Meet a burned out 28-year-old who pays $168 a month in China’s faux Venice to retire early from her Shanghai finance gig

The “Life in Venice” housing development, a multibillion-dollar replica of the Italian city on the Chinese coast, stands silent. Many of the tens of thousands of homes are hollow husks of concrete and alabaster.

But in recent years the remote, partially abandoned complex has drawn unlikely new residents like Sasa Chen, a burned-out young Chinese woman who until recently worked a high-earning finance job in Shanghai, China’s bustling commerce hub.

The appeal?

Chen pays just 1200 RMB...