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zhuhai is located on the west bank of the pearl river estuary. on the streets of this city, you can often see slogans such as "building a core city on the west bank of the pearl river estuary". young people usually refer to zhuhai and shenzhen as "west coast" and "east coast", which sounds very fashionable. as special economic zones, compared with the shenzhen people on the "east coast" who work hard to make money, the people of zhuhai on the "west coast" do not have a strong "class flavor", but rather use it as a contrast to highlight the real sense of life.

△ zhuhai sun moon bay maritime opera house. (photo/pexels)

the geographical environment of being adjacent to the sea and the islands gives zhuhai a huge filter, which makes everything such as coffee shops, amusement parks, volleyball, houses, motorcycles, etc. very romantic. there are children's parks with sea views, starbucks with sea views, bookstores with sea views, and even workstations with sea views.

the sea and the islands are what initially attracted people to zhuhai.

01

it’s not a small city, but it has a small city feel

kingsoft software park is located on qiandao ring road, tangjiawan town, xiangzhou district, with the sea just outside the door. it has sea view workstations that are envied by countless workers.

yan xin is a native of inner mongolia who had never seen the sea before coming to zhuhai. she had worked in beijing and guangzhou for a period of time. when she saw the vast sea for the first time here, she thought of the grasslands in her hometown: "watching the sea while working is a huge contrast for workers from beijing, shanghai and guangzhou."

△november 8, 2019, zhuhai, guangdong. zhuhai grand theater light show, "little shell" blooms with a smile. (photo/visual china)

she has always felt that zhuhai is related to vacations, but not to daily life. when she had the opportunity to work in zhuhai, she was a little hesitant at first - for young people, zhuhai does not seem to be a city where they can work hard. "but when i knew that i could see the sea while working here, i came."

she started to work with her head down and look at the sea. when she walked out of the company after get off work, the sea breeze blew her skirt and hair. "it felt like the 'work atmosphere' was blown away by the sea breeze, and work became romantic. this is the feeling zhuhai gave me," she said.

zhuhai is not a small city, but it has a small-city feel. in zhuhai, you rarely see luckin coffee and starbucks, which are overcrowded with coffee shops. but this does not mean that zhuhai people do not like to drink coffee. according to a survey by the nandu big data research institute, zhuhai is the city with the highest number of coffee shops per capita in china. the density of coffee shops is very high, with 51.29 coffee shops per 100,000 people, ranking first among mainland cities. zhuhai has a permanent population of only more than 2 million people. the low population density and high living density have become the most typical contrast of this city.

△december 11, 2021, zhuhai, guangdong. the weather was fine, and citizens were relaxing in the amusement park. a leisurely lion statue was lying on the lawn. (photo/zhang yu/china news service)

zhuhai is slow. jingwen, who was on a business trip to zhuhai for the first time, arrived at the coffee shop in the morning and found that she was the only one with a computer. the other customers in the store were relaxing. this made her first acquainted with the "office-free" side of zhuhai: "in zhuhai, drinking coffee is just drinking coffee. you don't need to bring a computer with you to write a proposal and reply to customer messages at the same time."

jingwen remembers that you have to queue up to drink coffee in guangzhou. the better coffee shops don't have many seats, but there are a lot of people. every time she looks at the customers waiting in the store, she feels a sense of oppression, which makes her unable to sit in the seat with peace of mind. she has to finish her drink quickly and leave in a hurry to give up her seat. she finally chose to settle in zhuhai, "i don't want to be a worker who squeezes into metro line 3 every day with a laptop."

now jingwen says she has a hard time accepting the idea of ​​queuing. in zhuhai, everything is quiet and slow: "this city is quiet enough, and the sound of the sea breeze is very clear. even if you are not at the beach, but walking on the city streets, you can hear the sound of the sea breeze blowing gently by your ears. it blows away my 'class smell' and heals me."

△ (photo/pexels)

li zijian is a native of zhuhai, and his ancestors were fishermen. he likes to call zhuhai the "west coast": "compared to shenzhen on the east coast, the pace of the west coast is much slower." he has been in the advertising industry for three years and feels that the clients in zhuhai have a rare sense of relaxation, and there is no sense of confrontation between the parties: "i found that the clients here don't seem to have too high requirements. even if you hand in something with a score of 60 or 70, they think it's pretty good, which makes me a little uncomfortable. later i found that the clients and clients here are both relatively peaceful and mentally healthy."

many of li zijian's friends in zhuhai often change jobs. they work for a year, take a break, and then find another job. "they don't ask themselves to be great. their family is here and their life is ok. that's enough. i can hardly see any class atmosphere in my friends in zhuhai. they look energetic in their thirties, just like college students."

02

every zhuhai person has a relative in macau

the two cities of macau and zhuhai are inextricably linked.

in zhuhai, almost every zhuhai native has a relative from macau. there are many macau natives who have settled in zhuhai, and there are also many zhuhai natives who work in macau.

when li zijian was a child, his relatives from macau would come back for the new year and the red envelopes would contain macau patacas. he remembers that one year, the red envelopes suddenly became rmb: "in the past, we asked our relatives from macau to help us buy things outside, but now they ask us to buy things for them."

△on february 11, 2024, in order to welcome the new year, zhuhai yuanming new park held a spring festival fireworks show. visitors entering the park can check in, watch and take photos. (photo/visual china)

the locals also have a self-loathing side to zhuhai. there are always people in zhuhai saying that there is nothing fun in zhuhai. but in the eyes of macau people, zhuhai's entertainment activities are much richer than macau's. qiu zhicheng, a macau person who just returned from studying in the uk, goes to zhuhai two or three times a week. in addition to work, she likes to go to the hengqin racecourse to ride horses.

chen yulin grew up in macau, came to hengqin to work in 2015, and settled down in 2018. he still remembers that when he first bought a house in hengqin, his wife said that they wanted to put a big christmas tree at home this year. this wish could not be realized in the living environment in macau before they moved here.

chen yulin said: "there is no concept of residential areas in macau, nor are there gardens. the buildings are very old. many of my friends want a better living space after getting married, and they will consider moving to zhuhai. in addition to a better environment, there is less noise." chen yulin started many sports hobbies after coming to zhuhai, such as cycling, mountain climbing and fishing. he showed his arms: "look at my skin, i just got a tan from mountain climbing on the weekend."

△ (photo/pexels)

zhuhai has a special urban topography, built on a narrow strip between the mountains and the sea. zhuhai's mountains are located in the urban area, and you can see the entire city of zhuhai and the sea view by climbing up. there is always a section of the coastline with a total length of 691 kilometers for people to rest.

jingshan park, the most familiar place for zhuhai people, has made mountain climbing part of their daily life. shijingshan is 148 meters above sea level, which is only a dirt slope compared to many mountains, so they are used to calling going to shijingshan "taking a walk". after a busy day, workers go home to take a walk in the park to see plants and mountains and sea. looking down from the mountain, the sea will remind you in a more gentle manner, which is the character of zhuhai.

macao native liang jiaxing moved to zhuhai to live and work in 2018, working in the decoration and catering industry. he said that there were many vacant units in hengqin before, but more and more people have renovated and moved in in the past two years. most of the clients who come to him for decoration are from macao: "the housing prices in hengqin are between 30,000 and 50,000 yuan, which is cheaper than macao and has a better environment. many macao people who have an urgent need to buy a house will consider settling their homes in zhuhai." therefore, these "new hengqin people" go to work or school in macao through the hengqin port every day, commuting for 30 minutes, which is more convenient than many office workers in first-tier cities.

△ zhuhai love post office. (photo/pexels)

in the past, whenever liang jiaxing went to zhuhai, it was like "crossing a border" and he felt it was troublesome. now that he has settled in zhuhai, this sense of boundary has disappeared. sometimes he and his friends go from zhuhai to foshan to play football at 8 pm, then go to zhongshan for supper, and then go back to zhuhai home; or he and his friends go cycling, fishing, and hiking along the coast in zhuhai. after getting used to cross-city life, the boundaries of life have become wider.

zhuhai also has a very high per capita green area. you can often see large open lawns in the city, which is considered a luxury by macau people. green areas account for a large proportion, and there are few people. when they are free, they are either in the green areas and mountains, or on the surrounding islands. zhuhai has many natural attributes that many cities do not have. it may not be too urban, but it is enough for living.

chen yulin and liang jiaxing both live in hengqin, zhuhai. they have a wechat group of more than 200 people, almost all of whom are young people from macau living in zhuhai. according to li yongqing, secretary of the hengqin lotus community party committee, there are currently about 10,000 macau people living in hengqin. liang jiaxing described his choice as follows: "the welfare in macau is good, and most young people are not that nervous. we are more of a 'nervous' group."

03

a place worth passing by

flow is a very vivid memory of this city. zhuhai is usually not people’s destination or final stop. many people come to zhuhai for the first time just to “pass by”.

after macau’s return in 1999, people from the mainland passed through zhuhai to go to macau; in the past two years, people from hong kong and macau passed through zhuhai to go to sam’s club.

since the opening of the "hong kong cars going north" and "macau cars going north" policies and the opening of the hong kong-zhuhai-macao bridge, zhuhai has welcomed many hong kong and macau people who drive to shop every day. zhuhai's local young people jokingly call the hong kong-zhuhai-macao bridge the "sam's bridge" because the sam's club is not far from the highway exit after getting off the bridge, and it is full of tourists on weekends.

△on july 28, 2024, chimelong spaceship park in zhuhai, guangdong officially opened for operation. (photo/chen jimin/china news service)

according to statistics released by the hong kong-zhuhai-macao bridge border inspection station, as of april 27, 2024, the number of vehicles entering and leaving the hong kong-zhuhai-macao bridge zhuhai highway port has exceeded 10 million. driving "northbound" is becoming a common lifestyle for hong kong and macao residents. with the reverse flow of population, zhuhai has once again become a place of "passing by".

when riding the bus in zhuhai, you can often hear people discussing loudly in cantonese about how to take the bus to a certain place, or which restaurant on which road has delicious dishes. li zijian said that when you are eating in a restaurant, someone comes close to observe what you ordered, finds it very novel, and then tells the waiter that they want to eat the same dish, these people are usually hong kong people.

zhuhai is not only a place where people can "pass by" geographically, but it is also a life transit station for many young people. young people living in zhuhai enjoy the comfort of life in this city, but they also want to break through themselves occasionally.

△zhuhai sun and moon shell. (photo/pexels)

li zijian also left zhuhai and worked in shenzhen and shanghai for a period of time. in his eyes, zhuhai is a place where he can leave at any time and come back at any time: "zhuhai is like a transit station for me. every time i change jobs, i will come back to zhuhai for a while. if you quit your job in shenzhen, you may feel very anxious every day, but there is no such pressure in zhuhai."

zhuhai is not very sharp and aggressive, which makes it less oppressive than typical city life and gives it more reasons to relax tense nerves. it has become a city suitable for workers to take a break and give people comfort: you can stop here, or take a short rest and set off again.