I wander down to the store or to one of the restaurants (often wander is not the word but stroll) and look around at the apartments (especially at night) in Jia Ding, Zha Bei or Shanghai - it really seems like only half of the apartments are occupied!

OK - now I KNOW that the Chinese do not leave lights on like Americans do - we're the kings of energy use, no doubt.  The whole rest of the world has switched from incandescent to compact florescent blubs while we heat the rooms with those standard 59 cent blubs!  Laughing!

I mean one thing you will notice right off, if you are from the U.S. is that it seems like EVERYONE in China just did their laundry and have it out hanging to dry from their porch, windows or just hanging on the balcony (it's probably true too).  "What?!!?  You want to HEAT UP YOUR CLOTHES?!!?  Why not just hang them outside (or in the house!)?" they say to me.  "Won't that hurt the clothes?"  -  Laughing - eh, Ulf!

STILL - I just wonder whose paying the rent on the empty apartments?  Efficient use of space?  Just don't know!  (I have been a little under the weather so some posts are a little slow being finished and maybe a little "fuzzy" - grin.) Here is a good example: I went over to Susan's apartment so that she could scan a picture for me and asked her.  Again, hard to tell, she said, however most of the apartments are owned by families who have multiple units.  "Light bulb" - I wonder what the cost is to the families or if they fully own these units and bought them many years ago!?!? Susan DID tell me that her landlord wondered if she had other friends who wished to rent an apartment!!  Hmmm ...