Tiny ‘window’ in Shanghai attic space put up for rent draws ridicule, debate over accommodation cost
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The window is about the size of a hand, and is part of an 8 sq m room.
PHOTOS: 腥闻人 /WEIBO
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The window is so tiny you would not have to close it when rain falls.
That is the reaction from some netizens over an attic room put up for rent in Shanghai and whose window is barely the size of a person’s hand.
The room in the eastern Pudong New Area measures about 8 sq m, or just under 3m by 3m, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
A property agent posted a video of the space on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on July 28. In the video, he describes the hole in the wall, which is about the size of his hand, as a proper window.
The agent, surnamed Ding, goes as far as calling it “the soul’s window”.
The attic room is in a two-storey property partitioned into six rooms, with the attic space being rented out for 1,000 yuan (S$190) a month.
A 95 sq m flat in the same area, which is about an hour from the city centre by train, fetches 7,000 yuan a month, according to a separate property listing.
Netizens on Chinese social media were quick to take jabs at Mr Ding’s listing. One user suggested not throwing away face masks because they could double up as curtains.
Another person described the “window” as an aperture from which to fire a weapon, such as that found in the wall of a fortified structure.
Beyond the ridicule, the room listing has triggered a heated debate about accommodation costs in Shanghai.
Average residential property prices in the city have slid significantly in the past two years, according to one of China’s largest independent real estate researchers.
The current average price for a new residential property is 63,410 yuan per sq m, according to real estate listing platform Fang.com. For a resale residential property, it costs 62,120 yuan per sq m.
However, both these figures are at least five times the average monthly salary in Shanghai.
In December 2022, another nano-flat in a Shanghai suburb sparked similar online chatter. It had a toilet, kitchen and bed squeezed into a 6 sq m space, and was rented for 380 yuan a month.
“Why not just return to your hometown if you are forced to live in such a place?” a netizen posted, referring to target tenants who come from other parts of the country to seek higher pay.
