Mongolian yurt offers alternative accommodation amid Beijing housing shortage
Are tents the solution to Beijing's shortage of affordable accommodation? One woman who claims to have made her home in a Mongolian yurt perched on a hutong rooftop certainly thinks so
China’s internet is abuzz over photos posted online showing how a woman has been living in a Mongolian yurt on a Beijing rooftop for a year because rent in the capital is too high.
Using the alias Wang Li, and claiming to come from Taiwan, the poster of the photos said she erected the Mongolian yurt a year ago on top of a bungalow in a Beijing hutong, or small alley, and has lived there ever since.
It had cost 4,000 yuan (HK$5,090) to purchase the 3.5 metre-diameter wooden-framed yurt from a factory in Hohhot, Inner Mongolian, the poster claimed.
In her post, the woman said living in the yurt is cosier than an apartment building. Her only complaint is that the walls are too thin to block out noise from outside.
She said she previously had two-year’s experience of sleeping in the living room of a two bed-room apartment in New York, using curtains to maintain her privacy.
In New York, her rent of US$300 (HK$2,326) per month was reasonable, she said.