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Poster News Chief Reporter Zhang Haizhen and Chen Yangyang reported

A house can be purchased for 30,000 yuan. Recently, Fuxin, where the prices are so cheap, has suddenly welcomed a large number of young buyers from all over the country.

After Hegang, another small city in Northeast China, Fuxin, Liaoning, has become popular on the Internet. Here, people can buy a house in full for only tens of thousands of yuan.

How does this resource-depleted small city attract a large number of young people from other places to settle here? Poster News reporters found that Fuxin is not an isolated case. Looking across the country, there are more than 20 small cities similar to Hegang and Fuxin that are welcoming the influx of young people and becoming their "safe havens" and "snail houses".

Recently, Poster News reporters interviewed several young people who bought houses at "bargain prices" and told them the life stories behind their "going against the flow" from big cities to settle down in small cities.

Buying a house at a “bargain price” of 30,000 yuan in full?

"A house for only 39,000 yuan?" Upon hearing the price, Yu Wenwen bought the small house far away in Liaoning without hesitation.

From Jiangnan to Northeast China, spanning more than 1,500 kilometers, Yu Wenwen's life has undergone tremendous changes because of this "bargain price" house of 39,000 yuan.

In March 2023, she came to Fuxin, Liaoning from Suzhou, and bought her first house in an old community here.

"It's too expensive," she said with a smile. After moving in, she found that similar houses were priced at just over 30,000 yuan, and could even be reduced. However, for Yu Wenwen, who has been wandering for many years and longs for a house of her own, such a small house is already worth it.

Yu Wenwen’s new home is in Mijia Community, a resettlement community. The house is on the second floor and covers an area of ​​52 square meters.

"I bought the house in March, started decorating it in April, and moved in in July." With a little bit of decoration and a simple start, Yu Wenwen spent more than 40,000 yuan on decoration and now has her own independent little home.

This single girl who has worked hard outside for many years started a new life story in this small city in the Northeast.

"I originally wanted to go to Hegang, and when I was browsing online, I discovered this little treasure town of Fuxin." Yu Wenwen said that during her online search, she found that Fuxin's housing prices were cheap, and the key was that its geographical location was much better than Hegang. The transportation here is convenient, and it takes 45 minutes to get to Shenyang by high-speed rail, and two and a half hours to get to Beijing.

Like Yu Wenwen, Wang Xiao, a post-90s, also fell in love with Fuxin.

Wang Xiao bought his house in 2022. It is about 50 square meters and is on the fifth floor. He spent 45,000 yuan.

"Winter in Northeast China is very cold, with the lowest temperature reaching minus 40 degrees Celsius, but Fuxin is not that cold. It is more than ten degrees higher than Hegang." Wang Xiao said that there are many reasons for choosing Fuxin. In addition to cheap housing prices and good location, the temperature is also relatively suitable.

The prices of houses in Fuxin are so low that they are beyond the imagination of young people.

"The cheapest house here costs only a few thousand yuan." Wang Xiao sighed, but it is best not to buy such extremely cheap houses because they may not have water and electricity or may be inconvenient for living.

Yu Wenwen and Wang Xiao are just a few of the many young people who bought houses at bargain prices in Fuxin. In the past two years, Fuxin, a small city facing transformation due to coal depletion, has suddenly welcomed young people from all over the world.

"I shared my house-buying story and daily life videos online, and I didn't expect it to attract so many people. Young people from all over the country came to me for help buying houses." Yu Wenwen said that she has now started her own media. More than 100 people across the country have bought houses from her, and she herself has earned 40,000 to 50,000 yuan in "hardship fees", which has earned back the money she spent on decoration.

Guangdong, Shandong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hebei, Tianjin... countless young people came from far away, hurriedly bought houses and settled down, and some even did not go to the scene, but directly "bought houses online".

Some of the young people who bought houses in Fuxin at a "bargain price" choose to live here permanently, while others continue to work outside after buying the house and occasionally come back here for a short stay.

Is it difficult to "go back to the county" from a big city?

It was originally a difficult decision to "go back to the county" from a bustling big city.

Single girl Yu Wenwen never thought that one day in her life, she would pack her luggage and head alone to the county town of Fuxin from a prosperous city in the south.

"I have been working in big cities in the south for 20 years." Yu Wenwen lamented that she had worked in Shanghai for 4 years, Suzhou for 6 years, and had also worked in other cities for more than 10 years, but she still did not have enough money to buy a house of her own.

After years of wandering, those prosperous big cities that seemed like dreams ultimately failed to give her a home.

Before coming to Fuxin, Yu Wenwen spent 60,000 yuan to buy a garage in Suzhou and lived there for a while.

The time she spent living in the garage gave her a brief moment of warmth.

"The garage doesn't have a property certificate. I signed a sales agreement with the landlord, so I only have a contract." Yu Wenwen said that although she has a place to stay temporarily, she knows in her heart that this is not a real house.

As it turned out, the garage did not become her permanent home. After a short stay, she took some videos to record her life in the garage, but was blocked for various reasons. She had no choice but to sell the garage and find another place to live.

After this blow, Yu Wenwen left Suzhou with only a few tens of thousands of yuan and rushed to Fuxin to buy a house.

From the big city to Fuxin, Yu Wenwen's life "flowed back" to the small town. But the life here made her feel warm and comfortable.

"This is my home. There is a supermarket in our community where I can buy vegetables and all kinds of daily necessities." Yu Wenwen said that when she wakes up in the morning, she often goes to the nearby morning market. The whole street is filled with the strong smell of fireworks.

Although this place is not prosperous, it is not lonely either, because about two kilometers away is Fuxin County, where there are large shopping malls and abundant supplies.

To Yu Wenwen's surprise, she became a self-media "Internet celebrity" because of sharing her experience of buying a house and living in Fuxin, earning at least 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a month. She told reporters that some "Internet celebrities" with more fans than her can earn tens of thousands of yuan a month.

This small house bought for more than 30,000 yuan was like a pleasant surprise, giving Yu Wenwen a sense of belonging that she had never felt in her 20 years in the bustling city.

In fact, everyone who comes "against the current" from a big city has similar feelings.

Wang Xiao is originally from Tianjin and grew up in a small town on the outskirts of Tianjin.

"I'm working hard in Tianjin. When can I afford a house?" Wang Xiao lamented. The housing prices in Tianjin are very high. She has worked for many years, but her dream of buying a house is still far away.

She did some calculations and found that her monthly salary was about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, and her rent was 1,500 yuan a month. Plus the daily expenses of food, clothing, and raising children, her life was stressful.

When can I own a house of my own? Wang Xiao made up her mind to leave Tianjin and go to a place that could accommodate her. After choosing Fuxin, she bought a house and settled down with her son.

At that moment, Wang Xiao felt that when a person escapes from the pressure of a big city and comes to a small town, life seems to suddenly relax.

"You don't have to bear a huge mortgage loan, and you will feel a lot more relaxed." Wang Xiao said that it felt like a big stone was suddenly lifted off the shoulders.

Prices in the small city of Fuxin are very low.

"You can buy five or six peppers with one dollar, and meat is also very cheap. My friend and I had barbecue today, including beef, chicken, pork, various meatballs and vegetables, and the three of us only spent 99 yuan in total." Wang Xiao said that in this small city, one can live a comfortable life with a monthly salary of four or five thousand yuan.

"Fuxin is not as backward as everyone thinks. It has escape room and script-killing games that young people like to play, as well as large shopping malls, so you won't feel lonely." Wang Xiao said.

Wang Xiao believes that Fuxin has good educational resources and the most important thing is that the college entrance examination scores are not high, so it is a place where "no competition" is required. She decided to send her child to school here.

Now that the two major issues in life, buying a house and educating children, have been resolved, Wang Xiao feels that he is a different person than when he was in the big city. He feels that his whole life has relaxed, and all the tension, pressure and anxiety are gone.

Wang Xiao came to Fuxin to do e-commerce at first, but it was not going well. Later, he remembered that he had worked as a real estate agent when he was working in Tianjin, so he started working as a real estate agent. He made good money and sold many houses.

"Many netizens across the country want to buy houses in Fuxin. Some of them are not convenient to come to the site to buy houses, so they buy houses directly online, that is, they view houses through pictures and videos on the Internet, and then pay for the house remotely and entrust the authorities to handle the certificate." Wang Xiao said.

Now, Wang Xiao has sold the house he bought at a "bargain price" and bought a new, cheap house in Fuxin County, and his life has become more stable.

"I met a boy who bought a house. He mainly made money by speculating in stocks online. He couldn't stand his family's pressure to get married anymore and didn't want to live in a big city anymore, so he came here to buy a house." Wang Xiao, who works as an intermediary, has met many young people who have settled down in small cities, most of them are between 20 and 40 years old.

Wang Xiao was particularly impressed by a girl who worked in online design. Because she did not want to be overly controlled by her family, she chose to buy a house here, live independently and seek freedom.

Nowadays, more and more young people like Yu Wenwen and Wang Xiao settle down in small towns and start a new life story.

Behind the 24 "New Hegang"

"Young people are 'picking up bargains' all over the country, looking for small houses where they can settle down." Liu Le, a young man who bought a house in Fuxin, said with emotion.

In fact, in addition to Hegang and Fuxin, there are many other small cities with extremely low housing prices across the country that are attracting young people to move in. In recent years, stories of people coming to strange cities alone to buy houses at low prices have been staged in many places.

The reporter noticed that according to incomplete statistics from the media, as of the end of June 2024, at least 24 cities in 10 provinces across the country appeared in discussions on social platforms about "buying a house with a full payment of tens of thousands of yuan."

Among them, the three northeastern provinces have the most cities with low-priced housing, such as the hotly searched Fuxin City, the long-renowned Hegang City, as well as Daqing, Shuangyashan, Heihe... accounting for half; in the south, the province with the most cities with low-priced housing prices is Yunnan.

Some of these so-called "low-priced housing cities" are "low" in terms of overall city prices, while others are local housing price depressions due to various reasons. Hegang, Fuxin, Qianjiang, Huainan... the list of small cities where "buying a house for tens of thousands of yuan" is gradually growing.

In fact, these small cities were once glorious. Take Fuxin as an example. As a former coal city, it was also developing vigorously in the past. Although the resources are now exhausted, due to the good development in the past, a large number of family housing for employees and complete public facilities have been retained. Today, the extremely low housing prices have attracted many young people. After they actually bought houses and moved in, the convenience of life has further retained them.

Some media commented that in this list of "low-priced housing cities", Hegang has been famous for a long time, while cities such as Fuxin are more like "making a fortune in silence", and their status has even far surpassed Hegang.

The “cheap” houses make small towns like hometowns in the old days, and have gradually accepted young people seeking freedom and some tired young people.

"Life is like this. In the end, you accept your ordinary self, and this place also accepts you." A young man who bought a house in Fuxin sighed. (To protect privacy, the characters in the article are pseudonyms)