"Ant tribes" in Beijing: small fish in a big pond

More social resources should be allocated to small places in order to change the notion that makes people cluster in big cities.

According to the survey, although 53.3 percent of respondents believe that they can realize their goals in small cities, medium-sized cities and rural areas, 52.2 percent hope to make their living in big cities. In the survey, 62.2 percent of people chose to live in big cities for more job opportunities, 52.9 percent for better professional prospects, 49.9 percent for higher incomes, 40.5 percent for better education and medical care, and 38.6 percent for richer recreation and entertainment in metropolitans.

"Big cities are a fancy dream, and I was too vein at the beginning." The recent hit TV series, "Dwelling Narrowness” touches Xiao Qin deeply. "Big cities have the Pearl Tower and amusement parks, but they can only offer your eyes a feast. Big cities have the grandiose Shangri-la, but it is difficult to even buy a house. Big cities have BMWs and Benz, but you have to crowd into buses and subways."

In the survey, 23 percent of the respondents think that people want to live in big cities out of vanity and 15.9 percent think people go to big cities because their parents expect them to.

"It is beyond my mother's comprehension that I, a postgraduate from Peking University, chose to work in a small city," said Li Jianqiao. It is our human nature that parents impose higher expectations on their children, and the notion has been accepted by society that only big cities can boast personal success and prosperity. However, things have changed now. Li's mother has lived in Kunshan for some time, and exclaimed with emotion, "If you live in Beijing, I would not visit you even if invited, in case I trouble you."

According to Li, it takes only 18 minutes from Kunshan to downtown Shanghai by EMU. The duration may be reduced to no more than 10 minutes, in which Kunshan is only in one stop, when the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway opens for operation in 2011. It will be very convenient for him to shop and tour in Shanghai.

Li Peihan believes that small places offer the exact opportunities for youths who have ambitions to make full use of their talents despite the discrepancy between big cities and small cities. "The current metropolitans are created through the hard work and wisdom of our ancestors, and youths can also build up small places."

She advises that if graduates are not satisfied with their current work location, they can get their first barrel of gold in small and medium-sized cities before returning to big cities, and "it is not always an ideal choice to work in big cities soon after graduation."

The survey also shows that 45.8 percent of people believe that more preferential policies should be implemented in small places, and more social resources should be allocated to small places in order to change the notion that makes people cluster in big cities.

Translated by LOTO