And let's not forget the unbelievably poor standards of "decoration" in most Beijing rental units. Typical Beijing bathrooms are so appallingly bad, filthy and reeking of raw sewage, that many apartments here would be unfit for human occupation in Europe or the USA.
Furthermore, I wonder if they also took into account quality and safety/purity when comparing prices at the local supermarket? A lot of "popularly priced" things here tend to be of lower quality than most Bostonians could accept.