The new gateways to Europe - China Weekly Hangout

Chinese investors are already a bit longer on the agenda for European countries, but most of them have been rather unsuccessful in getting the wealthy Chinese as residents to pick up bits and pieces of the depressed real estate market. There is a long tradition of migration from provinces like Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, but those Chinese were mostly driven by poverty, and often came illegal.
The recent article in the Guardian on Cyprus came a bit as a surprise. Most richer Chinese would go to the UK, Australia or the UK, often in combination with education for their children. But even countries like Switzerland, with larger diaspora from Africa, the Middle-East, India and Russia, have not really been successful in attracting the new generation of China's rich.
The main take-away from the Guardian: between August and October 2012 600 properties in Cyprus were picked up by Chinese, expecting to get access to the other Schengen Countries too. Needed: an investment of euro 300,000, no criminal record, good financial status and euro 30,000 at a Cypriotic bank. Direct family members can get similar visa, within about 45 days. Other European countries like Spain, Ireland and Portugal are discussing similar program. But are the competitive edges for those countries and how are the other Schengen countries dealing with those stepping stones for Chinese?
The China Weekly Hangout on Thursday 21 February will be joined by +Pol Panayiotides, representing a law firm from Cyprus to explain more about his island and the background of this program. Are you involved in similar program, also from other countries? Do join us too, and drop me a line +Fons Tuinstra . You can register here.
During the event hashtag on twitter and Google+: #CWHCWH

Why are Chinese leaving China, asked the China Weekly Hangout in September 2012. The question was discussed by +Meixian Li , +Isaac Mao +Richard Brubaker and +Fons Tuinstra
You can get a complete overview of earlier China Weekly Hangouts here.

Defining the Chinese dream - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Incoming president Xi Jinping tried to define his Chinese dream, and got - rather uncensored - he did not gather a lot of support among China's internet users. Helen Wang, author of The Chinese Dream summarizes the Chinese efforts to define their dream in Forbes.

Helen Wang:

Xi’s Chinese Dream statement is uninspiring, to say the least. Today, China is the second largest economy in the world, and soon to be the largest. In many people’s view, China is already a strong nation. The skylines of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other cities are much more impressive than those of New York or London. Such a call for nation-building would have made sense 100 years ago when China was at its knees. But today, average people are more concerned with their individual rights and opportunities for upward mobility. 

To his credit, though, Xi Jinping helped to start a long over-due conversation: what is the Chinese Dream? When my book The Chinese Dream was translated into Chinese in 2011, I wrote in the Foreword that China doesn’t have a Chinese Dream. This is a crisis because it is like a country without a soul, a computer without software, or a ship without navigation. 

The Chinese middle class is now more than 450 million strong. To ensure that the middle class continues to grow, China needs to have an environment where people can feel safe and secure to pursue their dreams and aspirations, and a system that is fair, just, and provides opportunities for all, not just for the privileged and connected few. This requires reform of China’s current political system, which is at the root of corruption and a lack of enforcement of the rule of law. 

As one person pointed out sharply on Weibo, “The country belongs to the people. People make history. Only when everyone has freedom of speech, elections, migration, and equal rights, will they really care about the country – that is everybody’s dream.” A Chinese saying says, he who goes with The Way thrives; he who goes against The Way perishes. In the past 30 years, the legitimacy of the Communist Party was due to its economic reforms. In the next 30 years, the legitimacy of the Party will depend on whether it will initiate political reforms. Otherwise, Xi Jinping’s grand Chinese Dream will turn out to be a Chinese nightmare. 

Whatever the outcome, I am confident that the Chinese people will define their Chinese Dream.

More in Forbes.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

 One way Chinese try to pursue their dream is by actually leaving China. In September 2012 the China Weekly Hangout discussed why Chinese are leaving China with  lawyer Li Meixian, blogger Isaac Mao and business professor Richard Brubaker. Moderation by president of the China Speakers Bureau, Fons Tuinstra. On Thursday 7 February the China Weekly Hangout will focus another dream, the one on education: a goldmine or a black hole (and for whom). You can register at our event page, and also leave there your questions and comments. 

Related articles

• Five new trends of Chinese consumers in 2013 - Helen Wang
• China: its own worst enemy - Janet Carmosky
• China hacker: between capital and the state - Tricia Wang
• Happy Chinese New Year

No women on board of China's power houses - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

The famous singer Peng Liyuan was more popular than her husband,the upcoming president Xi Jinping. She could use that popularity as China's first lady, but author Zhang Lijia estimates those chances are limited, as women are not welcome in China's power houses, she tells The National. 

The National:

"It goes right back to the Empress Dowager (who ran China for the last 47 years of the Ching Dynasty), people think that if a women is given power there will be trouble," say Zhang Lijia, a writer and social commentator in Beijing. 

"There are still people who think that Mao's wife Jiang Qing alone was responsible for the Cultural Revolution," she said, referring to the violent anti-bourgeois and anti-intellectual campaigns unleashed by Mao and his wife in the late sixties.

More in The National.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speaker' request form.

This week, on November 22, the China Weekly Hangout is about the future of nuclear power in China. You can register at our event page here. (Two weeks earlier we missed the change in daylight saving time in the US and had to cancel.) First part will focus on the resumption of building nuclear power stations, the second part of the chances NIMBY protests can derail this ambitious program. Planned participants: Richard Brubaker and Chris Brown.

You can access all editions here.

In September the China Weekly Hangout discussed why so many Chinese are leaving China. Including Isaac Mao, Richard Brubaker, Li Meixian and Fons Tuinstra.

Related articles

• No dramatic changes ahead - Zhang Lijia (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Preparing two books on China prostitution - Zhang Lijia (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Is Xi Jinping ready for real change? - Zhang Lijia (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Why are the Chinese leaving China - China Weekly Hangout

English: Isaac Mao. Español: Isaac Mao. 中文: 毛向輝. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Good insights on why Chinese are leaving China, and what does it mean for the country. Why are they mostly going to the US. New trends in migrations from China to the US by Isaac Mao, Li Meixian and Richard Brubaker, who expects the number of Chinese leaving will be in the years to come around 20 million.