Dinner that night was at Qin Chao Wa Guan, a Qin dynasty themed restaurant near my cousin Bo's home. Bo and his wife and daughter live in the west side of the city, in a gated community of high-rise apartment buildings. They bought their 4-bedroom/2-bathroom apartment 3-4 years ago. It looks really nice and modern, with all new matching furniture through out. It cost 3,000 RMB/sq m (~$35/sq ft) back then, the total space is ~150 sq m (1615 sq ft), so that was ~500,000 RMB ($62,500). They spent another 200,000 RMB ($25,000) on upgrades and interior decorating. Now the place is worth 1.8 millions RMB ($243,000+). I heard story like that over and over in China. Real estate price has skyrocket-ed in recent years. For ordinary people, the housing price is so out of reach now, it is on par with the U.S. market in some cities.
The restaurant.
![](http://i4.tinypic.com/6u9s9le.jpg)
Qin dynasty themed decoration.
![](http://i13.tinypic.com/71mfos4.jpg)
Stairway railing.
![](http://i1.tinypic.com/6llmpoh.jpg)
There were 11 people total at the dinner. We ordered 1 soup (missing here), 6 cold dishes, and 14 hot dishes. Yes, there were way too many dishes. But guess how much all these cost? Answer is at the end.
Cold dishes:
1. Shredded tofu noodle.
![](http://i1.tinypic.com/7xtulb9.jpg)
2. Shredded jellyfish.
![](http://i19.tinypic.com/8e61ag1.jpg)
3. Fern root noodle.
![](http://i5.tinypic.com/6z5valt.jpg)
4. Nanjing salted duck.
![](http://i4.tinypic.com/86g01mx.jpg)
5. Duck wings.
![](http://i19.tinypic.com/6q8yc5j.jpg)
6. Pig ear.
![](http://i18.tinypic.com/6pa3arl.jpg)
Hot dishes:
7. Wa Wa Cai, some kind of baby bok choy.
![](http://i13.tinypic.com/8343ddd.jpg)
8. Chicken joints.
![](http://i7.tinypic.com/6qbn19z.jpg)
9. Stir fry river shrimp.
![](http://i3.tinypic.com/8bxzcd1.jpg)
10. Pig intestine.
![](http://i1.tinypic.com/6jdt6o5.jpg)
11. Mystery dish. I can't remember what this was anymore. :)
![](http://i16.tinypic.com/8ejj62d.jpg)
12. Steam assorted eggs.
![](http://i8.tinypic.com/81fru4n.jpg)
13. Golden needle mushroom.
![](http://i10.tinypic.com/6p53hpy.jpg)
14. Goose intestine.
![](http://i15.tinypic.com/6jl7y34.jpg)
15. Ginkgo seed.
![](http://i16.tinypic.com/82necur.jpg)
16. Bamboo lamb.
![](http://i7.tinypic.com/6s7kq6p.jpg)
17. Bull frog.
![](http://i12.tinypic.com/82atp1d.jpg)
18. Eggplant.
![](http://i4.tinypic.com/87l467k.jpg)
19. Fish bubble.
![](http://i14.tinypic.com/6lmaya1.jpg)
20. Some kind of bun and mixed vegetable. The bun was hollow at the bottom, so you could put the vegetable there, and eat the bun with the vegetable together.
![](http://i7.tinypic.com/7yeifxk.jpg)
(To be continued)
Answer: Dinner cost 845 RMB ($115).