Reply #17: It is not much different than the US after WW II

[FarCenter]

There was massive flow of people from farms and rural areas to the suburbs. There was also massive migration from the Northeast and MidWest to the South and West, e.g. George H W Bush going from Connecticut to Texas to seek his fortune.

The extended family becomes truncated to a nuclear family. Relationships with co-workers and neighbors in the suburban community replaced those with relatives.

With better communications and transportation, the negative effects should be somewhat less within China. Even Chinese professionals in the US seem to keep in close touch with their families and return home fairly frequently. This contrasts with the experience of my grandfathers, who never saw their families in Europe after emigrating to the US.