From Chinese Press

China must become more livable to retain top talent

(peopledaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-05-27 13:45

China has to transform from an "economic power" to a "livable power" in order to keep its wealth, talent and confidence.

The "2011 China Private Wealth Report," released recently by China Merchants Bank, shows that nearly 60 percent of the respondents whose investment assets exceed 10 million yuan have plans to emigrate by investing.

Will the rich take away a lot of wealth from China when moving abroad? How many "intellectual elites" will China lose? With a new wave of emigration going on, concerns and questions are raised in society.

Human migration is not a new phenomenon. From the Euro-Asian Silk Road to Columbus's Discovery of the New World, migrants have brought about cultural communications and economic exchanges across the world. Migration has become an important driving force for social progress.

The import of technology, capital and management experience that immigrants brought in have contributed to the rise of the "Four Asian Tigers" in the 1980s.

Nowadays, economic globalization has considerably improved the freedom and increased the attractiveness of migration from one country to another. A certain degree of Chinese emigration can not only offer more opportunities in personal life, employment and investment but also boost the exchange and cooperation between China and other countries.

In addition, given China's large population and its growing number of wealthy people and returnees, it is unnecessary to overly worry about Chinese emigration. Instead, we should be optimistic and open-minded since the Chinese emigrants have not taken their enterprises away with them and an increasing number of foreign companies have invested in China.

However, the factors of the emigration wave should also be figured out.

The topic of emigration seems serious because this new wave has to some extent reflected some "unlivable" factors in China. The reasons provided by Chinese emigrants include helping their children to avoid domestic exam-oriented education, obtaining a healthy living environment and sound social security, seeking a sounder investment environment and getting rid of the "anti-rich" atmosphere arising from the inequality in wealth. The expectations of Chinese emigrants are just what China currently lacks. People certainly have the right to choose a better quality of life through legal and reasonable means but excessive drain of elites and the wealthy will deepen the anxiety of ordinary domestic citizens and even society as a whole.

Emigration has become a sensitive topic partly because of a concern that those who get rich unlawfully may take advantage of emigration to run away from justice. Although immigration and emigration laws tend to be very rigorous in almost every country, a large number of facts have proved that there are still some loopholes left in the laws concerning the emigration of the rich people and their families.

In order to curb the wave of emigration, China should further deepen social and economic reforms, improve its educational system to guarantee children's health and happiness, as well as strengthen the protection of private wealth through legislation. Furthermore, China should also improve the social security system to increase people's happiness, crack down on corruption and promote social justice and equity so as to uphold the dignity of ordinary citizens.

China should strive to transform from an "economic power" to a "livable power." Only in this way can China retain its wealth, talent and confidence and curb the overheated immigration wave.