China’s northeastern provinces – Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning – made national headlines recently after State leaders including Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang stressed the importance of boosting the region’s economy, which has been losing speed in recent years. However, media reports have also drawn national attention to another crisis facing the region: a worsening population *exodus draining much-needed manpower and talent out of the three provinces, coupled with some of China’s lowest birth rates. According to the latest national *census in 2010, the region, which has been China’s heavy industry hub for almost a century, loses a total of 2 million people per year to other parts of the country. There has been much research on the causes of the population outflow and how to stem it. Some economists and sociologists argue that the economic slowdown and population outflow forms a *vicious cycle which could hurt the region’s economy for a long time. Others, however, have said the migrants are only following economic opportunities, and there is nothing to worry about.