Thanks to China's strengthening yuan, it's getting more expensive for foreigners to live abroad in China.

受人民币升值影响，外国人在中国的居住成本正在增加。

In the annual cost of living survey assembled by consultancy firm Mercer, Hong Kong jumped three places to rank as the 3rd most expensive city for expatriates in the world, while Shanghai and Beijing both rose four spots to number 10 and 11, respectively. Shenzhen, which ranked 29th last year, came in at number 17. Of the nine Chinese cities included in the survey, every single city jumped in the rankings, with Chengdu leaping the farthest from 97th place to become the 71st most expensive worldwide.

美世咨询公司(Mercer)进行的年度生活成本调查显示，香港上升了三位，在全球外派人员生活成本排名中位列第三，上海和北京均上升四位，分别排在第10和11位。深圳则由去年的第29位上升至17位。这项调查中涵盖的九个中国城市排名均有所提升。成都从第97位上升至71位，升幅最快。

The survey, which was conducted in March, covers 211 cities on five continents and measures the comparative cost of 200 items, ranging from clothing to transportation to entertainment. In the study's release, Nathalie Constantin-Metral, the Mercer principal who compiled the survey, attributed Chinese cities' jumps to the rise in the value of the Chinese yuan.

这项调查是在3月份进行的，涵盖了五大洲211个城市，衡量了200个项目的相对成本，包括服装、交通、娱乐等项目。在调查报告中，编制这项调查的美世咨询公司主管Nathalie Constantin-Metral将外派人员在中国城市的生活成本增加归因于人民币升值。

Other Asian cities, such as Tokyo, Seoul and Osaka, fell in the survey, along with many Australian cities, where the local currency has depreciated against the U.S. dollar. The most expensive cities were Luanda, Angola, which ranked No. 1 for the second year in a row, and N'Djamena, Chad, which increased two positions to number two. Hong Kong, Singapore and Zurich rounded out the top five. Shifts in city rankings are caused primarily by price movements and local currency fluctuations against the U.S. dollar, Mercer noted. The survey measures the comparative costs for, say, a comfortable two-bedroom apartment in a good neighborhood in Beijing compared to New York and the cost of a cup of coffee in London compared to Tokyo.

调查显示，其他亚洲城市中，东京、首尔和大阪以及多个澳大利亚城市的排名下滑。近来澳元兑美元贬值。安哥拉罗安达连续第二年在全球外派人员生活成本排名中位列第一，乍得首都恩贾梅纳的排名上升两位，位列第二。香港、新加坡、苏黎世分别位列第三、第四和第五。美世咨询指出，城市排名变化的主要原因是物价波动和本币兑美元汇率的波动。调查衡量的是可比较的生活成本，比方说，在北京和纽约分别找一套环境良好、带两个卧室的公寓的租金成本，在伦敦和东京分别购买一杯咖啡的成本。

The increase in China's cost of living is the latest blow to foreign companies looking to woo workers to the Middle Kingdom. St. Louis-based relocation firm UniGroup Relocation found fewer employees moved to China in 2013, the first year since 2006 that more people moved from China to the U.S. instead of the other way around. In addition to some employees' personal reluctance to live amid such high levels of pollution, foreign companies are also concerned about intellectual property issues and social unrest in the world's number-two economy.

对试图用外派到中国来吸引人才的外国公司来说，外派人员在中国的生活成本上升是一个最新的打击。总部位于圣路易斯的搬家公司UniGroup Relocation发现，2013年企业外派到中国的员工数量有所减少，相反，从中国外派到美国的员工人数增加，这是2006年以来首次出现这种情况。一些员工不愿意去如此高污染的地方生活，除此之外，知识产权问题以及社会不稳定也是外国企业派员工去中国时所担忧的问题。

According to HSBC's Expat Explorer most recent survey, 46% of expats in China come from the U.S. and 20% from the U.K. Almost a quarter of expats in China surveyed by HSBC said they moved here after being actively recruited, compared to the global average of 10%.

汇丰(HSBC)的移居国外工作者调查(Expat Explorer)显示，在全球外派到中国的雇员中，46%来自美国，20%来自英国。汇丰对被外派到中国的人员进行的调查显示，近四分之一的受访者称在公司积极招募后，自己被外派到了中国。而在全球范围的调查中，相应的平均比例为10%。