Op-Ed Contributors

Youths diversify choices for urban living

By Wei Wei & Fu Shuangqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-13 08:17

Editor's note: Many young people decided to leave big cities because of the huge pressures. They moved smaller cities to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle.

Live to work, or work for a life - Ding Shuai had to make a tough decision after six years living in Beijing, home to nearly 20 million people.

A month ago, Ding, 24, packed all his belongings and moved to Xiamen, a coastal city of 2.52 million people in Fujian province.

It was not Beijing's notoriously high housing prices that made him leave, but the lifestyle.

"The rat race in the capital exhausted me," Ding said.

He had struggled in Beijing, working as a model and TV program host with a monthly income of about 5,000 yuan after graduating from a leading university in Beijing. He lost his voice after days of heavy work last November, which helped seal his decision to accept an offer to be a host in a local TV station in Xiamen.

"It's a new beginning rather than a retreat from failure," he said.

An ongoing poll by China's leading portal, Sina.com, showed many young Chinese feeling the same way. From March 1, nearly 80 percent of the 9,000 polled said they planned to leave big cities, like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Professor Xia Xueluan, a sociologist at Peking University, welcomed the trend.

"We still can't say it is the mainstream choice among young people to leave big cities, but it is good to see that well-educated youth have a better understanding of life and make rational plans," Xia said. "This also gives small and medium-sized cities a good chance to draw talent."

For decades, cities like Beijing have been magnets for young people, promising good incomes, more career opportunities and a stimulating lifestyle. They still do, but smaller cities in east China and provincial capitals have been catching up because of the economic boom. There are other advantages like light traffic, moderate living costs and relatively good air quality.

A report issued by the United Nations in March said China's urban population more than doubled from 1980 to 2010, surging from 19 percent of the total population to 47 percent. It was estimated to reach 59 percent by 2025.

Cities like Xiamen also have generous policies to woo young talent. Ningbo, a fast-growing port city in Zhejiang province, gives housing subsidies ranging from 500,000 to 1.5 million yuan to sought-after professionals. Tianjin, Dalian and Qingdao cities had flexible residency permit policies to enable easy access to health care, home purchasing and education.

"Given the higher operating costs and tough competition in large cities, many companies are also thinking about relocating to small cities where the infrastructure is in place," said Kuai Yanli, an urban planning expert at Renmin University of China.