooking wine is usually priced at 4 Yuan. Now he sells it at 12 Yuan, that is 8 Yuan of extra profit for him. How much profit do you want to have to make yourself happy? How greedy you are! Do you want to become a millionaire overnight? How can he be so evil and heartless! Will the government take care of us? If no one takes care of it, we civilians will starve to death.”
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