I have been here for only 3 months. I can talk notingh about here yet. But the descripertion about China in the article is true except "$500 for a car" By the way, I think "xi wan" in your post
tsinghua(tsinghua)
means a kind of descrimination. A very rich Chinese friend of mine once said "I know a poor guy who only makes $6000 per month in Toroto........."