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Q: Moving my family out of a big city
Currently live in Wuhan. I am married to a Chinese woman and we have a two year old daughter.
Feeling so sick and tired of big city life. Pollution is terrible, particularly in winter. Winters are long and depressing. People here are as arrogant and rude as they come and money is all anyone cares about.
Really thinking about moving to a place like Yunnan province.
Pros: no winter, less pollution, cheaper property prices and general cost of living, less stress
Cons: less foreign friends, away from wife's family (I'm happy but obviously she won't be).
Anyone moved to a quieter, less developed place like Yunnan province? Any suggestions?
Continue this rat race in Wuhan trying to make as much money just like everybody else or give it up for fresh air and nice weather ?
Remember that your wife's opinion and feelings matter too, and don't just do what you want, because remember you came here, she didn't move for you, and probably wouldn't have moved had she not met you, so remember to take her point of view into account.
Yunnan is lovely and Kunming not a bad city. I could think of far worse places to line. Have a look on GoKunming
Yunnan will have tons of fun family things to do, its nature at its best, I would love to adventure around there, yeah you'll be fine there.
'Currently live in Wuhan. I am married to a Chinese woman and we have a two year old daughter.'
Wuhan is traditionally an industrial city well known for its pollution. Being close to nature by moving to Yunnan (keep in mind Kunming is a big city too) does a child a lot of good, not just physically (which is obvious) but character foundation also. These are things money cannot buy (in fact, often enough destroys) yet affect her entire life.
I have lived in many different places in China. Mostly of the places are in Sichuan. I don't know if your trying to work, but DuJiangYan looked like a good place to live. Small and scenic. It has a nice lake too. Unfortunately; it is unlikely you'll ever be able to escape the pollution. People go water skiing and fly drones. This place is 60 km from the airport in Chengdu.
earthizen:
I like Du Jiang Yin too, with most of the houses built alongside the gushing rivers with water directly from glaciers, with natural emerald green color. Quiet and peaceful. Now some may immediately point out it is situated in an earthquake zone and bring up the 2008 big one that hits Du Jiang Yin bad, and I would say there are more lethal car accidents a month i china than the umber of casualties in Du Jiang Yin in decades. I also do not see Japanese and Taiwanese worrying about earthquakes day and night because both countries sit right on the pacific fire rim.
zhanjiang, guangdong... clean air .. modern, clean, small by Chinese standards. no winter, few english speakers ...xiashan district (newer), not chikan (older). beaches and food are great. Cantonese.
very low cost of living, and probably (although I do not know for sure) wages would be small .... to go with the low cost of living. on south china sea couple decent beaches right in town, many more untouched and beautiful on the nearby islands experienced practically zero of the arrogance or bad behaviour that I read about constantly. I like the people, they seem to not mind me being here.
with a young child, i would consider leaving China for all the reasons you see as a positive reasons for leaving Wuhan.
if you value your child's mental and physical health, leave China.
if your wife values your child's mental and physical health, leave China.
don't succumb to the emotional blackmail about taking your wife away from her parents.
if any member of your wife's family values the mental and physical health of your child they would encourage your to leave China.
Any reason for wanting you to stay in Wuhan would be selfish on their part just to be near them.
if they want to interact with your family regularly, SKYPE is the best way, maybe with a visit or two during the year, if they insist on touching your child.
AmeliaLeng:
Some of your comments are acceptable. People in most of cities in China are less open-minded, speaking poor or no English. And the educational methodology stays traditional and not good enough to cultivate international minds. But I would like to say there is a long way to go if you want to have a proper understanding of China. Some good international schools do exit in big cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Xi'an, etc.They follow IB syllabuses with highly-qualified teachers from all over the world.
I have been to Kunming in winter, and let me tell you it gets cold, and the city itself is pretty boring.
wuhan is surely not a desirable city to live in...
in china you always have the problems:
education opportunities or health and nature
it definitely sucks and I have to take the same decision soon enough (i live in Shanghai, a bit better but also far more expensive)
While the nature is nice and all, in the small cities you usually only have the crappy local schools which brainwash your child.
so all in all, it is a hit and miss. Better leave china all together
it does often amuse me, how people will accept a position with an outfit that offers "double" the wage/compensation as opposed to place that can grant you a better life and very possibly 1/5 of the rent and probably 1/3 of the food costs ..... do the math. childhood education may be a large consideration ... but not at 2 years old getting a reasonable compensation deal in zhanjiang is probably the best place on the planet to do a number of years of growth and education in all of China. can get a "little" hot and humid ..typhoons do happen just had a carton (10 packs) of smokes and 3 dozen beer delivered for 168 rmb.
the olympic swimming and diving teams train here ... should see the 10 year olds swim at my local pool......WOW!! COMMUNITY INSPIRATION
Remember that your wife's opinion and feelings matter too, and don't just do what you want, because remember you came here, she didn't move for you, and probably wouldn't have moved had she not met you, so remember to take her point of view into account.
I could go on and on and on about this place not pushing CHINA, but tough to find much wrong with this place. pizza, McD and KFC all deliver if that is to your liking... the fish market has to be one of the best. The fruits and vegetables are practically free vegetarian, shit, live for next to nothing. call a plumber, if need be, cost 30-50rmb .... electrician 30-50 rmb internet is reasonable... got 8 gazzillion channels of TV in every language ever known.
the local steakhouses (imported AUS or NZ?) are expensive but good for a night out..
many things that were not available when I first came here are abundant now.... cheese, and bottom line... got money? you can get anything you want.
Thanks for all the input. Will let you know eventually where we end up.
As Blondie said.... why are you only considering staying in China.
If Kunming is not an easy trip home to her parents' place in Wuhan, then what difference if you're in the country or not?
If you have nothing in particular that keeps you in China (or stops you from being elsewhere much better), then what's the significant difference?
If you have the skillset to to work anywhere in the world, then you can move to a place that has a strong Chinese presence, so at least the wife won't feel too alone, while you also reap in the benefits of living in a clean environment, AND still make good money...
