Chinese Emigrants Are Choosing New Destinations - and Transforming Them
Mar 1, 2024
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Chinese emigrants are choosing new destinations due to China's economic slowdown and pandemic handling. The podcast explores the impact on destination countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and New Zealand. It also discusses the effects of common prosperity policies and the anxieties of the middle class regarding social advancement.
Chinese middle-class leaving due to economic shifts and policies like common prosperity campaign.
Chinese immigrants exploring new destinations beyond traditional countries due to incentives and rising tensions in host countries.
Deep dives
Reasons for Middle-Class Chinese Emigration
Middle-class Chinese are leaving China due to economic shifts and government policies like the common prosperity campaign. President Xi Jinping's focus on common prosperity has led to crackdowns in various industries causing concerns among the affluent. Policies restricting online gaming and targeting tech giants have impacted real people, leading to an economic downturn. This, coupled with the pandemic's effects, has prompted many to seek opportunities abroad.
Capital Outflow and Emigration Statistics
China has witnessed an exodus of both people and capital, with an estimated $150 billion flowing out of the country in 2023. Reports suggest a significant increase in Chinese millionaires leaving the country. This trend is expected to continue, with projections indicating around 700,000 people leaving China by 2025. This mass emigration ranks China high on the list of countries experiencing net outflows.
Destination Preferences and Impact
Aside from traditional destinations like the US, Australia, and Canada, Chinese emigrants are also choosing unconventional locations such as Vietnam, Japan, and New Zealand. Countries like Portugal, Thailand, and Indonesia offer incentives like golden visas for investments. While this trend poses challenges for China, the influx of immigrants benefits countries like Vietnam by boosting wages but also leads to tensions over rising property prices and cultural clashes.
A new wave of Chinese people are leaving China after the Covid-19 pandemic and they’re headed to places that aren’t the typical destinations for Chinese immigrants in the past.
Bloomberg’s Lulu Chen tells us how China’s slowing economy, fears over new policies to redistribute wealth and Beijing’s handling of the pandemic created the perfect storm for this exodus. In today’s Big Take podcast, we look at the impact Chinese immigrants who move into these communities in far-flung places have, and what a rising outflow means for China’s future.