China's Slowdown Leaves Second-Tier City Locals Looking for Exit

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"These types of cities are in for a really tough stretch," said Andrew Polk, Beijing-based director of China research at Medley Global Advisors LLC, who previously worked at the U.S. Treasury. "Industrial cities that got hollowed out in the U.S. after the 1960s and '70s are still in really bad shape, showing how difficult it is to turn the industrial corner even in an economy as well-connected and innovative as the U.S."

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Tieling's plight underscores the magnitude of the challenge facing President Xi Jinping: he needs to slash the deflation-causing excess capacity in these areas, while cushioning the blow to the millions of people on the losing end. China's economy continued decelerating in the past three months, to a pace of 6.6 percent, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of gross domestic product data due Friday.