The following article comes from 51job, the author is second and third
I received such a message in the background: I have worked hard in a first-tier city after graduation, and I have made a small achievement over the years, but my quality of life has been beaten by my friends in my hometown, and now my heart is particularly unbalanced, what should I do?
Coincidentally, some time ago, at a gathering of friends, several originally firm northbound and Guangzhou, somehow, expressed their yearning for the life of their hometown, and even some of them had resigned and gone home.
More and more young people think that "I am very good in my hometown", and plan to return to the third and fourth-tier small cities, open up more possibilities in their hometowns, and be a quiet and contented young man in a small town.
01
It doesn't work
I really can't fight
If he had told Guo Yue a few years ago that it would be better for you to go home if you were drifting in Beijing like this, Guo Yue would have scoffed. But after a trip home for the Chinese New Year, his mind changed.
When he went home to visit relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year, Guo Yue thought that he had the aura of a white-collar worker in a big city and came to Fa Xiaojia as a guest. Fa Xiaojia is a three-bedroom living room in a new campus, which is full of furniture, household appliances and green plants that the owner likes and personally selects.
"What hit me the most is that the greening rate of that community is particularly high, all kinds of plants are scattered and lush, plus pavilions, water pavilions, winding paths, and the environment is fantastic. There is a running track and sports field in the community, and other supporting facilities are also complete, which is filled with a strong living atmosphere, which teaches me a very desire to live there.
In Guo Yue's hometown, the average price of a commercial house like this is only about 8,000 yuan, while in Beijing, as long as the location is better, the price of dilapidated and chaotic tube buildings is also staggering, and the house with good environment and good supporting facilities is even more sky-high.
Fa Xiao bluntly said that he envied Guo Yue's high salary of 20,000 or 30,000 yuan a month in Beijing, Guo Yue smiled on the surface, but the psychological gap was huge: his quality of life in Beijing was far inferior to Fa Xiao.
In terms of the cost of living, it costs 20-25 yuan for a common takeaway such as a rice bowl in Beijing, and at most 15 yuan in my hometown, and at least 1,500-2,500 yuan a month for a shared bedroom in Beijing, and even more so for a slightly better house. In order to live comfortably, Guo Yue's monthly expenses on renting a house have almost equalized the small mortgage. Even so, Guo Yue still has to commute by subway for 2-3 hours every day.
"24 hours a day, you have to spend 10 hours at work, another 3 hours on the way to and from work, 7 hours of sleep, how much money is left for your family and yourself? ”
After the Chinese New Year, Guo Yue decided to leave Beijing and find a job at his doorstep.
After returning to his hometown, Guo Yue's life was simple and pragmatic, without occasional literary and artistic activities, and more of a lifestyle that embraced the fireworks of the world. The cost of living in my hometown is very low, and I don't even pay more than 1,000 yuan a month to buy vegetables and cook, and the quality of life is very high.
Guo Yue thought that he would have to spend more time on himself, do what he wanted to do, and no longer rack his brains to worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation.
02
It's better to take the initiative
After spending seven years in Shanghai, Wen Wen declined a friend's offer to work, and without hesitation, she chose to return to her hometown, a small third-tier city, to live a stable life that "can be seen at a glance".
The reason is also very simple, these 7 years have made her aware of the lifestyle of first-tier cities, and she doesn't like it
"Since I graduated, there have always been people who have been telling me, 'You are now fleeing from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen for comfort, and your children will do their best to return to the first-tier cities for development'In this cognition, the ultimate goal of life should be to settle in the first-tier cities, have a brilliant career, have a comfortable house, have a car, have a family, and have the best education for your children and a good social status. But in fact?"
Many of Wenwen's friends from his time in school stayed in Shanghai, and they lived a full but tense, glamorous and cramped contradictory life. People who seem to be free and beautiful, but in fact, the living space for returning home at night is no more than 20 square meters.
Rental house, 996, long commuting time squeezing the subway, eating takeout three meals a day, unable to make up the down payment, high mortgage pressure, wanting to get married but can't get married, wanting to have children and not daring to have ...... Wen Wen didn't have to endure all these tribulations, she had already found a job at her doorstep in the "Close to Home" zone. Now I am living with my parents temporarily, but I have bought my own small house waiting to be renovated, and my eyes are full of a comfortable and stable future.
"Although the salary in my hometown is not high, the cost of living is lower, and there is no comparison and vanity in the big city, maybe I am far away from the whirlpool of consumerism when I am far away from the big city," Wen Wen said with a smile.
"Staying in the first-tier cities" may be a personal obsession, but it is no longer the first choice for young people.
Escaping megacities has become a global trend.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, from July 2020 to July 2021, more than 700,000 people left densely populated and cost-of-living metropolitan areas such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.
In China, official data shows that the population of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has entered an era of negative growth. Among them, Beijing and Shanghai have released their respective population data, and the number of permanent residents in 2022 decreased by 43,000 and 135,400 respectively compared with the same period of the previous year.
As the cost of living continues to increase in China's super first-tier cities, and employment opportunities and income continue to narrow, the younger generation, as only children, pay more attention to the quality of life, and may not be able to accept giving up the comfortable housing in their hometown and coming to the big city to share a house and live in a dilapidated old and dilapidated town.
Some people say that in fact, they are not fleeing from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but are forced to leave Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and they clearly know that they will not be able to stay.
Some people also say that Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are just a career choice, and there is no need to be superstitious to go to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to live a better life, and there have always been many opportunities in life.
But who can say that the present is the end. The good thing is that now, they can find good jobs wherever and wherever they are.