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Why Foreigners and Chinese Themselves Are Leaving China
by Fauna on Thursday, August 30, 2012
American Media: Foreigners Gradually Leaving China Due to Social Changes
Not long ago, an Englishman who has lived in China for a long time, married a Chinese wife, and has had a very successful business in China named Mark Kitto published on English-language media an article titled “You’ll never be Chinese — Why I’m leaving the country I loved“. He says in his text that after having studied, worked, and lived nearly over 10 years, China’s changes have made him ultimately decide to leave China taking his entire family. There is more than just one Westerner like him who loves China yet wants to leave.
Mark Kitto with wife and children.
30 years of economic reforms have benefited many people, with overall national living standards being much higher than 30 years ago.
At the same time, the original model and system of putting the country’s modernization and development first is increasingly facing questions and challenges from various levels [or demographics of society] and interest groups. Every level has its own dissatisfaction, all believing the government does not take care of them enough, their discontents increasing. This isn’t just the grassroots [lower class] or the urban middle class, even vested interest groups and the rich are losing confidence in the current social contract. For the former, the injustice and unfairness in front of their eyes is the biggest dissatisfaction, while their method of expressing their discontent is to individually or cooperatively petition and protest. For the latter, their biggest concern is by and large the unpredictability and uncertainty of the future, while one of their ways of expressing their lack of confidence is to vote with their feet — “running away [emigrating abroad]“.
This uncertainty lies in the prevalence of unwritten rules in Chinese society, while the former rules are often twisted. The arbitrary administration of government departments is also very prevalent. With 30 years of reforms have also seen many rounds of government administrative reforms, but the people still do not have confidence or trust in the government. Mark Kitto lives in seclusion in Moganshan, engaged in the business of cafes and hostels as well as managing a top-selling magazine at the same time. He says every 3 years when he needs to renew his business permits/leases, he has to worry, not knowing when the local government will refuse to renew his licenses. For a businessman, this kind of money-wasting, time-wasting, energy-wasting, even unstable business operating and investment environment is what gives him a headache [troubles him].
What makes people unhappy and even “leave” also includes the rapidly economically developing social environment. Over 30 years of development, Chinese people’s material standard of living has greatly risen. But simultaneously one of the consequences it has brought is a money-centric “materialism”. This is a pervasively materialistic society. This high-speed development has environmental destruction and substandard quality as its costs. Materially-rich, spiritually-poor, lacking in ethics and values.
Click on image for blown up pic
When researching why Chinese people want to emigrate overseas, one thing that is often brought up is education for their children. This is very much related to China’s education system. In China, educational opportunities remain less than abundance and even lacking, and many children owing to economic and institutional reasons are unable to get an education. The quality and educational methods of schools also cause many parents concerned with their children’s educational prospects. Kitto criticized China’s primary and middle school education as not learning knowledge but rather learning how to take tests.
Although this is a little exaggerated, there’s also a lot of truth in it. Although higher education has gone through over a decade of expansion, [high school graduating] exam takers still have to exhaust themselves preparing for the gaokao college entrance examinations in order to get into college. The quality of university education too has not risen along with the growth in the number of college students. This too is why many people would rather spend large sums of money to send their children abroad for their children’s education. Moreover, environmental pollution, food safety and quality, traffic, and other things that impact quality of life also cause many Chinese people and foreigners living in China to want to leave.
