The \u201cLife in Venice\u201d housing development, a multibillion-dollar replica of the Italian city on the Chinese coast, stands silent. Many of the tens of thousands of homes are hollow husks of concrete and alabaster. <\/p>\n
But in recent years the remote, partially abandoned complex has drawn unlikely new residents like Sasa Chen, a burned-out young Chinese woman who until recently worked a high-earning finance job in Shanghai, China\u2019s bustling commerce hub.<\/p>\n
The appeal?<\/p>\n
Chen pays just 1200 RMB, or $168, a month for her apartment in faux Venice in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. It\u2019s so cheap that it’s allowed Chen to retire at the tender age of 28.<\/p>\n
Experts say Chen is part of a broader trend that has seen a growing number of young people across China migrating to small towns and cities, taking advantage of cheap real estate prices<\/a> that have been plummeting since the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n It’s a stark reversal from previous generations that prized upward mobility. In decades past, China\u2019s ascendent middle class flocked to booming megacities to chase jobs and dreams, once abundant as the country went from rags to riches<\/a>. But as the once red-hot economy cooled, expectations have soared, opportunities have dwindled and competition has grown fierce.<\/p>\n Most large Chinese companies, especially high-paying tech firms, requires a work schedule of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, a grueling lifestyle popularly known as the 996 culture. Under the intense pressure, some young professionals have called it quits altogether and joined a resistance movement called \u201c lying flat<\/a> \u201d \u2014 shunning careers and capitalism for a \u201clow-desire life.\u201d<\/p>\n Some are redefining their dreams to focus on rest and relaxation, much like what some young adults in the West are doing under what they call FIRE: \u201cFinancial Independence, Retire Early.\u201d <\/p>\n That’s much more achievable in China because the cost of living in some places can be so low compared to prices in the West.<\/p>\n Home prices at the massive \u201cLife in Venice\u201d development have more than halved since the downturn in China\u2019s property market a few years ago<\/a>, and a lunch of noodles or a rice dish costs under three dollars in the neighborhood’s restaurants. <\/p>\n The bargain prices have benefited young people like Chen willing to live in remote but affordable housing now available across the country. Chen describes it as the perfect life: a sea view, clean air, and cheap rent.<\/p>\n \u201cI have all the time in the world, the freedom of doing whatever I want,\u201d said Chen. \u201cI am living the life that I want.\u201d<\/p>\n “Life in Venice” was envisioned in the early 2010s as a weekend resort for wealthy residents from nearby Shanghai, providing a luxurious yet peaceful life by the sea. <\/p>\n But demand for the vast complex’s 46,000 units cratered after China’s debt-fueled property market popped. The developer, real estate giant Evergrande, went bankrupt in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today the site is a ghost town, with many villas just empty shells. Less than one in five apartments are occupied. Abandoned boats founder off its rundown pier and \u201cFor Sale\u201d signs and empty storefronts line its streets. But a smattering of residents have moved in, some of them fishing in the development’s tranquil waters.<\/p>\n Chen used to work in a glossy high-rise in Shanghai, making up to 700,000 yuan ($98,480) a year at a large finance firm. But she had never liked the idea of working. After three years, she began plotting her escape from the drudgery of China\u2019s white-collar workforce. <\/p>\n Her plan was to save up and find somewhere to live with rent so low she could live off returns on her investments.<\/p>\n Last year, her dream came true: Chen saved 2 million yuan ($290,000) and found a spacious apartment at \u201cLife in Venice\u201d. With such low rent, she calculates she can live there for the rest of her life without ever having to work again.<\/p>\n Though \u201cLife in Venice\u201d doesn’t have a branch of her favorite sour soup hotpot restaurant, door to door delivery, or proximity to major hospitals, her new residence has plenty of conveniences like a grocery store and eateries. <\/p>\n Chen used to dread the grind of her nine-to-six job, which she said \u201cfelt like marching to my own death.\u201d Now, she wakes at 10 a.m. every day, filling her days with cooking, chilling, and long walks on the beach.<\/p>\n \u201cI never believed that work is the meaning of life,” Chen said. \u201cMy ideal state of life is not to work and stay at places that I like.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Chen, scores of young Chinese people have left big cities.<\/p>\n While there’s no available data about how many have left the Chinese workforce in recent years, figures show that from 2019 to 2024, Beijing lost 1.6 million people in their twenties and early thirties \u2014 around the total population of Philadelphia \u2014 according to China’s capital statistic office.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are quitting this competition, this very clear, linear, upward career track,\u201d said Xiang Biao, director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany. \u201cIt\u2019s a broader trend.\u201d<\/p>\n China\u2019s economy has cooled in recent years, growing just 5% in 2025<\/a> \u2014 still higher than the U.S. and other rich countries, but a far cry from the double-digit growth the country saw in past decades. <\/p>\n As the economy slows, young Chinese are struggling to find jobs<\/a>. As of December, 16.5% of 16-24 year-olds who aren\u2019t in school were unemployed. <\/p>\n