Moving to China for good

[SammyHulk]

China's forex reserves hit US$1.8088 trillion
Posted: 14 July 2008 1336 hrs


BEIJING: China's foreign exchange reserves, already the world's largest, rose to US$1.8088 trillion at the end of June, the central bank said Monday.

The figure was up 35.7 per cent from a year earlier and more than 18 per cent higher against the end of 2007, according to data posted on the website of the People's Bank of China.

The year-on-year growth eased from the 39.9 per cent recorded in the first quarter of this year, reflecting a drop in China's trade surplus and the emerging effects of government measures to curb speculative capital inflows.

China's forex reserves grew by US$280.6 billion from January to June, US$14.3 billion more than the growth over the first half of 2007, the bank said.

The nation's forex reserves increased by US$11.9 billion in June, the statement said.

Official concern has been rising over a surge in speculative "hot" money inflows into the country, spurred by the continued strengthening of the yuan.

Beijing said earlier this month it would launch a forex monitoring system to scrutinise checks on the authenticity of export transactions as part of its efforts to stem the hot money inflows.

The government said last week that China's trade surplus fell by nearly 12 per cent in the first half of 2008, mainly due to a slowing global economy and the yuan's appreciation.

- AFP/yb

Woohoo.....

 

[aczeta76]

The Chinese are all trying to get out of that awful place and you want to move in????

Ya.. Ren Qi Wo Qu (People throw I take)... hahaha..

I am in a niche industry so had some discussion with companies in HK and CD about possibilities.

Only thing keeping me know is that I dun like to speak chinese all day long and I absolutely dislike the PRC-Govt way of dealing with things.

Other than that, money offer is quite good. About 1.5 times what I get here.

See how lah... maybe, maybe not.. too lazy to move

 

[jw5]

Wake up Singaporeans!

If you think you can walk into China now and become a consultant - of whatever type - please wake up! Today's China is technically, materially and monetarily stronger, better, fitter and more nimble than Singapore many times! Gone are the days when you think Singaporeans or Taiwanese or HKongers can teach the Chinese a thing or two... today, they can teach us instead!

Lenova, Haier, JingLong, TCL are but just some brands that are truly global. Chinese companies are now manufacturing under their own brand names and reaching out to every corner of the earth. They have tens of factories and sub-contractors, employ ten of thousands employees, conduct their own R&D and even their individual advertising dollars are enough to dwarf any of our own largest brand.

If you think you can walk into China and be a 'consultant' - do pay a visit to China - and be thoroughly convinced how small and insignificant Singapore is today compared to them.

However, China is indeed large and there still areas where you can turn it into your own advantage... such as living or retiring there. Many Singaporeans, HKongers and Taiwanese has done it... it's how much you want to do it.

Chengdu, Dalian and Qingdao have been voted the nicest cities in China. They are nice... but remain too far, too cold and too 'culturally-different' to fit in for most Singaporeans. Xiamen is also voted as one of the top cities, is near enough and not too cold nor culturally different for Singaporeans.

There are no restriction to Singaporeans buying properties in China. Sell your HDB and buy 3 units over there. Or rent out your HDB and live like a prince over there. Use the price difference to your advantage...before it's too late!

For those who think that China is still run-down, dirty and messy... think again. Do not use what you see in Geylang or Joo Chiat as a comparison... it's only the poor, uneducated, desperate and helpless that need to leave the comfort of their own home... just like the poor, uneducated, desperate and helpless that were our own ancestors just two or three generations ago.

Please go and see how the middle class and rich Chinese live life nowadays... mega-shopping centres, posh clubs, coffee cafes, restaurants, cinemas, etc all served by young, enthusiastic and smiling staff... unlike the unsmiling, lethargic and uninterested service staff we sometimes get back at home.

After decades of communist rules, the Chinese had not lost their hungry, probing, enterprising way - hence, many of them had found their way to Singapore and taken good advantage of PAP's generosity.

Yet, Singaporeans has lost their hungry, probing, enterprising way and are unable to see what are the advantages what China can offer us. So, stop believing the PAP propaganda that we can teach China, India or even Russia a thing or two.

Be humble. Go visit China yourself and then see what they can teach us. Or be enterprising... and take advantage of their lower cost of living by moving there.

Agree with most of what you said, but do you think that S'poreans still have a language advantage over the Chinese, in that we know both English and Mandarin?
Are S'poreans still useful in being the language teachers of the Chinese or being the bridge between the Chinese and the westerners?

 

[bulleye]

been serious consider,
but not so much of career development
is more for retirement.

 

[Non_Elite]

jw5: Did the Japanese or Koreans needed Singaporeans as interpreters or middlemen when they dealt with the Americans or Europeans? What makes you think the Chinese will need us?

The foreign language graduates from Tsinghua, BeiDa and other top universities probably speak better English than you or me!

Retirement in China is a good option. Bringing $20K to start a business in China? - Best of luck!

 

[Rockgate]

Bro Non_Elite, agree with wat u say, the locals speak much better English than us.

S$20K to start a business here, now? where? Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Tian Jin, Nanjing ...... might be only enough to put up for 6 months and back to Sgp.

 

[gniwgonwk]

The Chinese are all trying to get out of that awful place and you want to move in????

My 2 cents worth:

HAHA! I go to PRC quite often and have often commented that it is quite ironical ...

A lot of PRCs want to get out of China, yet it seems that the whole world wants to get into China!

However, after further observation it is often the working class or middle income PRCs who wish to get out of China. For the PRC businessmen or entrepreneurs, they are fine with staying in China as they are doing well - if at all they wish to get out of China to either avoid the high taxes or to have more than one child.

-----------------
For bros who are contemplating doing business in Beijing or China, I believe that the costs of doing biz there may possibly be higher than in SIN or HK.

Doing biz in China involves a lot of hidden costs that cannot be anticipated, whilst in SIN or HK, though costs may be high it can usually be budgeted for.

 

[Non_Elite]

I wonder what business you can start with S$20K nowadays in China?

However, I am not so worried about losing money in business. With just 20K, business associates and licence bureaus will be looking down on you (These guys talk millions nowadays) and essentially ignore you.

I am more worried about the vultures and cons that will swoop down on you because they know you are a first-timer/inexperienced to want to start with 20-40K. Believe me, these vultures will come down hard and fast even before you're aware of it!

 

[aman]

Ya.. Ren Qi Wo Qu (People throw I take)... hahaha..

I am in a niche industry so had some discussion with companies in HK and CD about possibilities.

Only thing keeping me know is that I dun like to speak chinese all day long and I absolutely dislike the PRC-Govt way of dealing with things.

Other than that, money offer is quite good. About 1.5 times what I get here.

See how lah... maybe, maybe not.. too lazy to move

Go!! mah!...beside pay is good....you still can look see any good lobang...China is going to fast
This yrs China is over take singapore become No.1 in shipping:p

 

[Peacock29]

Giving my 2 cents.

Having been to China (Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Changchun) almost 10 times this year due to work commitments, i will say i will not recommend people to go there to do business unless u got really strong links and connections if not high chance u might not succeed.

I will stay in Singapore due to the "home ground advantage" as we are born and breed here. Going China to spend our money makes our ego feel better too. (Beijing and Shanghai standard of living around same as Singapore tho)

I will consider China a place of retirement tho, Dalian or Qingdao will be a perfect choice.

 

[maituleow]

I will consider China a place of retirement tho, Dalian or Qingdao will be a perfect choice.

I used to think likewise that working hard and having enough money to retire in another country due to our strong dollars would be ideal.

Wouldn't it be also good if we chose to "Move" around instead of retiring in "One"place meaning we can opt to go china for maybe 6 months to a year and once we get bored we can come home to meet up with old friends than maybe hop to another city for another 6 months or so vice versa. Don't you think it 's better and you really have the "whole" world to retire in.

 

[jw5]

jw5: Did the Japanese or Koreans needed Singaporeans as interpreters or middlemen when they dealt with the Americans or Europeans? What makes you think the Chinese will need us?

The foreign language graduates from Tsinghua, BeiDa and other top universities probably speak better English than you or me!

Retirement in China is a good option. Bringing $20K to start a business in China? - Best of luck!

How much do you think we will need to retire in China?
Say we start from 50 and die at 80.

 

[Leongsam]

How much do you think we will need to retire in China?
Say we start from 50 and die at 80.

Depends which part of China you choose, the sort of lifestyle you want to lead and the state of your health between 50 to 80.

 

[Non_Elite]

I think some of you are beginning to get the point.

Just as the PRC come here and take advantage of our advantageous policies and ignore the bad ones, so should we be just as nimble.

If you are a average S'porean, don't think of working or business in China - they'll eat you up. Instead, plan to retire early there... live cheaply, smell fresh air, eat good food and explore many more historical and cultural places.

Avoid the Tier 1 cities. Go look at Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. These cities are still cheaper than S'pore. Many of these cities has Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese enclaves and compounds.

The Koreans, Taiwanese and Japanese has realised that their own countries are too expensive to enjoy life way before us. Many of them moved together and has set up their own communities in groups to lower cost, drive better bargains and share social ties. They either buy or rent their own properties in China in a large group and form their own community.

What's to stop S'poreans from doing that as well... although as a whole, S'poreans has never been united in China. Check out Xiamen or Hainan...they are a short direct flight away, are still cheaper, moderate weather, similar food and culture.

From these places, hop in and out to other parts of China, HK, S. Korea, Thailand for holidays. This is what retirement life should be... not cracking heads and bodies over ERP, crowded MRT, rising healthcare, FT challenges, moving CPF targets etc.

Go google "retirement xiamen singaporeans" or "retirement hainan singaporeans" for clues. Than start cracking your heads...

 

[proffessor_x]

yo bro,
you seems to know alot about china.
I am interested to move to china, what visa or permits do I need to apply to stay there permanently?

please advise.

thanks

 

[Leongsam]

I am interested to move to china, what visa or permits do I need to apply to stay there permanently?

The Chinese are desperately trying to get out of that shithole and you want to move in???

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=9437

Chinese Migration Goes Global
Migrants from the world’s most populous nation influence more than 150 countries


Peter Kwong
YaleGlobal, 17 July 2007


<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="320"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="4">

</td><td height="3">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="caption" align="left" valign="top">Chasing dreams: Chinese immigrants work at a textile factory in Bacau, abandoned by Romanians who seek opportunity in Western Europe</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="3">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> NEW YORK: Since the end of the Cold War, some 181 million people have left their homes to find opportunities elsewhere in the world, not only from the poor nations to the rich, but from the poor to the less poor nations. This movement is fluid, its impact not confined to individual nations.
And perhaps no group has had more visible impact than the 18 million Chinese who have left China since the economic reforms of the late 1970s – just over half of the approximately 35 million Chinese who live outside of China in what has become known as the Chinese diaspora.
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="4">

</td><td height="3">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="caption" align="left" valign="top">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="3">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Chinese emigrants these days, be it skilled professionals, businessmen or laborers, prefer North America and Western Europe as their destination, but also settle for Argentina, South Africa, Mauritius, Israel, Dubai or the like, countries not previously associated with the notion of Chinese migration – 150 countries in all. In Romania, Chinese immigrants eliminated labor shortages created after some 2 million Romanians emigrated to Spain and Italy after the fall of communism. Chinese women employed in Romanian textile factories are paid US $260 per month – four times more than what they would earn in China, but a sum for which Romanians are no longer willing to work.
The driving force behind Chinese emigration is the monumental demographic shift of its 1.4 billion population induced by China’s rapid economic expansion. Some 200 million people have left homes in rural China for jobs in the cities. The unprecedented influx has created overcrowding, social disorder and downward pressure on wages in the cities, as the Chinese economy, even with impressive double-digit growth, fails to create enough jobs to accommodate all rural migrants. Thus the most ambitious among them see leaving China as an attractive option.
The post-Cold War global migration, however, takes place within the old framework of nation states. While the capital and goods flow freely across national borders to the drumbeat of open markets and free trade, the movement of people is all but free. Ordinary citizens of developed receiving nations are unwilling to accept mass immigration in fear of losing their jobs, clinging onto the concept of national borders as a guarantee against such fears.
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="4">

</td><td height="3">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="caption" align="left" valign="top">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="3">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> But their concerns are not shared by employers, who want to hire immigrants to cut costs and who hope that the force of global migration will weaken national labor movements and labor standards. Thus, although jobs wait for the mobile plucky takers in many nations, unless they are skilled professionals, the immigrants must enter borders illegally or on temporary visas. Chinese emigrants are so motivated that they willingly pay organized crime networks tens of thousands of dollars to be smuggled to their destinations by perilous means, often with tragic consequences. In 2000 British authorities found 58 illegal Chinese immigrants asphyxiated aboard a tomato truck in the port city of Dover.
Governments make repeated attempts to strengthen border controls and beef up criminal sanctions against illegal immigrants and their smugglers, but so long as there is demand for migrant labor, the illicit migration goes on. In fact, legislation that makes migrants more “illegal” only increases their vulnerability, therefore cheaper for the employers to engage. The profits from smuggling also increase. It now costs $30,000 for a Chinese to be smuggled into the UK and $70,000 to the US – roughly double of what it was a little more than a decade ago.
After illegal immigrants enter a country, they have no access to regular labor markets or the benefit of labor-protection laws. Forced underground, Chinese immigrants squeeze into niche trades, usually employed by co-ethnic subcontractors. Because such immigrants work for and alongside fellow Chinese by necessity, not by choice, they become targets for resentment and accusations of sticking to their own. In late 2006 local residents in Tonga – furious that the Chinese businesses recruited Chinese from China instead of employing from the local population – looted and burned more than 30 Chinese-run shops.
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="4">

</td><td height="3">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="caption" align="left" valign="top">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="3">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Of course, Chinese workers don’t necessarily have common interests with their Chinese bosses. While some 2,000 Chinese entrepreneurs own a quarter of the textile businesses in Prato, Italy, an army of low-wage workers recruited in China works long nights, sweatshop-style, to produce low-cost “Made in Italy” fashions for export to Eastern Europe. In New York City, Chinese restaurant and garment workers frequently wage battles against their co-ethnic employers for abuses such as withholding of back wages and confiscation of service tips. Because American unions refuse to consider them a part of America’s legitimate working class, the workers must fight it alone, without help from the labor authorities. Isolating immigrants and denying them labor protections not only worsens conditions for them, it also contributes to the deterioration of labor standards for all workers. And in the end, none of the measures heretofore taken have deterred immigration.
The disconnect between national policy and the logic of global migration underlines the necessity for governments to work together in finding new ways to protect their citizens’ living standards while guaranteeing immigrants the right to work without undue exploitation. Unfortunately, most politicians are interested in exploiting anti-immigrant sentiments to generate populist support and win elections.
Russia’s Far East region has about 100,000 permanent Chinese residents. Most are merchants, selling clothes, toys and other consumer goods. Since their inflow coincided with the dwindling of Russian population in the region, a belief has taken hold among many Russians that China has adopted a state program of “Moving to the North.” They see the Chinese as a sign of a creeping annexation of Russian territory. Adding to the fears is the fact that China controlled most of that region until the 1850s. President Vladimir Putin plays on this fear when he warns that, if the government does not introduce immigration restrictions, people in Russia’s Far East could soon all speak Chinese – even as his experts agree that Russia needs Chinese labor and resources to develop this region.

 

[proffessor_x]

of course.

when chinamen are moving out, we move in to fill the vacuum.

thats what we call a *contrarian*.

when u are tired of the rat race, backstabbing and "elitism" here in Sinkieland, i think its best to take a step back and "relac" in our forefatherland.

even 1 of so called *fathers of sinkieland* Goh K S moved back to china to retire and bonk meimeis

 

[Leongsam]

If you think the Sinkie ratrace is tough, the major Chinese cities are ten times worse.

of course.

when chinamen are moving out, we move in to fill the vacuum.

thats what we call a *contrarian*.

 

[proffessor_x]

i don't think so,
have stayed in shanghai (xujiahui) for 2months, living/shopping like locals do; expenses is low compare to sinkieland.

of course, we are moving there not to join in the chinese ratrace but to take it slow and *relac*.

can easily move our trading company to china as most of our products are sourced there.

 

[po2wq]

... when chinamen are moving out, we move in to fill the vacuum ...

The Chinese are desperately trying to get out ... and you want to move in ...

* specially edited 2 uphold ze motto of tis forum: "We talk NICELY to each other here please" *

有人辞官归故里，
有人漏夜赶科场。

dese tings sure hv 1 la ...