U.S is very cheap in terms of housing and commericial cars. you do have ultra expensive luxurious apartments or villa in handful fancy areas, but in general, housing costs in Chinese coastline cities are higher compared to the U.S or West in general.
a hint, I have properties at the heart of Canary Wharf CBD, London, for example a two flats apartment, the current market price is 700,000-800,000 Sterlings, and I settled in Hangzhou, China 2 years ago, bought a similar sized apartment, not in downtown nor suburb, somewhere in the middle, it costs me over a million US dollars (this is the market price 2 years ago)```with that money I can buy a spacious house in a decent area in London around zone 2-3``
400 RMB p/m2/m is expensive rent, but at Senzhen's CBD (Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou's CBD are at the same range) the price is not that staggling, around top 40%. the rentals are usuallly around 230-350 RMB p/m2/m range.
in other tier 2-3 cities, CBD rental ranges from 100-200 RMB p/m2/m
btw, these are commerical office rental not residential which are much cheaper