You are right. There is no way we can compete again a ratio of 6:1. They may make squat but their cost of living is SFA.
My friend bought a new 2 BDR hi-rise condo in Pudong for $55,000. Something like that in downtown TO or Vancouver would be 10X as much minimum.
It's tempting to sell out and live like a rock star in Shanghai.
Actually, That sounds like a real good opportunity for investment. China knows its not to their advantage to continue on for ever with this un-natural devaluation. I'm sure they thought we would be in much worse shape then we now are. But their un-natural devaluation only created our un-natural ability to print money like crazy as the whole world market place is deemed a "too big to fail" by the ultra rich of this world.
Once China rolls out their reserve currency, they no longer will devaluate and those 55 000$ property will grow in value exponentially. Who knows how long that will take. But I can see the writing on the wall.