Thaindian News

Beijing, April 12 (IANS) In a growing China, big cities like Beijing and Shanghai no longer hold appeal for Chinese youths who are exploring smaller places for better job prospects, a media report has said.
A poll conducted in China said majority of young Chinese — 75.3 percent of the total 8,729 participants — preferred to leave big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and settle in smaller cities and provincial capitals which have many advantages like light traffic, moderate living cost and relatively good air quality, Xinhua news agency reported.

For decades, cities like Beijing, home to nearly 20 million people, have been “magnets” for youth, promising good income, more career opportunities and a fast lifestyle.

But, with more multi-national companies arriving in smaller cities, more and more youths are turning to these places for job opportunities and a better lifestyle.

Small cities like Tianjin provided about 20,300 positions in March 2010, while job opportunities in cities in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas rose by 70 percent from February to March.

“Work for a life” has become the new slogan for youth in the country.

Ding Shuai, 24, who stayed for six years in the Chinese capital, packed his belongings and moved to Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian province with 2.52 million people.

It was Beijing’s lifestyle that forced him to leave.

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

He had struggled in Beijing, working as a model and television host with a monthly income of about 5,000 yuan ($732) after graduating from a leading university in Beijing.

“Last November, I suddenly lost my voice after days of round-the-clock work,” Ding said.

The incident helped seal his decision to accept an offer to be a host on a local television station in Xiamen. “It’s a new beginning rather than a retreat from failure,” he said.

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

“It is good to see 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.”