By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: First vs Second/Third/Fourth Tier?
Which tier city do you live in and why?
I chose first due to opportunities, but I'm starting to think third or fourth may be a better idea... Blue skies there, I'm guessing?
I currently live in Tianjin, a 2nd tier city pretending to be a 1st tier city. The pollution is terrible and I am planning to move to a smaller city with my family to avoid the pollution. It is a 3rd tier city next to the sea with nice beaches and good weather. The skies are clear and I think it will be a better environment. I will have to take a pay cut at first but there are more opportunities thanks to family connections.
I currently live in Suzhou, a 2nd tiers city. I had a job opportunity there, and when I read about the city, I figured out that if I had to stay in China, I would be lucky to be there. I lived in Hefei before that, Suzhou looks and feels 20 years ahead.
If you ask me, Suzhou have all the good sides of Shanghai with fewer of the bad sides.
* Suzhou is cosmopolitan (by Chinese standard...)
* Suzhou did not completely destroyed its past, you can feel the old soul of the city in some areas. Coming from Europe, it matters to me...
* Suzhou have a really good urban management. Some of the newly developed areas are well thought
* Lots of escapes : parks, lakes, with low density of people
* Large choice of restaurants and food. Suzhou's traditional food is not too shabby, even if I'm not a huge fan of it (Sichuan & Ganxu forever).
* Reasonable likelihood to stumble upon people who travelled abroad, studied, opened books and so on. Suzhou have a culture-friendly tradition that survived.
One downside : the blue skies. A few years ago, the pollution was not that bad compared to many cities. But now, it's the same as Shanghai, consistently worsening each semester. I had to stop running outside this summer, because of chest pain, repeated minor bronchitis and the taste of ozone sticking hours after running. I go to the gym now... There's one newly built district (SND) which is far less polluted because hills block the pollution, and the power plants are the other side of the hills.
Do not expect blue sky even in a third and fourth tier city. Blue sky is rare in all China. You can go to an undeveloped rural place and still unable to see blue sky. Many of the lower tier cities are used for heavy industries. Also these smog can move from one place to another by winds.
DrMonkey:
Year-round blue, unspoiled blue skies here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunhuang
And you won't be bothered by the rain either. Job-wise, it's going to be a challenge, however.
Lord_hanson:
It depends on what the local economy is based around. My wife's hometown has both a large military airbase and a naval academy so major industrial growth is forbidden (or so my other half says). The city has gotten richer over the last 5 years and it does have clean skys most of the year due to a lack of factories.
1st tier - Shenzhen- In the words of my dear old friend P Diddy " Mo money, mo problems"
mike695ca:
Nope, SZ, GZ, BJ &SH. Those are the only 1st. Changsha?? 1457th
If you are free to move, go to where the salary/savings is best, and make arrangements to combat the pollution. 1st tier cities are usually best for this. The thing about air pollution: it dissipates away from the source. You can run away from the savings, but the smog will catch up wherever you relocate.
I live in Foshan a second tier city next to Guangzhou and I love it, it has the advantages of the last without the inconveniences. I used to live in Zhujiang Xincheng the CBD of Guangzhou but now I wouldn't go back there for anything but business meetings.
I live in a newly developed area of Foshan called Guicheng, more precisely next to Qiandeng Lake where all the super rich people of Foshan also live, surprising fact there are more millionaires who come from Shunde district of Foshan than in any other city in China.
The area where I live is anything but crowded, very little traffic, there are brand new streets, large avenues, upper end estates and malls with international names shops (Taste, Uniqlo, Metro, ...), the metro line crossing the district was opened in 2010 and is a direct link to Guangzhou if needed (20 minutes), everything around here was planned in the best possible way you can expect from China, I love living here.
When it comes to pollution here is far better than Guangzhou, blue skies are the norm unlike the smoggy neighbor.
Hotwater:
Would Guicheng be a xincheng/NT/Newtown/CBD? You know I could have sworn you wrote this on the 23rd on a blog:
"To breathe in China you should do like me, I live in a "xincheng" district aka. NT or "new town", very few people but many international brands shops and restaurants because the city planning is to make this place the new CBD, brand new infrastructure, MTR and houses that fits more the international standards. I would never go back to the older part of the city."
Same place as you live now or inconsistent comments?
Eorthisio:
Same place, it's a nice new district. I can recommend you some landlords if you want to move here.
Hotwater:
I quite like what I've seen of Foshan & it's closer to the suppliers that I deal with. It would be tempting if it wasn't for the difficulty of getting my wife to move out of Guangzhou! I'd love to buy a place in Zhongshan as the prices are still good, compared to GZ & Foshan but ages lived here that long now she considers herself a local. :-)
I am in a lower Tier city, I would say 4th or so...
Some lower tier cities can be hidden gems. Foreigners are treated like celebrities but if you can`t speak Chinese then it becomes a huge issue.
If you find a good paying job in one of those cities, then you hit a gold-mine because the cost of living is much lower that top tiers. Foreign groups are tight-knit in these places and that is a great experience. However, the recreational-entertainment side can be quite undeveloped.
I don`t like huge cities because I find the people to usually be quite cold and indifferent. For entertainment it is great, but I like living in smaller cities just because I don`t like the feeling of being constantly crowded (probably not a smooth move moving to China).
I'm in Changchun, a tier 2 city way up in the northeast. It's not bad here - cost of living is pretty low and the quality of life is good if you don't mind the cold winter. Pollution is about average for Chinese cities. It's pleasant in the summer here although this time of year when they turn the heat on the air gets pretty nasty. MMMM the smell of burning coal. Actually Changchun recently ranked as the top city in China for life satisfaction of locals. Housing prices are generally low, there's enough entertainment and the people are generally friendly though rough around the edges. The expat scene is big enough to find cool western things but the place is still a bit off the radar.
I just couldn't imagine living in a smaller place where people would stare even more!
