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I Moved Back to a Second-Tier City and Finally Started Living

chinaunread.substack.com Aug 23, 2026

Letters from people in China (translated to English) who moved from 1st tier to 2nd tier cities and their feelings and emotions, regrets and cope.

(There are also replies inline but I think those were not as moving to me)

In this article I, learned about 'heart energy': what I interpret as drive but is described as a fire in your chest that makes you excited to do things.

The letters remind me of my own move from Montreal to Palo Alto.. that feeling like you lost something that you didn't realize was an integral part of you. One letter talked about how they were feeling frustrated because their move looked "right" from the outside but "wrong" internally.

Read the full article on chinaunread.substack.com
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