Tang Huabin (the singer), a beipiao seeking his dream in Beijing
Bei-Shang-Guang is a popular catchphrase in China right now. A collective name for the country’s three most developed cities ofBeijing,ShanghaiandGuangzhou, it is used to convey an ideal of the most desired lifestyle inChina.
Bei-Shang-Guang originates from the seemingly endless job opportunities, high salaries and busy streets in these powerhouse cities – the places to find fame and fortune. Even in more practical terms, the cities have their attractions: they’re home to one-third ofChina’s key universities, 14 percent of first-rate hospitals, and the best cultural facilities in the country.
For young Chinese, Bei-Shang-Guang is aMecca. Migrants from other places all around the country flock to the first-tier cities in the hopes of finding better jobs and having better lives. Alongside the migrants, each year, around half-a-million college graduates in the three cities join the struggle for opportunities in Bei-Shang-Guang. But in recent years, a new trend against this conventional “mega city” fever has emerged.
Reversing trend
Since 2009, “fleeing from Bei-Shang-Guang” has become a hot button topic covered by nearly all major media outlets in the months following Spring Festival, a time when millions return to big cities after spending the holiday in their hometowns. This year, the topic again aroused public interest with newly released statistics: 61 percent of college graduates under 24 intend to avoid first-tier cities when looking for a job, compared to 46 percent in 2011, according toChina’s popular job-hunting website zhaopin.com.
The extremely high living cost, especially soaring housing prices, is considered the primary reason for this trend reversal. The report from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that up until last September,China’s residential rent prices had been rising for 44 consecutive months. InBeijing, people under 34 spend an average of 1,993 yuan ($324.6), 37 percent of the averageBeijingincome, on monthly rent.
But the financial pressure is not the only problem. Thehukou, a household registration system, means that some favorable resources such as low rent housing are only available to localhukou-registered residents in big cities. To ease the pressure brought by a booming population -Beijingnow has more than 20 million permanent residents, with an annual increase of 600,000, the major cities have been tightening control over the household registration process and limiting the number of newhukoupermits.
Sense of belonging
For people struggling to etch out a life in the big cities, what’s often more painful than the financial pressure is the absence of a sense of belonging. In Chinese society, owning a house is fundamental to the concept of “home” and thehukouis considered proof of identity. It’s widely held that one cannot become a real local citizen until they get both of them; otherwise, the insecurity will be both physical and psychological.
InBeijing, people without a home or ahukou are nicknamed beipiao, which means “floating inBeijing,” without roots (home and identity). The word has been used for decades to refer to those from other areas striving in the capital for a better life.
One of the most well-known cases of a beipiao youth is Ren Yueli, who had been living a double life as a waitress in the daytime and singer at night for four years until someone took a video of her singing and published it on the Internet. Months later, she appeared on the stage of the 2008 Spring Festival Gala, performing for over a billion TV viewers. As famous as she is, she still considers herself abeipiao,as she does not have aBeijinghukou.
Every mega city shares a similar ethos: dream. In the 1970s hit song New York, New York, city life was celebrated as invigorating and exciting, a blank slate on which to start and strive. But now, many people inBeijingfeel the ethos of their city is more about frustration, which became the theme of Beijing,Beijing, a Chinese song dedicated to migrant workers that won popularity among groups higher up the socio-economic ladder. In various research reports on the well-being of Chinese urban residents, Bei-Shang-Guang never ranked among the top 10 on any happiness index list.
Ren Yueli (left)
Dream vs reality
Despite these frustrations, the first-tier cities never really lose their appeal to ambitious youth. Underlying this “fragmented dream,” the gap between dream and reality, theBeijing,Beijing lyric reads, “If one day I have to leave, I hope to be buried here in the end, because here I can feel my existence, with too many things I feel enchanted with.” While the debate over “fleeing Bei-Shang-Guang” is still being discussed, some of those who have fled are making their way back to big cities.
When Wang Yuancheng came toShanghaiin 2008 as a new graduate from a university inXi’an, his life here began with a job making 1,800 yuan ($293) per month and sharing an apartment with eight other people. But when Wang decided to leave the city five years later, he was making 140,000 yuan ($22,800) per year.
Wang lovesShanghaifor its fairness. “It doesn’t care about your birth, education background, or family condition; the only thing that matters is your effort,” he says.
To take care of his cancer-suffering mother, in 2013 Wang went back to his hometown, a third-tier city, but found it difficult to fit into the environment he once lived in for 20 years. He wrote down his 4,000-word story on zhihu.com, a popular Chinese question-and-answer online forum, as an answer to the question “why people still stay in Bei-Shang-Guang when life is so hard.”
In his writing, Wang didn’t hide his disappointment and listed things that he didn’t like about small cities: limited job options, nepotism in the working environment and judgmental, narrow-minded people. He felt as if he were separated into two different worlds and missed the days of chasing dreams. His answer received 14,000 “likes.”
The “fleeing or not” dilemma seems to echo the metaphor for marriage by renowned Chinese writer Qian Zhongshu, who compared marriage to a besieged city that people within want to get out, while outsiders want to get in.
Under such circumstances, it’s all about choice. When 25-year-old Xia Xia decided to leaveBeijingfor her hometownKunmingin southwestChina, all her friends and colleagues were shocked. They couldn’t understand why a play writer would possibly want to leave the capital city,China’s art and cultural center.Beijingis also home to leading media companies and countless media outlets, whileKunming, half the size ofBeijing, is only famous for it spring weather all-year-round.
But Xia was determined. “High salary, career success, fancy apartment, can any one of those be compared with the fresh mushrooms sold along the street in the rainy season?” she asked. After six years of stress in the concrete jungle, all Xia now looks forward to is to take it easy and live a simple life.
