【文稿周日更新】全球平价约会指数，上海排名21，北京23

XH： Let’s talk about a cheap date index. So in some cities, even a "cheap date" can burn a hole in your pocket. According to Deutsche Bank's Cheap Date Index – which measures the cost of a casual date in 32 global cities in U.S. dollar terms – London is by far the most expensive place for a simple night on the town, while Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing rank 20th, 21st and 23rd respectively. So it seems that Beijing is like the cheapest here in China. What does the survey tell us? HY: Well, this survey looks at a number of things, so we are talking about a date that involves going out for a movie and burger, and you will be having soft drinks and also taking cabs and couple of beers. So that’s all. The two are going for on the night. And it seems like Beijing is still quite expensive, I would say, 23rd place, and when you compare it to Hong Kong, which is 21 place. And it seems like we are not really earning that much. But you know, we are so close to each other on this index of how expensive things are. Eh, that’s not really a good feeling I guess. John: So really, this is just a variation on what the Economist just been doing, the magazine, what they’ve been doing for many, many years now. And really it’s just a way to come up with, eh, how much do things cost in an absolute sense. They are not actually saying that it is in fact going to cost 23 dollars US dollars to do all of this, to take a cab, get couple of burgers, soft drinks, two movie tickets and some beer. All they are saying is that this is, once you average things out, once you take away from some extraneous factors, this is the information going to be using in terms of what things cost. And so it’s really all about purchasing power parity, looking at, you know, relatively speaking, where is the most expensive, where is the least expensive, how much actual money do people have to be spending on things. So Deutsche Bank, their biggest difference really between the Economist is they are looking at a little bit more, a bit of wider range, while the economists really looking at the cost of a Big Mac. HY: Yes, I think it can be a little bit troublesome, because with the cab ride, with the beers, and movies, I think the price varies quite a lot from place to place. And we are not just talking about comparing one burger as what the Economist does, so I do question how accurate it is, because there is more fluctuation. John: Well, no, again this is not saying that this is what an actual date cost. Really it’s just trying to tease out how much actual purchasing power do people have. It would seem that actually Mumbai is still very easy to live even you are not making very much money. XH: Year. And I am a little bit surprised that Shanghai is ranking the first in China with 61 dollars to spend on all of these things, while Hong Kong is 60, which is about the same, Beijing is 50 dollars. But all that being included it’s still not quite a cheap date night, I would say. HY: Oh, no. And it seems like some western commentators would say oh, China is no longer the very cheap location as it has used to be. When it’s, I mean, when you are talking about cheapness in China, that’s like years ago. XH: Yeah. Looks like decades ago. HY: Yeah, like in major cities it has become increasingly expensive and almost as expensive as Tokyo, you know some of those cities. John: The great thing about such a cheap date index is one of the goals the Deutsche Bank who did this, was really just to take a look and see what the cost of living is if you take out property prices. So if you look at it in that sense, it does seem to be very reflective. XH: I do think it’s true. And you are listening to the roundtable, here with Heyang, John, and myself Xiaohua here on easyfm.