2010-04-01 17:27

HEFEI － Living in a big city, having a decent job, and earning a steady income: These were once the  requirements for Li Huimin's dream life. But after having achieved that life and worked in Beijing for eight years, the values of the 27-year-old white-collar worker have changed.

Originally from east China's Anhui Province, Li, a group leader in a Beijing software company, once enjoyed her big-city white-collar life. But she and her husband now plan to give it up and return to her husband's hometown in central China's Hunan Province to start their own business.    

But the young couple are not being impulsive.    

"We both have a steady income, but it seems that we don't have any chance for promotion.I don't want to be an employee forever.  

Hunan is developing very fast, and we would like to go home and  establish our own company there." Just like Li Huimin, white-collar workers in China's booming cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are increasingly returning to their less developed hometowns with a strong faith in the potential of both themselves and their hometowns.    

Another reason the couple will go back to Hunan relates to their "baby plan".

In Beijing, the family's monthly income is less than 12,000 yuan, which makes it tough to buy an apartment as Beijing house prices have skyrocketed.    

"We want to have a baby, but we can't afford our own apartment  here. We'd rather have a more relaxed life in a smaller city," Li  said.