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Q: Does anyone know of a low cost, small, fairly developed but poor City in China?
I personally live in a low cost, small, developed but a fairly poor City in China and frankly... It suites me just fine!
Does anyone know of any other Cities in China?
Easy, live in the suburbs of any first tier city, plenty of poor migrant workers for you to feel wealthy.
Take Guangzhou for e.g., Tianhe around the CBD is incredible with obnoxious displays or wealth at every corners, while Baiyun less than 20 mins away makes you feel like you are in some tier-88 nongtown.
expatlife26:
That makes a lot of sense to me. Access to all the good stuff a quick trip away...but then also get whatever it is that people like about the not nice parts of China.
But I think this is a BS question. Coin said it best.
ScotsAlan:
I agree. I live on the outskirts of GZ. Plenty of "real" China to see, but easy to get downtown for something that verges on sanity.
So where do you live? Be an interesting contrast to any other answers you might get.
I've only lived in big cities but actually like small towns/villages. Guangdong still has some undeveloped villages but they look a bit quiet to live in without getting stir-crazy.
I'm looking for an industrialized city, but with reasonably clean air, though still dirty enough to keep the tuhao from bulldozing everything for a mansions project. The roads should be a little inefficient, but not so much so that a high speed motorway will be planned. The vegetables should be fresh but not too fresh. I want the local girls a bit ignorant, but no staring. There should be wildlife in the neighbourhood, but nothing that crawls into my bedroom. They should have vacancies for foreigners but I hate getting harassed with job offers. I want expats to hang out with, but not too many predators grazing the herd. I want access to fast food and plenty of ethnic cuisine. Living above ground floor for safety, and an elevator because I hate stairs. I want to show off my fancy western gadgets, but I hate phony locals who do the same. They should fix my computer for cheap and respect my privacy. I want spicy but not too spicy. Comfortable and convenient but not too comfortable. First tier-esque but not too big.
So... you want to see China at its worst... but with a small bubble to retreat to?
Dongguan.
Easy, live in the suburbs of any first tier city, plenty of poor migrant workers for you to feel wealthy.
Take Guangzhou for e.g., Tianhe around the CBD is incredible with obnoxious displays or wealth at every corners, while Baiyun less than 20 mins away makes you feel like you are in some tier-88 nongtown.
expatlife26:
That makes a lot of sense to me. Access to all the good stuff a quick trip away...but then also get whatever it is that people like about the not nice parts of China.
But I think this is a BS question. Coin said it best.
ScotsAlan:
I agree. I live on the outskirts of GZ. Plenty of "real" China to see, but easy to get downtown for something that verges on sanity.
Zhuhai (Guandong) , Quanzhou (Fujian). there are plenty of nice small cities, however the lifestyle may differ to your past cities experianced, i suggest you not to go to small cities unless you have a real matter and backup of patience to stay there for a sufficient period of time. As it usually has extremely few foreigners and locals don't speak English, you'll be feeling quite inconvenient without proper Chinese spoken/reading knowledge.
Hotwater:
Zhuhai? Poor? Have you seen the prices that apartments sell for now?
Wuxi. Very livable city with modern infrastructure. Definitely not poor though.
I was living in Beilun a while back
about an hour from Ningbo
Not the richest city in China
but had outstanding sea fish restaurants
and being a pampered Perthite
a fresh sea fish cooked well out tastes any of the
river fish anywhere in China or the world
