[seanmcdirmid]

I've found that corruption can decrease the farther one gets away from Beijing. Some cities like Hangzhou, Kunming, and even Guangzhou are run much better than the capital. This only applies to a point: there are some pretty awfully run cities out there (like say Changsha).

It must be said that Shenzhen is also China's LGBT capital, for mostly the same reasons you listed above (parents and even spouses are often far away).

Edit: however, Beijing, being a seat of power, as a lot of waidi ren. The only Beijingers I meet often with hukou are taxi drivers, and even these people come from the more rural suburbs (some new grad hires are eligible for hukou, but even that has been cut recently). The hukou situation still sucks compared to Shenzhen. On the other hand, the police are absolutely terrified of enforcing traffic laws: you can never tell who knows who; residency isn't a good indicator of guangxi (and is probably inversely correlated).

Source: 7 years in Beijing.