An Indian woman living in Shanghai has sparked a debate over the cost of living in China after revealing that her family of four spends nearly ₹10 lakh every month. Aditi Sharma, who lives with her husband and two children, shared a breakdown of expenses including downtown rent, international school fees, groceries, domestic help and everyday spending.

Her reported monthly total: approximately ₹9.81 lakh. But Sharma made an important clarification herself. This is not what every family needs to live in China. It is what her family spends based on its location, schooling choices and lifestyle. That distinction is essential for Indians abroad considering Shanghai or another Chinese city.

Cost of Living in China: Where the ₹9.8 Lakh Goes

The two biggest expenses are housing and education. Sharma said her family pays 25,000 yuan per month, around ₹3.5 lakh at the conversion used in the viral reports, to rent a home in downtown Shanghai. Her children's international school fees cost another 25,000 yuan, or approximately ₹3.5 lakh a month. Together, those two expenses account for roughly ₹7 lakh of the family's reported ₹9.8 lakh budget. That means most of the unusually high cost of living in this particular household is not coming from transport or utilities. It is being driven primarily by expensive downtown accommodation and international education.

Groceries, Domestic Help and Transport Add Up

The remaining expenses are considerably smaller individually. Sharma said her family spends around 5,000 yuan, or approximately ₹70,750, on groceries each month. Domestic help costs more than ₹1 lakh monthly, while utilities come to around 1,500 yuan, or roughly ₹21,000. Public transport costs are comparatively modest at around 700 yuan, or approximately ₹10,000 per month. The family also budgets about 1,500 yuan for children's entertainment and extracurricular activities, while dining out and shopping account for another 4,000 yuan, or roughly ₹57,000. Moneycontrol reported that combining the expenses brings the family's monthly spending to approximately ₹9.81 lakh.

No Expat Allowance, But Medical Costs Are Covered

Another important part of Sharma's explanation is what her husband's employer does—and does not—cover. She said the family receives no expatriate allowance towards rent, schooling or other everyday expenses. However, their medical insurance covers their healthcare costs fully, according to her account. That is important context for Indians abroad, because employment packages can dramatically change what an overseas assignment actually costs a family. A package that includes housing, children's schooling or medical insurance could produce a very different monthly budget even in the same neighbourhood.

Is This the Typical Cost of Living in Shanghai?

No. Sharma explicitly warned against using her spending as a general measure of the cost of living in Shanghai.

“This is our personal monthly spending as a family of 4 in Shanghai Downtown, based on our lifestyle and choices,” she wrote, adding that it was “definitely not a general cost-of-living guide.” That disclaimer changes how the viral number should be understood. A single professional without children will not have international-school fees. Someone living outside central Shanghai could choose cheaper accommodation. Another household might not employ domestic help or spend the same amount on restaurants and shopping. Even within the same city, those choices can change monthly expenses substantially. So Sharma's video is better understood as one example of life in China for an expatriate family rather than a benchmark for Shanghai's entire population.

Why International Schooling Changes the Calculation

Education alone accounts for around ₹3.5 lakh of the family's monthly spending. That is particularly relevant for foreign families because expatriate children may attend international or private schools depending on their circumstances. Remove that one expense and Sharma's monthly total falls dramatically. Combine it with the ₹3.5 lakh downtown rent, and the reason her family's expenditure approaches ₹10 lakh becomes much easier to understand. 2This is why comparisons of the cost of living in China need more context than a single headline number. The city matters. So does the neighbourhood. Having children matters. School choice matters even more.

What the Viral Video Really Tells Us

The strongest takeaway is not that China is cheap or expensive. It is that national averages can tell you very little about what one family's life in China will cost. Sharma's household has two children in international school, rents downtown Shanghai accommodation, employs domestic help and receives no expat housing or education allowance. Those decisions create a monthly budget that looks extraordinary when converted into rupees. For an Indian student, a single working professional or a family living in another Chinese city, the numbers could look very different.

That is why anyone comparing the cost of living in Shanghai with an Indian metro should compare like with like: similar neighbourhoods, similar housing standards, the same number of children and comparable schooling choices. Sharma's viral budget is useful precisely because she provided that context herself. Her family spends around ₹9.8 lakh a month. She never said everyone else needs to.