CHONGQING – Financial sector worker Fang Wei agreed without hesitation when he was offered a posting by his company to the city of Chengdu two months ago in February.
While his pay would remain the same, he would receive a housing allowance, which he did not get in Beijing where he had been working for the past 10 years.
Besides a lower cost of living, Chengdu also offers a slower pace of life, he told The Straits Times.
“My weekends have become more interesting as I like hiking and Chengdu is near some of China’s best walking routes with gorgeous scenery,” said Mr Fang, who is 37 and single.
His enthusiasm for Chengdu, the capital of south-western Sichuan province, is shared by many Chinese, going by China’s latest population statistics released in March.
Chengdu’s resident population grew by 71,000 in 2024 over a year, the only one out of China’s four most populous cities of over 20 million residents to record an increase. This growth also comes against a fall in the country’s population for a third consecutive year in 2024.
Chengdu has a resident population of 21.4 million, behind Chongqing’s 31.9 million, Shanghai’s 24.8 million and Beijing’s 21.8 million.
Chongqing’s population fell 9,600 in a year while those of Shanghai and Beijing dropped by 71,900 and 26,000 respectively.
Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, is China’s fifth most populous city with a resident population of 18.98 million. It grew by 151,000 people in 2024 over 2023.
Chengdu’s population increase comes amid a demographic slowdown in China, which lost the title of the world’s most populous country to India in 2022 due to its declining fertility rate and strict immigration policies.
China’s total fertility rate is currently below replacement levels. Births rose slightly in 2024, after seven years of decline, which officials attributed to a post-Covid boom, family-friendly policies and the Year of the Dragon. The Chinese believe that the Year of the Dragon is an auspicious year to be born into. Experts said that 2024’s figures might be hard to follow this year.
Chinese cities have been competing for youth and talent to drive growth as the country’s citizenry turns greyer and shrinks in size, resulting in a dwindling workforce. Local governments have dangled housing subsidies, stipends and research grants to attract young talent, particularly those in the cutting-edge tech industry.
Chengdu’s population increase comes amid a demographic slowdown in China.PHOTO: AFP
Professor Yuan Xin, deputy head of the China Population Association and a demographer at Nankai University in Tianjin, told The Straits Times that growing job opportunities have been the main reason for Chengdu’s population growth.
“State support for the Chengdu-Chongqing Double City Metropolitan Area has been strong,” Prof Yuan said, pointing to the economic initiative rolled out in January 2020 by Chinese President Xi Jinping to drive economic growth in south-western China.
As a result, migrants have been moving to Chengdu, explaining the growth in the city’s population, he added.
Chengdu’s work plan for 2025, released in March, shows an expected 936 key public and private projects, ranging from science and tech to ecology, scheduled for the year – 36 more than 2024 – representing a total investment of 2.61 trillion yuan (S$469.5 billion) to be made over a number of years.
Chengdu and Chongqing are standouts in a mountainous part of the country not known for prosperity, compared with its richer eastern and southern coastal counterparts such as the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong.
Both are important cities in China’s overall development plan, with Chengdu aspiring to be a business and investment hub and Chongqing, with the country’s deepest inland port that is open to direct foreign trade, aiming to grow its logistics and port facilities.
With just 308 km between the two cities, commuters between them can reach their destinations as quickly as slightly over an hour by high-speed rail.
Chengdu is known for its laid-back lifestyle that includes hotpot, mahjong sessions, teahouses and late-night barbecue stands, on top of being the home of the country’s national treasure – the panda.
In 2024, Chengdu’s gross domestic product grew 5.7 per cent, similar to Chongqing’s rate in the same period and above the national average of 5 per cent.
Together, the Chengdu-Chongqing Double City Metropolitan Area initiative contributed about 6.5 per cent to China’s national GDP in 2024, up from the 6.3 per cent in 2019 before the roll-out began.
Young Chinese who moved to Chengdu told ST that they were drawn to the city’s more laid-back lifestyle, lower costs, better economic opportunities as well as residents’ liberal attitudes.
Mr Zhu Liming, 26, said he moved to Chengdu in July 2024 for a job opportunity at a new media company.
Mr Zhu, who works in advertising, said: “There are rarely jobs for young people in Jilin province, where I’m from.” Jilin province is in the north-eastern region of China, which has developed less quickly.
Ms Amy Hu, 31, who moved to Chengdu in 2023 from eastern Shandong province, decided to relocate because she enjoyed Chengdu’s more relaxed lifestyle and clearer sense of personal boundaries.
Ms Hu said that Jinan, Shandong’s capital where she had been working, is “a much more conservative place” than Chengdu.
“My family and colleagues kept asking whether I have plans to get married or whether I need to be match-made,” the purchasing manager added.
She said that her current salary is “slightly lower but I don’t mind, as I see this move as a chance to start afresh”.
For Mr Fang, his savings for March have increased by about 30 per cent, despite few changes to his lifestyle.
“I’m still not sure if I will eventually settle down in Chengdu. Life here is slower than Beijing, with better weather and food. Ultimately, however, it will have to come down to salary and promotions,” he added.
- Aw Cheng Wei is The Straits Times’ China correspondent, based in Chongqing.
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