China as a retirement base

[beanstalk6]

Actually I enjoyed driving in the city (Zhuhai) I was based in.

I it really depend on the city you are in , but definitely if you compared, say drivers from Macau to those in Zhuhai, definitely Macau drivers are more polite and considerate .

For Macau car plate, when they see your signal they will slow down and allow you to come in, but for China's car plate most of them will "close the gap" .

I used to race with my China friends from Zhuhai all the way to Shenzhen Airport ( highways) just to have coffee at Starbucks and also to relax at the bookstore. ( about 1 1/ 2hours 1 way).

Of course need to be aware of all the speed camera along the way, to slow down just before it and than speeding after that.

Need to learn and adapt accordingly, example you cant take for granted at zebra crossing the car will stop for you, need to be more cautious and wait for the car to slow down and stop before crossing unlike in SG.

Overall during my stay, only had 1 major car accident, which was not my fault.
Was waiting at the Red traffic light when a large lorry crashed from behind brakes, driver most likely didn't realized it was red light.

I found AMAP（高德） useful but not sure for countryside etc.

I would never drive in Shanghai , Beijing or even some Northeastern cities like Shenyang or Changchun.

I imagine driving in Zhuhai to be enjoyable, with its well-planned, wide avenues and a few tunnels. It is also less congested than Shenzhen. My last visit to Zhuhai was a little over 10 years ago, and I always entered by Gongbei. I wondered how drivers from Macau could manage driving a right-hand drive vehicle in China.

 

[16/8IF]

I imagine driving in Zhuhai to be enjoyable, with its well-planned, wide avenues and a few tunnels. It is also less congested than Shenzhen. My last visit to Zhuhai was a little over 10 years ago, and I always entered by Gongbei. I wondered how drivers from Macau could manage driving a right-hand drive vehicle in China.

Indeed Zhuhai is a good city, with city planning similar to Singapore.

When Deng visited SG in 1974 he asked LKY for permission to send China Gov Officials to be trained in SG.

Former SG city planner Mr Liu Thai ker was involved in a few projects in Zhuhai.

Zhuhai is "well known" for upgrading and redoing her road network systems due to the International Airshow.

In the early phase , I too used the Gongbei Border crossing until a Taiwanese recommended me to use the Hengqin crossing, ever since I have always make it my first choice, it has less people and it is fast because the immigration of both Macau and Zhuhai are beside each other so clearing is fast.

I think once you get used to right handed and left handed drive you kind of find a reference point of your vehicle vs the road than it is not a problem. Whenever I fly back to SG (right handed) I have no problem driving , don't even need any time to adjust.

I forgot to mention, I would also never to drive in Macau. You really need to be skillful, the car parking space is very small and if you see how tightly parked away each other you wonder how did they managed to squeezed in especially parallel parking.

 

[beanstalk6]

In the early phase , I too used the Gongbei Border crossing until a Taiwanese recommended me to use the Hengqin crossing, ever since I have always make it my first choice, it has less people and it is fast because the immigration of both Macau and Zhuhai are beside each other so clearing is fast.

I think once you get used to right handed and left handed drive you kind of find a reference point of your vehicle vs the road than it is not a problem. Whenever I fly back to SG (right handed) I have no problem driving , don't even need any time to adjust.

I forgot to mention, I would also never to drive in Macau. You really need to be skillful, the car parking space is very small and if you see how tightly parked away each other you wonder how did they managed to squeezed in especially parallel parking.

I must have visited Zhuhai 4-5 times, once visited a remote seafood place that overlooked Lotus Gate. Cotai and Hengqin were dusty construction sites. From the afternoon there would be ladies along the upper stretch of Lianhua Commercial Street who would attempt to engage unaccompanied men, sometimes grabbing my hand aggressively. I stayed at the Yuehai sometimes and not far away, pork bone soup was openly sold on side streets. The mock naval battles at Yuanming New Garden were spectacular. Zhuhai must be a great deal more orderly these days compared to its early days when I visited.

 

[16/8IF]

I must have visited Zhuhai 4-5 times, once visited a remote seafood place that overlooked Lotus Gate. Cotai and Hengqin were dusty construction sites. From the afternoon there would be ladies along the upper stretch of Lianhua Commercial Street who would attempt to engage unaccompanied men, sometimes grabbing my hand aggressively. I stayed at the Yuehai sometimes and not far away, pork bone soup was openly sold on side streets. The mock naval battles at Yuanming New Garden were spectacular. Zhuhai must be a great deal more orderly these days compared to its early days when I visited.

Definitely Zhuhai 2005-2010 is very different from current. I still fly back every year for 30-50 days.

The pace of development is amazing.

I think Lianhua Commercial Street is no longer the same( no street ladies) with the time you are there, although I cannot really confirm since these days I no longer patronized those night spots.


Used to enjoyed going to nightspots for their live music when I was younger with my Chinese friends or even alone.
Lots of stuff have been cleaned up.

I am not keen on tourist sites , even thought I was based there and still visit every year; I have never paid to enter Chimelong Ocean Kingdom park.

Even when friends wanted to give me ticket for the International Airshow I don't have any interest at all but whenever there is invitation for fishing I always accepted them.

I do a lot of fishing in Zhuhai, travelling to outskirt places and I eat the wild fishes I caught and don't have any health problem due to that although you need to distinguish what kind of sea/waterway or river you are fishing in, for example I would never eat those fishes that are caught in the Qianshan river although some locals will.

I think if one wishes to retire in China, I would consider Zhuhai as a good city for consideration, population is not too big, infrastructure is excellent.

It is also a very safe city, even for a female to walk alone in the late hours without having to fear for her safety ( unlike in 2005-2010).

With lots of cameras all over, there is no pickpockets , snatch thieves and house break-in now compared to the past (2005-2010). Now even if you forgot to lock your apartment door, it is still ok.

Transportation is cheap, RMB1 bus ride from end to end, if you are 60 years and above you could apply for a transport card at the bus depot for free public transportation, with no restriction on the number of rides or the timing of the ride. ( I understand this is also valid for foreigner).

Only drawback there is no MRT currently but cheap fares and ease of getting a Didi make up for it.

Medical area- Basically most of the Hospitals are new and big, and as the populations is very much smaller compared to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou , you have less of a problem compared to them.

For those taking prescription drugs you can buy anything from the medical shops/pharmacy without the letter from the doctor plus saving consultation money and time.

If you think you want something comparably to western standard like SG,
Hongkong is only about 40-60 mins away or if you think Macau is acceptable it is only 10-20 mins away too.

Weather wise, temp range from low of 5 -33 degree most part, with temp dropping to below 10 only for maybe 10 days a year during the CNY period.

The worse period is during if I am not wrong late March to May the 回南天， where walls and everything is wet . Typhoon season is normally July to late August/Sept but not too bad.

Online shopping is fantastic- from Taobao, 1688, JD and now even Douyin.

If you need anything urgently there is meituan which basically, you can get anything from food to hardware stuff etc.

I heard there is now online that provides services that you need, for example to pay someone to get a queue number for you at the hospital, to make photocopy etc.

The disadvantage are, foreign goods are more expensive in China because of the taxes but because Zhuhai is located next to HK, many Chinese including foreigners will either make trip to Hong Kong or Macau.

For those that have concerned for food safety, there is now the American supermarket Chain , Sam' club,.
Although the food sourcing is still very much from China itself,

there is stricter control by the supermarket and suppliers only supply them with higher quality product that is only allocated to them and nowhere else. ( if I remembered correctly this Supermarket revenue is more than the combined China's chain).

You can see plenty of Hong Kong's cars and Macau's cars at their parking lots.

Another advantage is the flight from SG is only about 4 hours to Macau/Zhuhai.

For those who have intention to travel all over China, it is a good base as flying to say Beijing from either Macau or Zhuhai is about if I am not wrong 3-4 hours and is also not too far to Taiwan/S. Korea etc.

Above is just my personal opinion for people who are thinking of retirement in China, each needs to consider what their interest are and what they are comfortable with, definitely there will be tradeoffs , there is no perfect place in the world.

 

[beanstalk6]

Definitely Zhuhai 2005-2010 is very different from current. I still fly back every year for 30-50 days.

The pace of development is amazing.

I think Lianhua Commercial Street is no longer the same( no street ladies) with the time you are there, although I cannot really confirm since these days I no longer patronized those night spots.

Used to enjoyed going to nightspots for their live music when I was younger with my Chinese friends or even alone. Lots of stuff have been cleaned up.

I am not keen on tourist sites , even thought I was based there and still visit every year; I have never paid to enter Chimelong Ocean Kingdom park.

Even when friends wanted to give me ticket for the International Airshow I don't have any interest at all but whenever there is invitation for fishing I always accepted them.

I do a lot of fishing in Zhuhai, travelling to outskirt places and I eat the wild fishes I caught and don't have any health problem due to that although you need to distinguish what kind of sea/waterway or river you are fishing in, for example I would never eat those fishes that are caught in the Qianshan river although some locals will.

I think if one wishes to retire in China, I would consider Zhuhai as a good city for consideration, population is not too big, infrastructure is excellent.

It is also a very safe city, even for a female to walk alone in the late hours without having to fear for her safety ( unlike in 2005-2010).

With lots of cameras all over, there is no pickpockets , snatch thieves and house break-in now compared to the past (2005-2010). Now even if you forgot to lock your apartment door, it is still ok.

Transportation is cheap, RMB1 bus ride from end to end, if you are 60 years and above you could apply for a transport card at the bus depot for free public transportation, with no restriction on the number of rides or the timing of the ride. ( I understand this is also valid for foreigner).

Only drawback there is no MRT currently but cheap fares and ease of getting a Didi make up for it.

Medical area- Basically most of the Hospitals are new and big, and as the populations is very much smaller compared to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou , you have less of a problem compared to them.

For those taking prescription drugs you can buy anything from the medical shops/pharmacy without the letter from the doctor plus saving consultation money and time.

If you think you want something comparably to western standard like SG,
Hongkong is only about 40-60 mins away or if you think Macau is acceptable it is only 10-20 mins away too.

Weather wise, temp range from low of 5 -33 degree most part, with temp dropping to below 10 only for maybe 10 days a year during the CNY period.

The worse period is during if I am not wrong late March to May the 回南天， where walls and everything is wet . Typhoon season is normally July to late August/Sept but not too bad.

Online shopping is fantastic- from Taobao, 1688, JD and now even Douyin.

If you need anything urgently there is meituan which basically, you can get anything from food to hardware stuff etc.

I heard there is now online that provides services that you need, for example to pay someone to get a queue number for you at the hospital, to make photocopy etc.

The disadvantage are, foreign goods are more expensive in China because of the taxes but because Zhuhai is located next to HK, many Chinese including foreigners will either make trip to Hong Kong or Macau.

For those that have concerned for food safety, there is now the American supermarket Chain , Sam' club,.
Although the food sourcing is still very much from China itself,

there is stricter control by the supermarket and suppliers only supply them with higher quality product that is only allocated to them and nowhere else. ( if I remembered correctly this Supermarket revenue is more than the combined China's chain).

You can see plenty of Hong Kong's cars and Macau's cars at their parking lots.

Another advantage is the flight from SG is only about 4 hours to Macau/Zhuhai.

For those who have intention to travel all over China, it is a good base as flying to say Beijing from either Macau or Zhuhai is about if I am not wrong 3-4 hours and is also not too far to Taiwan/S. Korea etc.

Above is just my personal opinion for people who are thinking of retirement in China, each needs to consider what their interest are and what they are comfortable with, definitely there will be tradeoffs , there is no perfect place in the world.

When I mentioned that I considered retirement in the south, it was between Zhuhai and Haikou. Zhuhai was for all of the location advantages you outlined, plus proximity to Guangzhou, Kaiping, Foshan etc. A place with a sea view is a real possibility. Of course there were no options like Sam's Club then, but Macau and HK were right next door if there was a need for proper imported goods. Shame about the drive attack last November, as it could have happened anywhere in the country.

 

[16/8IF]

When I mentioned that I considered retirement in the south, it was between Zhuhai and Haikou. Zhuhai was for all of the location advantages you outlined, plus proximity to Guangzhou, Kaiping, Foshan etc. A place with a sea view is a real possibility. Of course there were no options like Sam's Club then, but Macau and HK were right next door if there was a need for proper imported goods. Shame about the drive attack last November, as it could have happened anywhere in the country.

Indeed Nov car incident created a lot of bad publicity even on this forum.

It actually happened when I was there last year. I came to this forum to shared that there WAS no censorship at the beginning when it was reported in the local TV news yet people thought I was one of those "wumao".

I have not been to Haikou but to Sanya but it term of sea view, the water surrounding Zhuhai is actually yellowish due to the mud being discharge from the river system.

For nice water condition needs to go to one of those islands of Zhuhai like Wai ling ding where many goes for diving etc (condition similar to Mauritius according to my Chinese friends).

There will be a second Sam's Club in Zhuhai. ( a plot of land in Nanping area have already been earmarked). Seems many people are willing to pay higher prices for quality products in Zhuhai.

Yes location is her advantage, travelling within Guangdong Province is extreme convenient and easy especially if you drive.

Lastly , maybe it is time for you to visit Zhuhai again to see how much it has developed since you last visited.

 

[lazy999]

Indeed Nov car incident created a lot of bad publicity even on this forum.

It actually happened when I was there last year. I came to this forum to shared that there WAS no censorship at the beginning when it was reported in the local TV news yet people thought I was one of those "wumao".

I have not been to Haikou but to Sanya but it term of sea view, the water surrounding Zhuhai is actually yellowish due to the mud being discharge from the river system.

For nice water condition needs to go to one of those islands of Zhuhai like Wai ling ding where many goes for diving etc (condition similar to Mauritius according to my Chinese friends).

There will be a second Sam's Club in Zhuhai. ( a plot of land in Nanping area have already been earmarked). Seems many people are willing to pay higher prices for quality products in Zhuhai.

Yes location is her advantage, travelling within Guangdong Province is extreme convenient and easy especially if you drive.

Lastly , maybe it is time for you to visit Zhuhai again to see how much it has developed since you last visited.

Totally agree with your comment on Zhuhai. My wife had been Zhuhai 10+ year ago and i have never. Recently we went to Zhuhai bringing our kids along to the Chimelong park.

During our short stay at Zhuhai, my wifey told me Zhuhai have change a lot. Now its so modern, their road network is very well built and well connected, You can see a lot , really a lot of cameras on a lot. Didi drivers will tell you the TP there are very strict, which is good.

When we are out late at night walking along the road, we felt safe too.

The official at Zhuhai are doing a good job to attract tourists. We notice there is official government store renting out kids toy and those camping chairs very cheaply for ppls at the bench, tourist or local can rent those items. They even broadcast annoursement via loud speaker, not to rent chair or those toy sand set from those illegal sellers.

You can spot a few illegal mobile sellers trying to sell toys and camping /picnic chairs /mats at higher price than the official shop. I wonder who will buy from them.

Food wise, there are lot of variety to choose from and price wise, its still acceptable.

Oh ya, bubble tea is cheap over at Zhuhai. Chagee lover will be delighted, Chagee @ zhuhai is so much cheaper as compare to sgp.

 

[16/8IF]

Totally agree with your comment on Zhuhai. My wife had been Zhuhai 10+ year ago and i have never. Recently we went to Zhuhai bringing our kids along to the Chimelong park.

During our short stay at Zhuhai, my wifey told me Zhuhai have change a lot. Now its so modern, their road network is very well built and well connected, You can see a lot , really a lot of cameras on a lot. Didi drivers will tell you the TP there are very strict, which is good.

When we are out late at night walking along the road, we felt safe too.

The official at Zhuhai are doing a good job to attract tourists. We notice there is official government store renting out kids toy and those camping chairs very cheaply for ppls at the bench, tourist or local can rent those items. They even broadcast annoursement via loud speaker, not to rent chair or those toy sand set from those illegal sellers.

You can spot a few illegal mobile sellers trying to sell toys and camping /picnic chairs /mats at higher price than the official shop. I wonder who will buy from them.

Food wise, there are lot of variety to choose from and price wise, its still acceptable.

Oh ya, bubble tea is cheap over at Zhuhai. Chagee lover will be delighted, Chagee @ zhuhai is so much cheaper as compare to sgp.

Glad to hear that you had a good time in Zhuhai .

I don't really go for bubble tea so don't know about the pricing but for starbucks I think the pricing is not much different from SG .

 

[16/8IF]

I imagine driving in Zhuhai to be enjoyable, with its well-planned, wide avenues and a few tunnels. It is also less congested than Shenzhen. My last visit to Zhuhai was a little over 10 years ago, and I always entered by Gongbei. I wondered how drivers from Macau could manage driving a right-hand drive vehicle in China.

watch this YouTube

seems to get a temporary China's driving lesson is an international driving license, Singapore's drivers license and SG's Passport.

 

[beanstalk6]

watch this YouTube

seems to get a temporary China's driving lesson is an international driving license, Singapore's drivers license and SG's Passport.

This is for driving a foreign car into China. I recall cases where an on-the-spot test was required.

 

[beanstalk6]

Indeed Nov car incident created a lot of bad publicity even on this forum.

It actually happened when I was there last year. I came to this forum to shared that there WAS no censorship at the beginning when it was reported in the local TV news yet people thought I was one of those "wumao".

They have since devised quicker measures to stop "negative energy" news from circulating. I saw that they deployed mobile signal jammers openly during the incident at Sichuan on Sunday.

I have not been to Haikou but to Sanya but it term of sea view, the water surrounding Zhuhai is actually yellowish due to the mud being discharge from the river system.

For nice water condition needs to go to one of those islands of Zhuhai like Wai ling ding where many goes for diving etc (condition similar to Mauritius according to my Chinese friends).

Coming in to land at the airport, I could see many idyllic islands offshore, with clear waters.

Lastly , maybe it is time for you to visit Zhuhai again to see how much it has developed since you last visited.

I have a plan sometime to visit Macau and Zhuhai again, now that budget airlines are serving the route again. Back then there were 2 or 3 choices, so I used Macau as my gateway to other spots in the mainland. This time Chimelong is an objective. Maybe visit Fangjidao as well.

 

[16/8IF]

This is for driving a foreign car into China. I recall cases where an on-the-spot test was required.

I believe in the video he has stated he can drive China rental car with that license .

I think it is standard that if you have a foreign driver's license the only test you need to take is their theory or highway code done on a PC, during my time if I remembered correctly it is 100 multiple choice questions and u can only afford to get not more than 3 questions wrong.

Now it is available in English so cant take the easy way out like I did, which was to have my Chinese friend "acted" as my translator ( he was basically answering all the questions for me).

 

[16/8IF]

They have since devised quicker measures to stop "negative energy" news from circulating. I saw that they deployed mobile signal jammers openly during the incident at Sichuan on Sunday.

I have not met such incident in Zhuhai and I would think it is difficult as well, as large number of Macau people and Chinese cross the border daily.

Lots of Chinese that works in Macau have Macau telco number as well so stopping them might be more difficult than say Sichuan.

Infact during the Nov car incident, it happened in the area which was under the 街道办 where one of my Chinese Gov Official friend was.

So they mobilized everyone basically most Gov official to work overtime.

In the past, before every CNY there is always labour dispute between workers and corporate because non payment of salaries.

In fact I have joined my friends in many of them, we get "lock-in" by the angry workers, because workers expected the Gov Officials from the e 街道办 to help them to demand their unpaid salaries from the corporate , normally it usually end in a "settlement" of payment.

The first time, I went kind of scary with hundreds of angry workers shouting etc but after that It became normal. My Chinese friend brought me along just to have me experience their way of handling employer and employees dispute.

Coming in to land at the airport, I could see many idyllic islands offshore, with clear waters.

Believe me the water condition on the main Zhuhai island is basically brownish due to the mud that is discharged from the River into the sea. You dont get the blue color like in SG.

You only get those blue water if you go to one of the many islands of Zhuhai, especially WailingDing, and Wanshan island, even Guishan island might not be good. I know because I go everywhere to fish in Zhuhai with my friend.

The island of Wanshan is especially famous for Rock fishing ( ISO fishing) which is popular with the Japanese and Taiwanese Anglers.

below is a youtube on Zhuhai, you can see the color of the water.

I have a plan sometime to visit Macau and Zhuhai again, now that budget airlines are serving the route again. Back then there were 2 or 3 choices, so I used Macau as my gateway to other spots in the mainland. This time Chimelong is an objective. Maybe visit Fangjidao as well.

I have always taken Scoot/Tiger from 2005-till to date , SG-Macau (budget). Sometime when u check the online there is no flight because the schedule is not out yet.

Tourist attraction is not my cup of tea, have never enter Chimelong but have been around the area because before the development it used to be good fishing location in the wild.

Maybe you should search on Baidu about Guishan and Wanshan island, Wailingding might be a bit far. You can look at the map to have an idea where they are, Dont know about Fangjidao..

 

[froztheart]

Given a chance, I wont want to drive again in GZ , it is a "nightmare", the many overhead highways, and once you didn't go out of the right "exit" , it is a very long long way before you can do a U turn.

From my personal experience, it is definitely very useful to have 关系 （"connection") in China vs SG, so "networking" is very important. It makes your life easier.

Same goes for anywhere else in the world, the u turns/exit is a distance.

Actually I enjoyed driving in the city (Zhuhai) I was based in.

I it really depend on the city you are in , but definitely if you compared, say drivers from Macau to those in Zhuhai, definitely Macau drivers are more polite and considerate .

For Macau car plate, when they see your signal they will slow down and allow you to come in, but for China's car plate most of them will "close the gap" .

I used to race with my China friends from Zhuhai all the way to Shenzhen Airport ( highways) just to have coffee at Starbucks and also to relax at the bookstore. ( about 1 1/ 2hours 1 way).

Of course need to be aware of all the speed camera along the way, to slow down just before it and than speeding after that.

Need to learn and adapt accordingly, example you cant take for granted at zebra crossing the car will stop for you, need to be more cautious and wait for the car to slow down and stop before crossing unlike in SG.

Overall during my stay, only had 1 major car accident, which was not my fault.
Was waiting at the Red traffic light when a large lorry crashed from behind brakes, driver most likely didn't realized it was red light.

I found AMAP（高德） useful but not sure for countryside etc.

I would never drive in Shanghai , Beijing or even some Northeastern cities like Shenyang or Changchun.

A Map works great from what I see during Didi rides, clear and concise informations with details like traffic light timings, cameras etc.
It's like a combination of Google Maps and Waze put together with even better features and functions that reduces any need to draw your attention to the screen constantly.

 

[16/8IF]

Same goes for anywhere else in the world, the u turns/exit is a distance.

I think you should try the multi-level highways in GZ ( not talking about a single highway like maybe the Malaysia's NS highway type) it is definitely a nightmare for me including many of my Chinese friends.

A Map works great from what I see during Didi rides, clear and concise informations with details like traffic light timings, cameras etc.
It's like a combination of Google Maps and Waze put together with even better features and functions that reduces any need to draw your attention to the screen constantly.

Definitely agreed with your comment about this A Map.

 

[beanstalk6]

In the past, before every CNY there is always labour dispute between workers and corporate because non payment of salaries.

In fact I have joined my friends in many of them, we get "lock-in" by the angry workers, because workers expected the Gov Officials from the e 街道办 to help them to demand their unpaid salaries from the corporate , normally it usually end in a "settlement" of payment.

The first time, I went kind of scary with hundreds of angry workers shouting etc but after that It became normal. My Chinese friend brought me along just to have me experience their way of handling employer and employees dispute.

Is 街道办 different from chengguan? Were you into manufacturing? I had a Singaporean acquaintance during my first visit to Zhuhai in 2005. His firm relocated to Zhuhai, so he had the opportunity to live the high life there and became very well established in the night life circles and Shuiwan Street. Have since lost contact with him.
I visited Foxconn's factory town at Longhua, Shenzhen. The scale was bewildering. Is there anything like that in Zhuhai?

 

[16/8IF]

Is 街道办 different from chengguan? Were you into manufacturing? I had a Singaporean acquaintance during my first visit to Zhuhai in 2005. His firm relocated to Zhuhai, so he had the opportunity to live the high life there and became very well established in the night life circles and Shuiwan Street. Have since lost contact with him.
I visited Foxconn's factory town at Longhua, Shenzhen. The scale was bewildering. Is there anything like that in Zhuhai?

I think a 街道办 is different from chengguan , basically you can find Gov services , like labour , their 社保 , eg

My friends is the 所长 in charge of labour ,he is the one who basically recommended me to work in one of the factory that is under his area.

I was actually in semi -retirement already , this job allow me to have the a resident visa yet I don't have to be at the factory everyday , only when they have oversea customers visiting their factory , pay was low as I wasn't really looking for an income .

Yes , I actually have many dinners( late ) at one of the restaurant in Shuiwan street where they have live music .

Basically know most of the popular singers that performed in the many night spots on that street. Most of them are from Dongbei.

You can request the singer to sing a particular song and normally the guest who requested will tip the singer rmb 100.

During the early years in Zhuhai ie from 2005,
basically have lots of Chinese friends from Gov Officials to Police and also including those "Dongbei gang leader" etc.

I am lucky that all my chinese friends have always been good with me, I don't smoke or drink .

Sometimes during some session in the nightclub whenever some of those friend's of friends going to start some "forbidden stuff" they always asked me to leave the room. I never touch those stuff.

Attended many karaoke session whereby you have the police and the gang people in the same room.

When Xi started his anti corruption drive all these started to disappeared.

But many of my chinese friends that was involved with gangs actually have switched and become successful businessmen .

Some have become construction company owners, others in Food manufacturing etc .

There was Flextronic( contract manufacturer) -which took over SG Tommy Goh's JIT Holding , , which was very big in Zhuhai too but no longer around .

Now the biggest if I am not wrong is 格力(GREE Electric Appliances Inc ) her CEO/Chairman is quite famous - Dong Ming Zhu.

Another well known Zhuhai company is Kingsoft - a software company .

If I not wrong , Zhuhai is known for Printer Cartridges manufacturing base-world wide.

If I am not wrong , there is a semiconductor factory here too .

I have not kept undated with the current development in this area but i am sure there are many due to the tax incentives for Hengqin island and Zhuhai is earmarked as the key city in the Greater Bay Area.


Zhuhai actually is more like a retirement cities for lots of Chinese Gov officials and leaders , the former PM Li Peng has a home here.

Many Northern Chinese have a 2nd home in Zhuhai . They send their Children and old folks to stay only during the winter session ;

That is why during summer , people might have the wrong impression that the apartment block is empty when view at night .

Just a small summary off my head .

PS just copy n paste what is the difference 街道办城管和城管局城管在执法层级、编制归属和职责范围上存在区别‌：前者是基层执法力量，隶属街道办事处；后者属县级以上城市管理局，统筹全局执法工作。

 

[beanstalk6]

My friends is the 所长 in charge of labour ,he is the one who basically recommended me to work in one of the factory that is under his area.

I was actually in semi -retirement already , this job allow me to have the a resident visa yet I don't have to be at the factory everyday , only when they have oversea customers visiting their factory , pay was low as I wasn't really looking for an income .

Yes , I actually have many dinners( late ) at one of the restaurant in Shuiwan street where they have live music .

Basically know most of the popular singers that performed in the many night spots on that street. Most of them are from Dongbei.

You can request the singer to sing a particular song and normally the guest who requested will tip the singer rmb 100.

During the early years in Zhuhai ie from 2005,
basically have lots of Chinese friends from Gov Officials to Police and also including those "Dongbei gang leader" etc.

I am lucky that all my chinese friends have always been good with me, I don't smoke or drink .

Sometimes during some session in the nightclub whenever some of those friend's of friends going to start some "forbidden stuff" they always asked me to leave the room. I never touch those stuff.

Attended many karaoke session whereby you have the police and the gang people in the same room.

When Xi started his anti corruption drive all these started to disappeared.

But many of my chinese friends that was involved with gangs actually have switched and become successful businessmen .

Some have become construction company owners, others in Food manufacturing etc .

There was Flextronic( contract manufacturer) -which took over SG Tommy Goh's JIT Holding , , which was very big in Zhuhai too but no longer around .

Now the biggest if I am not wrong is 格力(GREE Electric Appliances Inc ) her CEO/Chairman is quite famous - Dong Ming Zhu.

Another well known Zhuhai company is Kingsoft - a software company .

If I not wrong , Zhuhai is known for Printer Cartridges manufacturing base-world wide.

If I am not wrong , there is a semiconductor factory here too .

I have not kept undated with the current development in this area but i am sure there are many due to the tax incentives for Hengqin island and Zhuhai is earmarked as the key city in the Greater Bay Area.


Zhuhai actually is more like a retirement cities for lots of Chinese Gov officials and leaders , the former PM Li Peng has a home here.

Many Northern Chinese have a 2nd home in Zhuhai . They send their Children and old folks to stay only during the winter session ;

That is why during summer , people might have the wrong impression that the apartment block is empty when view at night .

Just a small summary off my head .

Good for you that you held on to your principles and earned a lot of respect over there.
I had circles there and now, family. Some people I met were quite unsavoury; they size you up for your status in social hierarchy and then maneuver for an edge. Fortunately, I always had kind companions.

You also noticed many of the social developments, like the hollowing out of the North-East, resulting in the
exodus of northeasterners to everywhere. Also, how they clamped down on the underworld and sleaze in Guangdong.

The annual winter migration resulted in a worse situation at Hainan, I observed. The Hainan property bubble burst, and the property scene is a mess. Anyway, I am of the opinion that Hainan will never be successful compared to Zhuhai. While Zhuhai had a slow start, it turned around into a success. Hainan went thru several boom-and-bust cycles. SEZ, tourism duty-free zone, HNA Group bankruptcy and now this Free Trade Port.

 

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Good for you that you held on to your principles and earned a lot of respect over there.
I had circles there and now, family. Some people I met were quite unsavoury; they size you up for your status in social hierarchy and then maneuver for an edge. Fortunately, I always had kind companions.

Honestly I had all kind of friends when I was in Zhuhai, never look down upon them. Some of them came in useful.

I had 1 phone number from one of them, anytime if I get into any problem in the city, within 15-20 mins， he would be down.

I also had the chief of the 110 telephone number too, but the other phone number is more useful lol .

Don't have to pay any additional money if they come and help me settle, just treat them to cheap beer and 烧烤。-roadside stall.

I have even someone who is basically working for those syndicate that works in the Macau Casino.
Those rich kids from those Coal Mine owners that gambled away on credit and cant pay on the spot, many a time my friend will bring them over to 1 of those hotel in Zhuhai near the border and check them into a room, they feed him but don't allow him to sleep until their parents pay up.

initially I was weary of them, but as I got to know them better, as long as you let them know where your "lines" are they respect you and would never encourage you to do stuff that is against your wishes.

Regarding the property situation, I think Xi made a big mistake with his , "apartment is used for staying and not for speculation" and till to this date they are trying hard to rectify the error.

An Apartment in any family should be an asset of wealth , whether in China or SG. He was trying to be popular with the masses , trying to project the message that he was going to make it affordable to vast majority of the masses. He didn't understand how much the economy is dependent on this sector.

The economy is always better when the real estate market is hot, what they needed was to have better control on the credit for the developers and also the buyers ( to get rid of thos speculators who basically did not have the necessary cash)v , instead they came with freezing of sales for long period of time etc

In the past, many rich Chinese had invested in multiple properties to collect rent and by his action many wealthy individuals started to shift the money to overseas property . which finally also impacted the RMB, and many other sector of the economy including banking.

To this date, the effect is still being felt, ie borrower who took at loan and bought property at peak, now have to "top up" the value of current property vs their outstanding loan and if they are unable to, the bank "force sell them in the auction market, and thus depressing the market further and cause families to be in a difficult financial situation.

In my opinion that is his big mistake, he should have learned from LKY , that citizen needs to "sunk their roots" in SG, with the high ownership of property thru HDB , means the future of the country is tie in with the citizen.

From last year, they started talking about the "SG property model", ie HDB and private property, after they basically destroyed the private property market with their "controls" , now they indicated they no longer will "control the private properties but they will have something similar to HDB where it is made affordable to the masses but they didn't realized that in SG, HDB is also appreciating like crazy. Maybe it is a face saving method for them ?

Basically even the genuine buyers are waiting, as long as he doesn't remove that phrase, it is going to be slow slow recovery. He needs new money coming in to "trigger" some urgency is these people sitting on the side.

Hopefully, after his plan to open up and encourage tourism ( in the past they always think their domestic tourism is enough) , he would think about having scheme, like allowing foreigners to buy property and with it comes with a 10 years resident visa , that will create new inflow and maybe antic those Chinese buyers on the sideline to move or miss the boat.

Of course it needed to be paid in cash, no loan from the Chinese Banking system to further diversify the property risk

.-Basically Foreign inflows, this will also ensure that they are attracting those high NetWorth that is long term and not speculative in nature.

In fact many places in China are ideal for people who works online.

Don't know much about Hainan island stuff .

Finally I think Zhuhai should be one of the top few cities for retirement, (but not for business), you can get out fast by land, by air or by sea if there any bad "development" . ( of course I don't see any as the Chinese are not interested in politics they are more interested in making money ).

Just adding this additional history/ info about Zhuhai

Although Zhuhai had the same Special Economic Zone as Shenzhen but lack in the development due to her previous leaders that only allowing environmental friendly industries to be operated out of Zhuhai. So lots of those factories was located in Zhongshan and her smaller town and cities beside Zhuhai like Tanzhou.

That is why Zhuhai has better air quality compared to other parts of China. ( many Chinese Politburo members had their vacation here).

You also noticed many of the social developments, like the hollowing out of the North-East, resulting in the
exodus of northeasterners to everywhere. Also, how they clamped down on the underworld and sleaze in Guangdong.

The annual winter migration resulted in a worse situation at Hainan, I observed. The Hainan property bubble burst, and the property scene is a mess. Anyway, I am of the opinion that Hainan will never be successful compared to Zhuhai. While Zhuhai had a slow start, it turned around into a success. Hainan went thru several boom-and-bust cycles. SEZ, tourism duty-free zone, HNA Group bankruptcy and now this Free Trade Port.

 

[16/8IF]

Good for you that you held on to your principles and earned a lot of respect over there.
I had circles there and now, family. Some people I met were quite unsavoury; they size you up for your status in social hierarchy and then maneuver for an edge. Fortunately, I always had kind companions.

You also noticed many of the social developments, like the hollowing out of the North-East, resulting in the
exodus of northeasterners to everywhere. Also, how they clamped down on the underworld and sleaze in Guangdong.

The annual winter migration resulted in a worse situation at Hainan, I observed. The Hainan property bubble burst, and the property scene is a mess. Anyway, I am of the opinion that Hainan will never be successful compared to Zhuhai. While Zhuhai had a slow start, it turned around into a success. Hainan went thru several boom-and-bust cycles. SEZ, tourism duty-free zone, HNA Group bankruptcy and now this Free Trade Port.

I just saw this Youtube from CNA.

Don't understand why the program started with Yunfu city which is not in the GBA (honestly dont even know where it is until I google).

I agree with the comment that must buy completed project , think would even add buy well established 2nd hand apartment that already have all the various infrastructure that is up and running.

Seems they now have it only for Hong Kong and Macau citizen.( long term resident permits and social security).

They show the Hengqin border crossing and LRT ride .

Actually for Zhuhai, there is lots of potential, but the Chinese Gov needs to let HK run it, just like they allow Macau to run Hengqin.

With high Real estate prices in HK, financial institutions, their back office and computer department can relocate over to cheaper buildings in Zhuhai.