Immigration of China’s Rich

The sign says "Buy a Home, Get a green card".

Why rich Chinese are leaving China

For the last few months, the news of a large-scale exodus of rich Chinese planning to immigrate overseas has appeared all over Chinese and foreign media, and has become a focus of public opinion.

There are four related issues in this article:

First, exactly how many rich Chinese are planning to immigrate? According to Hu Run’s newly published book, there are more than 950,000 multi-millionaires, of which 46 per cent are considering immigration, 14 per cent have either left or are applying for immigration, and 74 per cent of the families with more than 100 million RMB ($A15.3 million) want to immigrate.  

Second, the rich immigrants are those who have power, fame, money and talent – namely, the social elite. 

Third, an analysis of the cause for immigration – to protect their own property – shows that a “better quality of life” is only a superficial reason. The main reason is that China’s economy has entered its most dangerous period. 

Fourth, Western media have accurately described the consequences of the immigrantion of rich Chinese, which sees them going to Europe and America, thus leaving China with an extreme shortage of cash, risking economic collapse in China.

Further discoveries after an in-depth analysis of the immigration of the rich

First, China’s wealthy groups are the beneficiaries of the past three decades and they have been deeply involved with the regime. They are insiders who are the most informed. They know the seriousness of China’s problems and the urgency of time. Analogically, they are like those animals that run away during an earthquake, leaving before the outbreak of a disaster.

Second, the rich people are the social elite. They do not want their wealth and glory to perish with China. In addition, they are adding insult to injury to the country because their departure means the loss of talent and capital. Loss of talent is an important symbol of failure.

Third, China’s rich immigrants are still quite a small number compared to China’s population. However, the impact on all sectors of society will be enormous. It will result in a “warning effect” to people and will shake their fragile confidence in a “harmonious society”.

The first choice for rich Chinese immigrants is not the developing countries, but North America – namely, Canada and the United States. In the September 11, 2011 issue of Forbes, the article Why China’s Rich Want to Immigrate to America listed the advantages of the US system, such as its free enterprise economy and the government’s providing of basic public goods. Perhaps the most ironic thing is that, although China has become the second major economy in the world only after the US, one only sees Chinese continuing to immigrate to the West, but not the other way around.