Differences in Daily Life... that are not really all that different.

Housing:
The housing situation in Beijing really runs the gamut. Some people live in housing communities known as "Hutongs" which are complexes that are in the same building and share a courtyard. The are usually a one-level square building with an open middle garden area. Depending on the size and expense anywhere form one to eight famillies may live in one building. These are all built next to eachother which creates the small alleys that weave through the city, very much the a suburb in the States.
Since the Olympics and with the uncontrolable development of the city, many hutongs have recently been knocked down and replaced with more practical and unsightly towering apartment buildings. Which is a shame, but is part of Beijing's development into a metropolis. So now the majority of people live in highrises.


But if you can get far enough away form the city, You find my all-time favorite type of housing: Yurts. None of the frills of the city like electricity and plumbing, simply a round room with a table and some blankets in the corner for the cold winters of northern China.