Seven Reasons to Choose a First Tier City in China

Seven Reasons to Choose a First Tier City in China
Mar 22, 2010 By eChinacities.com

When I first moved to Beijing I was sure that I wanted to move back to Kunming, to the point that I almost did it. Something changed though, around the one year mark here, and the advantages of living in the big city started to add up and suddenly returning to a 2nd tier city didn’t seem like such an attractive option. What made me and my family change our minds? Here are seven reasons why a 1st tier city is the place to be.


 

1) Opportunity
It should go almost without saying that there are more jobs up for grabs in the big cities. Not only are there opportunities outside of English teaching to be had in abundance, even teaching jobs pay better in the big cities. Even taking into account the relatively higher cost of living of places like Beijing and Shanghai, it is still, when all is said and done, easier to enjoy a higher standard of living on 10,000RMB a month in Beijing than it is on 4000RMB a month in Chengdu or Xi’an.

2) Cheese
Well, not just cheese, but Western good in general. Living in Beijing, long gone are the days when I’d pine over a slice of cheddar or a bowl of cold cereal, when finding a copy of an English language book other than Pride and Prejudice or The Old Man and The Sea was cause for celebration, and when a good cup of coffee was more elusive than the Holy Grail. In the big cities all of the creature comforts of home are at your fingertips. For some, who pride themselves on living like the locals do, this may be a drawback, but if you’ve been roughing it in a smaller Chinese city for several years arriving in a big city where it is possible to obtain the stuff from home that you crave, and having the salary to afford it, can be very satisfying.

3) Education
If you have a family in China, or plan on having one, eventually you’ll have to decide what to do about your children’s education. Luckily in 1st tier cities the options are numerous and varied, with a wide array of both excellent local Chinese schools that accept foreign students to international schools with outstanding reputations, to well established homeschooling groups, you’re sure to find something that suits your needs. And even if you don’t have a family, and want to educate yourself, you’ll find that the 1st tier cities are teeming with Chinese schools, Kung Fu academies, calligraphy, and so much more. You name it, you can study it. One friend recently discovered a mixed martial arts group in Beijing and another was able to enroll her four year old in gymnastics lessons – all taught in English.

4) First class medical facilities
Let’s face it. China is not known for its outstanding healthcare system, and nowhere is this more true than in second tier and lower cities, where visiting the hospital can be like rolling the dice – will you get good treatment, will you be charged fairly, and are the doctors even qualified? However, in 1st tier cities there are international standard hospitals, clinics, and dentists, some of which even employ not just foreign trained doctors, but actual foreigners. Visiting the hospital can be a nerve wracking experience in general, and most of us are much more comfortable with doctors who speak our language and a system that is not confusing. Of course, the tip top hospitals in 1st tier cities are pricey if you’re uninsured, so if you can’t afford one, you can at least rest assured that if you’re visiting a well known hospital in the big city you are in good hands. These are the hospitals that local officials and even celebrities head to. Wang Fei, the world famous Chinese pop singer, gave birth to her baby in Xiehe hospital in Beijing’s Wanfujing.

5) The people
While people in small towns can be friendly and, if you speak the language and really get to know them, you can make really rewarding relationships with the local people, it is also true that you’ll have to put up with a lot more “hellos,” more staring, more pushing, and more spitting. I can’t remember the last time someone in Beijing yelled out “hellooooo” at me, but it happened at least once a week in Kunming. This is due to the fact that big cities have a lot of foreigners, so no one is really interested enough in us to take special notice. Bigger cities, especially Beijing in the lead-up to the Olympics, have been subject to much more aggressive campaigns for locals to treat each other and their city more courteously. People line up more – even taxis at the train station are queued, along with the passengers, so that everyone gets their taxi in due turn. These are little things, but they add up and can contribute to an overall sense of positivity (or negativity) towards a place.

6) Foreign friends
If you want to surround yourself with people just like you, then a big city is the place to do it. It is quite possible in 1st tier cities to seclude yourself in an expat compound and never see Chinese people outside of your ayi and your driver. While I wouldn’t recommend this approach, it is easier in a big city to have a wide range of fellow foreigners to choose from for friends, and to make friendships based on actual mutual interests and having things in common besides simply being the only two foreign faces around town. In Kunming I often found myself thrown into friendships and associations with people who I might have even particularly liked, simply because there were only so many of us, and beggars couldn’t really be choosers. In a big city, you can be pickier about which foreigners, if any, you choose to associate with.

7) Being at the center of it all
While it is technically true that the world does not revolve around Beijing or Shanghai, it certainly feels sometimes as if it does. The feeling of being in a world class city surrounded by people who are always on the move, who are doing things that are changing the world. Not only are 1st tier cities economic centers, they are also cultural hubs. In 1st tier cities you can be assured that there’s something to do on the weekends, whether you’re into live music, theater, art galleries, traditional culture or modern, there is always something going on and you’ll never be at a loss for something to do on a Friday night.  

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Keywords: City in China First Tier City

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