First-class times in a second-tier city?

Last Friday evening, while I was having a drink at a German bar located in Foshan city’s Lingnan Tiandi – one of the many brand-new entertainment options the city has to offer- I kind of felt that the scene somehow looked exactly like Friday happy hours in Washington DC or Boston, two cities where I lived in recently.

True, when you hear the name “Foshan” for the first time, you don’t necessarily think of a modern, livable city. After being here for over half a year, however, I came to know that the prejudice is indeed misleading. What’s more, I have discovered unimaginable perspectives of a phenomenon that has caught the attention of global businesses: the rise of China’s so-called second-tier cities.

Let’s take Foshan as an example. I acknowledge that, coming from me, encouraging words may sound biased since I work with the local government. So let’s have a look at what others have to say about this place. The Economist, for example, identified Foshan as the city that “best represents China’s emerging economic frontier”. McKinsey Global Institute and Foreign Policy Magazine ranked Foshan as the 13th most dynamic city in the world in terms of projected GDP growth by 2025. Exhilarating portrayals such as these unavoidably make you feel like learning more about this place. But how does this vibrant climate translate into your daily life? And if you prefer to frame the question in a broader context: what is it like to live in a second-tier city in China? Here are three takeaways based on my Foshan experience:

• You will feel the energy. No matter if you are in the street, in the office or in your apartment, you will feel that the city is moving forward. Every month a new neighbor will move into your building, a new store will open on your block and a new laowai will set up a company here. You will witness urban renewals and the construction of modern innovation centers. Certain analysts are skeptical about emerging cities’ capability of becoming innovation poles simply by building hard infrastructure. While it is true that soft infrastructure is critical to complement these developments, I do believe that, sooner or later, the growth inertia will play in China’s favor.

• You will run into opportunities, and opportunities will run into you. Attend a couple of public events and you will surely run into start-up founders seeking partners to grow their businesses. Even more, the probabilities of running into unexpected opportunities are higher in emerging cities. But, you need to be on the field ready to catch them as soon as they arise. You don’t imagine opportunities. You see opportunities. Moreover, life here is much more affordable and comfortable than in first-tier cities. This will help you to focus on what matters most.

• You will watch the process of building the world’s largest economy from a privileged position. Stephen Schwarzman, founder and CEO of Blackstone, says that in the 21st century China is no longer an elective course, it’s core curriculum. China’s culture, history and population are unrivaled. Even if you don’t have a particular interest in China, living here will change the way you see the world. I am positive that there will come a day when Foshan, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Chengdu or Suzhou will be as globally renowned as Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle or San Francisco. Living in China’s second-tier cities today will definitely help you better understand the world of tomorrow.

The author is an investment consultant withthe Foshan Bureau of Commerce and a former research scholarin China-Latin America Economic Relations at the Harvard Law School and Tsinghua University.

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