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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Albee Zhang

As China's economy slows, some young people are snapping up cheap apartments to 'retire' early

China Cheap Housing Photo Gallery - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The “Life in Venice” housing development, a multibillion-dollar replica of the Italian city on the Chinese coast, stands silent. Many of the tens of thousands of homes are hollow husks of concrete and alabaster.

But in recent years the remote, partially abandoned complex has drawn unlikely new residents like Sasa Chen, a burned-out young Chinese woman who until recently worked a high-earning finance job in Shanghai, China’s bustling commerce hub.

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