FUXIN: Unhurried streets and shops that shutter by sundown. Life moves at a gentler pace in Fuxin, a city tucked away in the northeast of China’s so-called “Rust Belt”, just a two-and-a-half-hour train
ride from Beijing.
Yet, in this former mining hub’s quiet corners, a growing community of young newcomers is breathing new life into its streets, drawn from across the country in search of something different.
Among them is 29-year-old Xiao Du, who moved from over a thousand kilometres away from Luoyang, a city in Henan province in Central China.
-->
She bought her 28qm flat for just under US$3,500 in 2024, from online secondhand marketplace Xianyu.
“The housing prices there are really cheap. If you’re looking for a place to live, it’s a good option,” she told CNA.
But she warns that a higher standard of living comes with a higher price tag.
“At this price, you can basically only buy a top-floor unit there, which is more prone to water leakage and is in an unfinished condition. So I feel that people might have a misconception about its low housing price,” she added.
AS CHEAP AS “CABBAGES”
Housing prices such as those in Fuxin have gone viral on Chinese social media, with many netizens describing rock-bottom property prices as being as cheap as “cabbages”.
According to data from Anjuke, one of China’s largest real estate platforms, secondhand flats in fourth-tier city Fuxin cost an average of about US$590 per sqm. That is compared with an average of US$7,000 per sqm in first-tier city Shanghai, and about US$5,000 per sqm in third-tier city Xiamen.
When CNA visited the Fuxin Power Plant Morning Market, around three dozen stalls lined the area, offering essentials ranging from fresh
meat to pickles.
With 10 Chinese yuan (US$1.30), shoppers could walk away with five apples or 10 cabbages.
Source: CNA
