THE APPEAL OF CHANGSHA
The couple said they were also drawn by the better quality of life that Changsha appeared to offer.
“Rather than just existing in a city, truly living in the city is the more important thing,” she told CNA.
“Compared to Shanghai, Changsha has a more down-to-earth atmosphere with a vibrant everyday life, and the pace of life is more relaxed. Although there may still be some overtime work, it’s easier to find a balance between work and life.”
The couple is among a growing number relocating to the city.
In the last three years, cities in China’s central region have seen the strongest population growth. Changsha took the top spot in 2022, while Hefei, the provincial capital of neighbouring Anhui, came in tops last year.
As China marks the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic this year, Changsha is among the nation’s central cities that have gone from relative obscurity to becoming integral to China’s development.
“We already see that many of the first- or second-tier cities in the coastal areas already reached a kind of growth limit in terms of population, in terms of economic development,” said Dr Chen Gang, deputy director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.
“But for the second- and third-tier cities in the inland provinces, there is huge development room and space for them because the population are refocusing in those areas and there’s very strong technological and industrial clustering conditions to support their future developments.”
