"Did your rent go up?" The question is frequently being asked by tenants all over China, as rents have increased rapidly for the past few months. Not only are tenants with decent apartments trapped in anxiety, but rising rents are also impacting those living in low-end residences. /VCG Photo.

In Tianjin municipality, many tenants are still living apartments for only 450 yuan (70 US dollars) per month.This amount of money could only cover the cost for renting a room with an area of no more than five square meters, where a single bed can easily taken up half of the space. /VCG Photo.

Some of the apartments are over 100 years old, some are attics which are freezing in the winter and hot in the summer. Some barely have windows and proper air circulation, and some are flooded every time it rains. The low-end residences work when considering the price. But now, the soaring rent seems to be a dead end for residents who survive in places like these. /VCG Photo.

"There is no cheaper choice for us," as they said. Some of them have decided to leave the city and go back to their hometowns, while others sigh, and manage to pay the rent. There are also lucky fellows who stay optimistic as they have saved enough money in the past years to help them move into better places. /VCG Photo.

According to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the average rent in Beijing in the first half year in 2018 increased 22.1 percent. /VCG Photo.