Many mainlanders believe that all the big opportunities and big money are found in the city.
Liu Yuhang graduated from a nationally known university and works in Guangzhou, a rapidly developing city. His family and friends look up to him as a model of success.
But in reality he struggles every day under the immense financial pressure of life in the big city.
Sky-rocketing property prices have hit Liu hard, and he calls himself a mortgage slave because so much of what he earns goes to pay the interest on his housing loan.
On the other hand, Cai Dazhao, one of Liu's classmates in university, chose to return to his hometown, Zhongshan, a second-tier city in Guangdong, after graduation.
Now he owns a suite, has a respectable deposit in his bank account and is a manager of a company with Hong Kong investors.