From Chinese Press

Youth not fleeing cities

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-03 08:02

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou may not be on the list of "the most happy cities", but it's wrong to say the youth are moving away from the three metropolises, says an article on www.eastday.com. Excerpts:

Young people are not moving away from the big three cities en masse, because of high living cost. The big cities still offer lots of opportunities to the young.

Decades ago, we encouraged young people to contribute to the development of the countryside. On one hand, we lost precious human resources in the cities, and on the other, the countryside didn't offer enough opportunities to the young to realize their dreams. That experience should teach us an important lesson.

People living in cities do face difficulties, but so do rural residents.

Worries over the high living cost in the big three cities are justified but we don't need to exaggerate them. The authorities should implement proper policies to enable the young to live a better life in cities, or create more opportunities for them in the rural areas.

(China Daily 08/03/2010 page9)