Uploaded June 2013 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Chris Chappell here again from China Uncensored.
Who in their right mind would trade 1 million yuan, that's about $163,000, for a buck? Well, a one woman in Shanghai named Lin almost did..
In her defense, she didn't know that she had 1 million yuan on her hands. Lin was just doing household chores. There was a pile of newspapers that her husband had left so she wrapped it up in plastic bags and took it away for recycling.
By the way, awesome on her. China has kind of an environmental problem so it's good to see people are recycling. (show image of garbage piles)
But this is one case in which recycling really didn't pay off. Lin got 7 yuan for the waste paper, that's about a buck.
Now, the thing is, traditionally, many Chinese people keep a little money stored away at home for a rainy day. Well, Lin's husband must have been expecting a downpour because he kept 1 million yuan wrapped up in that newspaper his wife just recycled for a dollar.
Lin soon realized her mistake, presumably after she told her husband that she sold the waste paper-
-Honey, I sold the two bags of waste paper under our bed.
-What waste paper?
Lin and her husband rushed back to the recycling plant. In China, there's no state recycling program; they're all privately operated. They explained their situation and were able to safely retrieve their million yuan. No word on if they had to give back the dollar.
The couple was pretty tight lipped about why they had a million yuan stored in their home or what exactly their careers were, but there's a lesson in all this: Don't store cash in trash bags. If you had 1 million yuan, you could probably afford a safe.
So what would you do if you found out your loved one just threw away a fortune? And be sure to check out my channel China Uncensored for new episodes everyday.
Chris Chappell here again from China Uncensored.
Who in their right mind would trade 1 million yuan, that's about $163,000, for a buck? Well, a one woman in Shanghai named Lin almost did..
In her defense, she didn't know that she had 1 million yuan on her hands. Lin was just doing household chores. There was a pile of newspapers that her husband had left so she wrapped it up in plastic bags and took it away for recycling.
By the way, awesome on her. China has kind of an environmental problem so it's good to see people are recycling. (show image of garbage piles)
But this is one case in which recycling really didn't pay off. Lin got 7 yuan for the waste paper, that's about a buck.
Now, the thing is, traditionally, many Chinese people keep a little money stored away at home for a rainy day. Well, Lin's husband must have been expecting a downpour because he kept 1 million yuan wrapped up in that newspaper his wife just recycled for a dollar.
Lin soon realized her mistake, presumably after she told her husband that she sold the waste paper-
-Honey, I sold the two bags of waste paper under our bed.
-What waste paper?
Lin and her husband rushed back to the recycling plant. In China, there's no state recycling program; they're all privately operated. They explained their situation and were able to safely retrieve their million yuan. No word on if they had to give back the dollar.
The couple was pretty tight lipped about why they had a million yuan stored in their home or what exactly their careers were, but there's a lesson in all this: Don't store cash in trash bags. If you had 1 million yuan, you could probably afford a safe.
So what would you do if you found out your loved one just threw away a fortune? And be sure to check out my channel China Uncensored for new episodes everyday.
