LULU：Hello again. And welcome back to Britain under the microscope special audition for the Youth Day. Hello again AnLan.
AnLan: Hello everybody.
LULU: It's going to be the Youth Day in China very soon, May the forth. We decided to do a special episode about young people and the dilemmas and the problems they face. Even though we talked about the Millennium before, but this would be a comparison between the young people in China and also young people in the UK.
AnLan: Absolutely.
LULU: If you read newspaper articles or online articles about young people in China nowadays. You'll see a lot of articles about the youth are now settled with lots of responsibilities and also faced with some dilemmas. One of these dilemmas is whether they should stay in their hometown, which usually a smaller city, or a little town or even a village, or do they go to the first-tire cities (we call them first-tire cities), like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou. So AnLan, do young people in the UK face such dilemma?
Anlan: To a certain extent, yes. But you have to think that China is quiet unique. People say that this is the largest human migration form the countryside to the cities in the whole of human history. But there is a lot of dilemma especially for young people in the UK, because everything is centered around London.
LULU: This is what I was going to ask you. Apart from London, the UK doesn't seem to have other real centers.
Anlan: No, not really.
LULU: What about Edinburgh?
Anlan: Edinburgh is in Scotland. That can be seen as a center, but London is still dominant.
LULU: Then, what about the differences between cities and smaller towns or villages. Is it a big divide as big divide as in China?
Anlan: Not as big. I remember when I first came to China. I lived in a very small city. And people say it was small, because it only had two million people living there.
LULU: By China scale.
Anlan: You have to think that, in terms of population, London has the largest population by far of any UK city.
LULU: How big is the population in London?
Anlan: It's around 10 million.
LULU: Well Beijing has probably twice or even three times as many people. And if I remember correctly, we were talking about living in the countryside and you are never far from a city. So technically, you can live in the countryside and still work in the city, no?
Anlan: Many people do. A lot of the suburbs, a lot of the surrounding towns of London, they still have a lot of commuters.
LULU: Commuters. So, they are coming to the town to work and go back to the suburban or countryside homes. But what about regional differences, like in China, you note coastal areas in the east and in the south. Obviously, they are much more developed than inland, than western regions.
Anlan: In the UK, especially in the England, we have what we called the North South divide,
LULU: The North South. So for us, it's the East and West and for you it's North and South. So, let me guess, the South is more developed because London is in the South?
Anlan: Not developed in that way. It's more prosperous and a lot of political institutions, the cultural institutions, the finance the business are all centered around London and Southeast of the England.
LULU: But many of these industrial towns, they are in the north, right?
Anlan: Well, the old industrial towns of the 18th 19th century. So, the industrial revolutions, they mostly happened in the North of England. So, these towns were primarily industrial cities, mills and factories. You think Charles Dickens and that's what the North England used to be like.
LULU: And these industrial towns, they are now not developing as much as London.
Anlan: No, that's because London does dominate. It's the center of the UK.
LULU: Business, finance, especially culture and government.
Anlan: Yeah.
LULU: Same as the Chinese centers Beijing, Shanghai, you also see these. One of the reasons why people so desperately want to stay in these big cities is because career prospects. There are simply many more job opportunities. Is that the same in London?
Anlan: Oh, definitely. There are fewer jobs in the North of England than the South, and unemployment has always been quite high in those areas and salaries are lower in North England. But the expenditure is lower as well.
LULU: Yeah, I mean it always goes hand in hand. Higher income means higher spending in general, and also about other reasons why people want to stay in big cities in China is because all the other resources they can get like house and education.
Anlan: It's somewhat better in the South. But the difference is not as pronounced as in China. Government expenditure is actually higher in the north. The government spent more money in the north of England.
LULU: As subsidies?
Anlan: As subsidies. Well, the South is really the area that contributes the most economy.
LULU: They generate more growth. So that was all about the infrastructure and you know, about the society. What about culture? Because in China we say the big cities, you are more anonymous. There are more opportunities and more equality; whereas probably in smaller cities, there is a different picture. What about in the UK? If you are saying North South divide culturally, is there a division?
Anlan: A lot of people say that there are quite a lot of differences between people from the North of England and people from the South. Generally, Northerners are seemed as friendlier.
LULU: That I have heard. People who are from the north, they always say it to me. Because I told them that I feel people in London, they are not exactly friendly, they are polite, but they are not exactly friendly. They always tell me you have to come to the North. So is that true, is that a common understanding?
Anlan: It's a common stereotype. Well, Southerners, they tend to be a bit more unfriendly, a bit colder. Well, as Northerners, they like to go out to party, they like to drink, they are more down to earth, so we often said the Northerners there are a bit harder, but they are more down to earth, they are more friendly.
LULU: They are more like 接地气。And the Southern people are more probably sophisticated.
Anlan: Pretty much.

LULU: At least that's the stereotype.
Anlan: Oh, those are the stereotypes. But obviously, you can only go so far with stereotypes.
LULU: So far, we've talked about the good things about the South, it's more prosperous, more business. It's a financial center, more job opportunities, better house, education. And then the North, the people are probably more welcoming. They are friendlier and also like you said, even though the income is lower in North and also the spending is lower.
Anlan: But we talked about the North South divide, it's very important to realize the London essentially is a separate from the west of the England.
LULU: London is almost like a self-governing kind of a place.
Anlan: Absolutely. It has a lot of autonomy; it has its own mayor; it has its own assembly and even within London, the city of London, the square mile.
LULU: This is something, if you don't really know that much about London, you probably don't understand the difference between London and the city of London. The city of London is that very small area in the center of London. That's where all the banks are, right?
Anlan: That's the original London. That's where London was first founded.
LULU: It's essentially 伦敦金融城。It's a very small area but you see so many banks.
Anlan: That's why we call it traditionally the Square Mile. But it has been self -governing now for over several hundred years. They have their own police force; they have their own mayor; they even have their own laws as well.
LULU: That's why a lot of young people especially they're in business and finance, especially finance and banking, they have to go there.
Anlan: They have to. I love this center and also Canary Wharf as well which is close. It's all centered around London.
LULU: You say about London being expensive and people in the Square Mile, they do have a much much higher income.
Anlan: Oh, absolutely. But they need it if you think about it. The average price of house in London is around 478,000 pounds.
LULU: So roughly like half a million pounds. What about in the North?
Anlan: In the Northeast of England, the average house price is 132,000 pounds.
LULU: So that's one third. Only like thirty to forty percent of that. That's a huge divide, huge gap. What about their income?
Anlan: This is one of the issues. The average graduate salary now is 27000 pounds.
LULU: This is for the whole of the UK.
Analan: This is for London.
LULU: Oh, this is for London. Do people make roughly the same amount in the North?
Anlan: The average salary in the North of England is roughly about half of the salary in London.
LULU: If that's half, but London housing price and everything much more expensive.
Anlan: Absolutely.
LULU: 27000 pounds really doesn't sound that much if you considering the rent, the transport. Is it at least going up?
Anlan: Unfortunately not, it's actually decreasing.
LULU: It's going down.
Anlan: If you consider that 25% Londoners are under the age of 25.
LULU：That I can understand. The aging population wouldn't really affect the center that much. This is where young people come in. They want to make something out of themselves.
Analan: But that causes a brain drain.
LULU：A brain drain meaning people from other places in England, they are all coming to London.
Anlan: They are all coming to London and not staying in other regions of the UK.
LULU: I think that's a huge problem in China in some certain places as well. So, I know in terms of details, there are a lot of differences. You know in China, it's different regional divide. But it seems big city like London in England it's the same as Beijing Shanghai in China. It's where young people with dreams they come and try to realize their dreams and try to make something out of themselves.
Anlan: Absolutely. There is a very famous story about one of the mayors of London called Dick Whittington and he came to London to seek his fortune and they always say the streets were paved with gold.
LULU：The streets were paved with gold.
Anlan: It's a common expression now to mean a place that there is a lot of money and where there is money, there is always people.
LULU: In a way they are chasing their London dream.
Anlan: Absolutely.
LULU: So, what about you Anlan. You moved essentially form one big city in the world to another big city in the world, from London to Beijing. If you go back to the UK, will you be settling in London or will you consider other cities.
Anlan: It's difficult to say. Because I'm a Londoner. London is my hometown. But I have to admit I do like the idea of living in a smaller town or a smaller city and very soon developments of the internet and being a Digital Nomad as well, which is becoming quite popular.
LULU: You can move around and take your work around, you can just work from your computer.
Anlan: Hopefully in the future, this will be less a dilemma, not only for British people, but also for Chinese people as well.
LULU: Exactly. Let's hope the internet is going to bring us those changes. No matter if you are staying in your hometown, a smaller town or even a village; or if you're trying very hard to realize your dreams in first-tire cities in China or anywhere else in the world, we wish you all the best and early happy youth day.
Anlan: To not only the youth, but to all of those listeners who have young hearts as well.
LULU: Sure, all right. That's true. All right, that's the end of today's show. See you next time.

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