?_? I'm ethnic Chinese and I'd gladly buy a home next to a nice cemetery for quiet neighbors and parkland access. Preferably with a population of small game (rabbits, squirrels) as 4-legged 500 calorie protein bars in case of emergency.
Mainlanders have been living under communist rule for over 6 decades. Communism is about getting the lower classes to attack the middle class to attack the upper class, who are competition for power to the political elite. When the upper class is killed off, and middle class destroyed so they cannot climb to upper class, the elites can dream that they'd be in power forever. This is not a system of cooperation, it's one where the relationship between men is like that of wolves.
Deng Xiaoping knew this and did what he could to reform the system. However his efforts and that of his successors were more concerned with "hardware" aspect of agriculture/economic/scientific/national defense development, and less on "software' aspect of human development. Beijing Government had to tell Taxi drivers not to spit out the window for 2008 Olympics. In contrast, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore prioritized & forced the "software" development by turning Singapore into a FINE city where feeding the birds or not flushing the toilet is a $500 FINE.
The Irvine that I knew was a city where young couples could afford a home and raise a family. When I first moved to Irvine I was on first name basis with my neighbors and we exchanged phone #'s and had BBQ gatherings by the pool. Years later I find myself among neighbors who did not want to talk to me and respond to my "good morning" greeting with a grunt. I had to go buy another house in a "lesser" city's cul-de-sac where I'm on my neighbor's facebook, I walk their dog, attend their baby showers, we have each other's house keys for emergencies, and they pick up my mail while I'm on vacation.
Maybe, just maybe when fewer snobbish rich people move into this city, and more "ghetto" people (as Yaliu puts it) move in, I'd consider moving back to my house in Irvine and, when i say "good morning" to someone, that person will respond with a smile and "Buenos dias se?or". In the mean time, if the cemetery gets build and it's nice, you might find me there during lunch break with a croque monsieur or shooter's sandwich.
