The 10-square-meter studio had a little vent close to the ceiling but no window. Even after she’d put plastic bags down her shower drain, it still stank like sewage. Additionally, the walls were painted with the strangest orange hue.
“I was really depressed without windows,” the 32-year-old recounted. “I would stay out really late every night, and I would come home only to sleep.”
However, after moving out and splitting up with her lover in 2019, it was all she could afford. Despite being a civil worker, which was seen as a respectable career at the time, her monthly salary was NT$40,000 ($1,285; £1,011), far less than the national average.
Ziwei and others will be thinking about low pay and housing.
