Why do so many Chinese pretend 1USD=1RMB?
My own family members in the US do it. I see it on Xiaohongshu all the time, everyone does it and it drives me INSANE every time I see it! People will either use or completely ignore currency conversions to delude themselves into thinking life in the US is much more affordable than in China. Like „oh I bought this much food for 100usd, in China I would have paid double (200rmb) the US is so cheap!“ “earn usd, spend usd, ignore conversions“. It‘s clear that this is the norm, since any comment criticizing this immediately get ratioed. I get where this comes from, since salaries in both the US and China seem similar numerically (several thousands) but it completely ignores so many aspects/expenses like property tax, transport, healthcare, education, taxes and of course that salaries don‘t translate 1:1 between the US and China.
I feel like online people always cherry pick these comparisons to reaffirm their political beliefs of the US being superior. And in the US they use this to delude themselves into thinking that life is cheap/they‘re not getting ripped off. Also not having to do research & understand local prices. Like my family members thinking 150$ for a single phone line is reasonable since they payed 100+rmb in China…
Or is there something I’m completely missing out on/lacking the perspective on, because I feel like I‘m the only one who seems perplexed by this behaviour. I‘ve also seen it done with other currencies like euro. (I hope this doesn‘t count as a rant/vent post)