Time for a cool change
Urbanites head north for budget homes, rural tranquility
Desire for land
It's not the first time that urbanites' retreat to greener pastures and search for bargain homes has made headlines.
In 2019, Hegang, a former Heilongjiang coal city, went viral after apartments sold for tens of thousands of yuan. A 2024 media survey found at least 24 cities in 10 provincial-level regions in similar situations. More than half were in Northeast China.
Fuxin and Linghai in Liaoning province also attracted buyers to cheaper old apartments. Some settled permanently, while others kept jobs elsewhere and returned only occasionally.
But the forest-town version of the migration to quieter locations offers something many bargain apartments do not: land. Bishui homes often include a courtyard, shed or vegetable plot. The low price buys shelter and the chance to plant vegetables, split firewood and organize life around manual work.
For Lyu, the yard is not purely decorative. He had tried to grow vegetables, adding another task to his routine of chopping wood, cooking and looking after the property.
Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the Academy of Chinese Culture, said improved transportation links, internet access and changing ideas about work have made it possible for more people to move around the country.
Remote work enables "geographical arbitrage", that is, earning income tied to a large city while living more cheaply elsewhere, he said.
"Some can take a gap period in the Greater Hinggan Mountains and then return to a big city," Sun said."People no longer have to work in an office building or a cubicle."
Retirees use the seasons as their compass.
Fan Xiuchun, 55, from Zhejiang province, paid a little more than 30,000 yuan for a house in 2023. She usually arrives in April, as the snow begins to melt, and stays until mid-September. Known as "China's coldest town", Huzhong averages 16 to 20 C in summer, while winter temperatures often fall below — 40 C.
"The environment is excellent here. My sleep is better here. I spend the whole summer and then go back," Fan said.
She lived and worked in Chongqing for decades, and later spent a lot of time in Yunnan province.
She has a car in Bishui and treats the town as just one stop in a life divided among several places. Such an arrangement, she said, requires retirement income, savings or remote work.
"If you still have to struggle to make a living, this place is not very suitable," she said. "There are not many job opportunities even for local people, let alone for outsiders."
Last year Fan bought three more town houses in Huzhong district. She plans to take her family and friends there every summer to enjoy the cool weather.
