"Money, money money / Must be funny / In a rich man's world," so goes the ABBA song. How "funny" is 100,000 yuan? It can get you a ticket to an exclusive matchmaking party or one square meter in a Shanghai tower. To find out the "funny" stories that money can create, check out the following top 10 list for 2009's most expensive items in China, selected by China Daily website.
Wang Ping, the general manager of Sichuan Tibetan Mastiff Breeding Base, shows off one of his Tibetan mastiffs in Chongqing, in southwest China, on December 25, 2009. Wang rejected an offer of 7.5 million yuan and a BMW car for the 2-year-old mastiff from an anonymous buyer.
Two models promote a bed at a store in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou province, May 16, 2009. The bed, decorated with gold, diamonds and jade, sells for 5.88 million yuan.
At a promotional event in Shiyan, in central China's Hubei province, participants each kissed a car, and the woman whose kiss left the best mark was allowed to take home a Dongfeng vehicle worth 70,000 yuan.
Two workers arrange a wedding dress displayed at the Guohua Department Store in Beijing, April 25, 2009. The dress, decorated with platinum threads and beads, sells for 5 million yuan.
. A pair of hairy crabs in two gold cages were priced at 99,990 yuan in Gaochun County, in east China's Jiangsu province, in September 2009. Shi Tuanjie, who came up with the idea (for which he received a patent), said that the crabs were to help celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. A rare stamp entitled 'The Whole Country is Red' created by designer Wan Weisheng in 1968 is pictured at a John Bull Stamp Auction in Hong Kong on November 1, 2009. The stamp received a bid of HK$3.68 million. Shi Juying burns joss sticks in front of the Taihao Mausoleum, in Huaiyang, in central China's Henan province, February 26, 2009. The museum is believed to be the mausoleum for Fuxi, a legendary figure believed to have lived between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago, during the Shang dynasty. Shi paid 990,000 to become the first person at the ceremony to burn joss sticks.A 600 square meter luxury apartment in Tomson Riviera, in Shanghai, was sold for 96.09 million yuan, or 160,848 yuan per square meter in November, 2009. This was 13 percent higher than the price of a similar apartment sold in February 2007, and set a new record for priciest home sold in China.
This is the living room and view from one of the apartments at the Tomson's Riveria project in Shanghai, July 19, 2006.
A salesperson shows two apples at a supermarket in Shanghai, January 31, 2009. The apples, which were imported from Japan, sell for 2009 yuan each.
Each of 20 rich male bachelors paid a 100,000 entrance fee to get into a rich-only matchmaking party in Beijing on December 20, 2009, where they could meet well-selected candidates, including some students from art schools, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
