Escaping the big city

Yang Xin, a deputy director at Anhui Shang Bao, worked at various magazines for six years in Beijing before returning to his hometown of Hefei, Anhui Province, in 2007.

Like Li and other "rovers" in Beijing, Yang also struggled to build a life in Beijing. He and his wife netted 13,000 yuan (US$1905) each month. After rent (2,000 yuan, or US$239) and other expenditures, they were able to save 6,000 yuan (US$879). They were tolerant of the soaring housing prices, health care fees and payments to their retirement funds. They also had an unexpected son to care for.

Unable to buy a house in Beijing and register their residence, the couple had no choice but to leave Beijing.

The great pressure and cost of living in Beijing make many people in the middle class taste hardships. The new trend is to move to cities temporarily instead of remaining there until death.

In Hefei, Yang and his wife found jobs immediately. They bought a home close to Yang's work for a price less than a third of Beijing's housing price.

The couple's income is still more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,465), but because their house has been settled, they have more money to spend. The two began socializing, traveling and shopping again.

According to a 2009 report on Chinese consumers by McKinsey & Company, the largest strategic and consulting company in the world, three-fourths of the new rich in China are people in secondary cities. This means the middle class in secondary cities will most likely become the mainstream Chinese consumers.

Yang still feels awkward about having to live in a secondary city, though is sure he will not move back to Beijing. "When living in a big city, I was struggling everyday and still could not see the future," he said. "But now, even though it's a little gloomy, it's comfortable."

Shanghai Morning Post reported last November that more and more white collar workers were moving to other cities because of the fast-paced work and high pressure in big cities. China Mainland Marketing Research found that over 76.6 percent of interviewees left big cities because of "high pressure, high costs and the fast pace."