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Q: are rural folks "happier" than city folks in China?
got an answer so I will expand .... I have no doubt that rural people here are "happier" ... less stress and content.... just not the big push to achieve great things.
I think expats, and ESL after brief visits to the city, should experience more of China.
i'm not sure this is a question foreigners can answer with any certainty. There are more opportunities in a city in terms of work and higher salary. Maybe this makes people feel happier.
BHGAL:
not sure you understand what I was trying to say.... not sure I know now ... worldwide, I think you see more smiles in the country than you do in the city.
sorrel:
define 'happiness': do you mean more content, smile more, life satisfaction? It is a very broad question.
BHGAL:
agreed .."happy" is tough to define ...... I am happy, living in the middle of flipping nowhere ..... others may not be so content (as I am) in a strange world.....just a biase opinion of mine..... the little guy is just as important as the guy on the 35th floor. ... been there done that.
Rural folks only have to put up with the one village idiot, city folks have many village idiots coming to the city. Look we even have them here.
Sometimes, I look at how much rich city people in China abuse migrants, and I really have to wonder what makes those people come to the cities at all. Or, at least, why do they stay? In the office where I worked, some rich brat once accused a poor ayi of throwing away his shoes, which he of course estimated at being 10,000RMB. I'm not making that up; the guy really valued his shoes (which, for the record, I doubt existed at all) at more than 3 months of my rent, and he wasn't even embarrassed to say it. The whole thing got shut down, only because it was one of those rare cases where the Westerners who got wind of it were so pissed off that it embarrassed the establishment (which would otherwise have gone on with the scheme and taken everything the poor woman owned to give to the spoiled little prince).
My point is--I can understand why migrants come to cities (they've heard a lot of work your way upwards stories, I imagine), but I just don't get why they stay in them. Either the poverty & standards of living in the rural areas must really be that crippling, or they spend everything they had to come to the cities, and don't have the means to escape back to their homes. Either way, it's sad.
GuilinRaf:
A lot of it also has to do with there being absolutely no work in many rural areas.
So, you have someone who grew up as a farmer, barely knows how to read and write who suddenly finds himself unemployed and with a family to support.
With almost no other options, he (or she!) is forced to take a menial and often dangerous job in a city which may or not be nearby. Think about the window washers who wash the windows in Shanghai's tall skyscrapers.
And then, they are treated like spit. I am often criticized because I will chat with the school guards and with the ayi who cleans my classroom. My colleagues have told me that I should not do so because teachers "should not mix with those people".
"Those people"? Wasnt that the whole purpose behind 1949?
There are more hardships in the country however the people are a lot more united socially than city people . seems to be a trade off for better conditions to social bonding and it is not unique to China, it is the same in any country Maybe they could all go to Sex in China on a 30 day visa?
Of course you are assuming either group is actually happy. I'm not so sure.
All the people I've met in the rural areas are much more warm, friendly and seem more genuine. I guess they're just not corrupted yet, though it could be the same in any country.
Those who didn't wish to be born in cities are happier, I guess.
