The upside of downsizing: Chinese youth leave the rat race for more affordable small towns

For five years, Alice Zheng, a former bank loan reviewer, followed the path expected of many young Chinese: securing a stable job and striving for middle-class comfort in the megacity Shenzhen. But after years of long hours, rigid corporate hierarchies and mounting stress left her physically and emotionally exhausted, she quit in 2021. Since then, the 36-year-old has lived in Yunnan province and the Yangtze river city of Jiujiang, taking advantage of low costs in smaller cities and sluggish...