Some in Taiwan divorced from reality

HUANG SHICONG, an "economist" from Taiwan, was quoted as saying on a local TV program that "People on the mainland always eat pickled mustard stems together with instant noodles, but now they cannot afford it", which made himself a joke to all. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Zhacai, or pickled mustard stems, cost about 2.5 yuan ($0.35) per 50 grams. As a comparison, the annual disposable income for those working in the private sector on the Chinese mainland is 68,380 yuan while that for the public sector is 82,461 yuan, enough to buy about 4,000 bags.

Yet in the words of the Taiwan "economist", people on the mainland "cannot afford" to eat it anymore.