With sky-high rents in Shanghai, a single room for rent with a tiny “spiritual” window added to let the tenant “communicate with the outside world” has been ridiculed online.
The tiny window in the room in a converted attic is about the size of a palm and just inches from the floor, making it seem more like a bomb shelter than a living space.
Online users suggested the window would be more fitting for a sniper’s shooting hole after a real estate agency shared a promotional video of the apartment in Shanghai, in central China.
The clip – shared on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok – starts off by showing a narrow stairway leading up to a hallway stacked with hung laundry, a broomstick and rubbish bins.
Then, the realtor can be seen walking into the small bedroom, complete with a single bed, an air conditioner and one tiny closet.
The attic room even comes with a novelty design of a tiny window that can just barely be seen next to the bed and a few inches above the floor.
As the agent shows off the window – about the size of his hand – he says (in Chinese): “This room has a spiritual window that allows you to communicate with the outside world.”
Although the sniper’s hole room is available for just CNY 1,000 (GBP 110), users still mocked its appearance saying the owner should double it because of the added window.
Renting a one-bedroom apartment in the centre of Shanghai usually costs from CNY 5,000 (GBP 550) to CNY 12,000 (GBP 1,300). For comparison, the same apartment outside the city centre can cost from CNY 3,000 (GBP 320) to CNY 6,250 (GBP 680) per month.
A user titled ‘Kou Twelve Points’ commented: “Is the window meant for a sniper rifle?”
Another user titled ‘L’Étranger’ wrote: “This window is not even as big as a prison window.”
And ‘noob’ said: “We could make a curtain with a face mask.”
