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Why do Chinese migrate?

2011-10-13 14:37    Ecns.cn     Web Editor: Xu Rui

(Ecns.cn) -- Sometimes people make a change in their life because they want a new life. Or, they are simply attracted to new possibilities in another place.

Globalization has made it more convenient to travel around the world and easier to migrate. No matter how high the threshold to move to a new country is, tides of Chinese migrants, by means of investment, technology, or study, have continued to explore a doorway to their desired change.

For wealth

The swelling Chinese economy has been accompanied by an ever-growing materialism.

Qiu is a businessman in Beijing. He made a fortune in the early 1990s. "I am lucky to be rich. I try to donate and ensure my employees' welfare." (The Chinese have a conviction that those who do good deeds won't be repaid with evil.)

He turned to an agent and smoothly migrated to Hong Kong by purchasing real estate. He had the feeling of property security for the first time when he received a pile of 73 documents recording all the detailed activities of the property and defining a 999-year property right!something which is not possible in the mainland.

"Our tax regime (in the mainland) is designed in a smart way. No matter how cautious and law-abiding you are, there is always a way the judiciary can find faults in you," said Qiu.

Wang's family moved from Hangzhou to Melbourne last October.

"I had a high-quality life in China. Regardless of our life quality, my family was always in a sort of anxiety. We have gradually moved our assets to Australia. It makes us feel relaxed and comforted."

For kids

Jessica is an employee at the headquarters of an American firm. During her visit back to China with her daughter, she didn't dare to argue with other drivers on the road for fear of impulsive violence.

"Our family education must compete with the education in schools and society all the time. Otherwise one day, we will find out our kids have turned into someone who we can't even understand or accept," she said. She is afraid that in a place where one can be threatened by another, her daughter will soon go "out of control."

Qiu decided to send his son to an American high school after a parent-son basketball game. The children couldn't even win over their fathers who were in their 40s. "I can take the high enrollment fees and my son being graded into a 'lower' class, but having no spare time is awful."

Liu, the wife of an employee at a state-owned investment bank, is pondering over applying for a British school for her daughter. "I hope she can live a life like in my childhood and doesn't have to be careful with strangers, the society is in good order, and moral standards aren't ruined to the extent that parents have to prepare gifts or even money for teachers so that their children can gain preference."