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Interesting to read that many of the things which Chinese government can do for their people are so abysmal that even the rich want out. Do you think this will change as time goes on?
That unfortunately will not change unless the country makes a fundamental change.
The rich Chinese want to move because of several factors
1) money laundering. this is especially true for corrupted government officials.
2) education. China's education system is still kind of a mess and children are intellectually suffocated
3) food safety, no need to elaborate
4) political stability. many worry how long the one-party system can continue and what happens to their accumulated wealth if something happens
Additionally, major Chinese cities are becoming increasing unaffordable. Housing prices in Shanghai and Beijing nowadays are higher than all American cities except NYC. Wealthy families actually get more of their buck in western countries than in China, believe it or not.
Britain's lease expiration for its former colony of Hong Kong spurred many financially successful ethnic Chinese to emigrate prior to reunification with the People's Republic of China. Many of these expatriates (and their money) wound up in Vancouver.
Interesting article. From an outsider's P.O.V., China is always somewhat perceived as a monolithic bloc, but there's a tremendous amount of social tensions playing there. Ironic in a way, as it formally still is a communist country.
A couple of political philosophists (Eg. George Friedman) have already predicted the implosion of the country in the near future.
I do believe China is sort of playing with fire. On one hand they are using the artificial wealth being generated by their once-cheap labor and their fire-spending of US debt to create new infrastructure, but they're doing it horribly inefficiently... entire cities are ghost towns. One city built exclusively to lure Shanghai natives out of the city and into a suburban city of 1 million ... has a grand total of 30,000 residents.
Eventually the bling will run out and the government will have to seriously consider every businessman's knowledge:
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
But for god's sake, don't spend it in the wrong places (e.g. high speed rail to nowhere).
They're still in the middle of their stimulus spending, but the reality is food prices and housing prices are still skyrocketing and it's only a matter of time before a debt bubble bursts there. When that happens, all the countryside (850 million people) and half the city population (about 350 million) will demand the government change. It wouldn't surprise me to see a revolution or a war in the next 20 years. That will only drive more wealthy people out of the country.
So, in my opinion, yes, the wealthy will continue trying to move out of the country.
That unfortunately will not change unless the country makes a fundamental change.
The rich Chinese want to move because of several factors
1) money laundering. this is especially true for corrupted government officials.
2) education. China's education system is still kind of a mess and children are intellectually suffocated
3) food safety, no need to elaborate
4) political stability. many worry how long the one-party system can continue and what happens to their accumulated wealth if something happens
Additionally, major Chinese cities are becoming increasing unaffordable. Housing prices in Shanghai and Beijing nowadays are higher than all American cities except NYC. Wealthy families actually get more of their buck in western countries than in China, believe it or not.
But I bet those "housing prices" still can't compete with Moscow's real estate.
When I've read the article, the irony of it made me laugh. It could have been written word by word about today's Russia. The situation is practically identical. And since today's Russian society is quite unhealthy ( to say the least,) I don't know how the same symptoms can constitute anything positive somewhere else.
PS. Not sure where did other posts regarding China go, but I was planning to comment on this particular article anyway.
It's not just the monetary wealth, but also the intellectual wealth where many of the best educated and skilled are leaving. However, there's still plenty of wealth and ability that remains.
eskercurve, which high speed rail line to nowhere are you referring to?
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