There is an undercurrent of racism in this article and in Vancouverites' attitudes towards rich kids from asia.
We tend to think of these kids through a lens where we think of our own childhoods and imagine adding enormous wealth. "Just like my childhood except add a $150,000 car allowance".
This is often not the case though. These kids can experience very difficult childhoods. Sent to a foreign country to attend boarding school, or live with a nanny in a big empty house. Hostile, often racist citizens all around them, and people constantly critical of their wealth. (how can you blame a 17 year old for having rich parents?)
I grew up in Vancouver with many kids like these around me. The vast majority of them are good, decent, friendly people who frankly have a tough time in their circumstance.
There is also a certain self-fulfulling prophecy in the whole dynamic, where hostile (often racist) Vancouverites immediately throw scorn all over these kids and their families... and then when they graduate and leave people say "see, they just came here to get an education and make a quick buck from the housing market". Well perhaps if we were less hostile and more welcoming, it would be a different story, and better for everyone including the local economy.
I've lived in Vancouver for 4 years (originally from France) and the depiction of "Hostile, often racist citizens" all around them is frankly a stretch.
I am not denying that some of that exists, but in a city where like 30% of the population is of Asian descent and where the rest of the population is mostly composed of welcoming and good-natured Canadians, I feel like you're painting with quite the broad brush there.
The racism angle always comes up when we try to talk about this. I agree with you that the article is holding these people up as figures of hate, whether by their wealth or by their foreignness.
On the other hand, Vancouver already had a tradition of embracing immigrants from Asia. It's the only city in North America that's majority Asian. This is one of the main reasons that the Chinese elite send their children here in the first place. So I don't find it credible that Vancouver is a particularly racist place against Asian immigrants. My guess is that a segment of the "astronaut" kids (so-called because they are launched into a foreign country all alone) just make themselves hard to ignore.
You have a point that whatever blunders they may be making, the kids are mostly pawns. I actually called for a Reddit AMA from a Chinese "astronaut" kid in /r/vancouver, but nobody answered.
Do you think you could arrange something like that? Maybe it would increase understanding.
This article is part of a worrying acceptance in the popular media of xenophoboia and hatred of the wealthy.
> China’s rapid economic rise has turned peasants into billionaires. Many wealthy Chinese are increasingly eager to stow their families, and their riches, in the West, where rule of law, clean air and good schools offer peace of mind, especially for those looking to escape scrutiny from the Communist Party and an anti-corruption campaign that has sent hundreds of the rich and powerful to jail.
This whole article breeds condescension. Peasants? "Stow away their families"? Not to mention the the fact that Canada is one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to seek a better life for themselves and their families free of political oppression.
There are two kinds of chinese immigrants these days. The ones looking for a better life in a more fair setting (they are going to work). The other ones have been incredibly successful in China, but much of their money is grey, and it is only a matter of time until they are made an example of by some anti corruption crackdown. The latter ones are China's one percent, they got rich by playing the system and going abroad is their escape/retirement plan. Not only that, but they aren't going to be paying income taxes (they have plenty of money already) and are just going to keep pumping money into housing, exporting China's insane property bubble.
No one here I think has a problem with working immigrants. In fact, it kind of sucks more for them because this is some of the fu'er'dai/red family unfairness that they were trying to get away from in the first place.
Most of the hate comes from people who got left out of the real estate price appreciation over the past 10 years in Vancouver.
There are a lot of Canadians, however, who benefited from a disproportionate increase in wealth over this period of time as well.
In fact, many people who have bought multiple homes in Vancouver have now amassed a fortune which would make any startup founder who just got bought out by Google blush.
It's sort of like being in the right place at the right time. Like if you just so happened to have owned a hardware shop and sold shovels when the gold rush happened.
Toronto will probably be the next to experience the insane price increases we've seen in Vancouver as the housing inventory there becomes more scarce.
I lived and worked in Vancouver for a couple of years at an engineering firm. Our IT guy was a consultant who worked for a few companies. He was Asian, but I believe he had been in Canada for a long time. Anyway, we were always amazed by the different fancy car he would arrive in each time he came to our office (Ferrari, Lambo, you name it). I know IT guys can make decent money, but you wouldn't have expected this kind of wealth. Based on what we knew about he him, we concluded that he must have made his wealth as you said, right place, right time, in the Vancouver real estate bull market. While I was there he "retired" while he looked to be in his late 40s.
It's not quite that - 富二代 bring their own particular problems.
1) The methods in which their parents attained their money. Most that I've met have been reticent to talk about the source of their parents wealth (as mentioned in the article).
A lot are speculated to have been involved in widescale corruption and theft of the country's wealth - this should really irritate you (I'm making the assumption that you're an overseas Chinese here, apologies if not)
2) Their spending behaviour is seen as nouveau-riche and trashy. Furthermore, they don't conform to the west's idea of "civilized" behaviour. This can be seen in the thousands of videos of mainland chinese tourists available on youtube. Whether the west is right or wrong, this sort of cultural difference is undoubtedly something worth talking about in the media, wouldn't you say?
3) Most of these kids never had any siblings or decent caregivers growing up to help them develop any kind of emotional intelligence, so they develop into "little emperors".
Often, their parents enable these kind of behaviours, like in the example of Xu Yichun - the kid who caused a death and several serious injuries with reckless driving - his parents immediately paid his $2 million bail and tried to get him out of the country.
4) A lot of them make absolutely no attempt to integrate. Whether you consider this a negative depends on your perspective, but it definitely does irritate a lot of people. I've met Chinese masters' students at top 3 universities who can't string together a coherent written or spoken sentence.
I'm aware some of these things are not specifically Chinese, but suggesting they're actively singled out is untrue. Anyone who's spent a lot of time among chinese international students in the US or UK must see at least some aspect of these issues.
Couldn't agree more. Living in a college town a few years ago, visitors would always mention the sheer number of Chinese students around. Nevermind the fact that there were just as many students from India, European countries and other regions around every corner.
If they bring ambition, ideas and pay taxes, who cares? That is just my opinion, of course.
1) America has always had a fascination for the new rich. Rags to riches is the old story. In pop culture, there are entire romance book series about new rich Americans going back to England to find titled husbands for the young ladies, and then on the "modern" side, entire series about romance with billionaires. Americans love thinking about new money, regardless of who's got it. Look at other NYTimes stories about Russians and real estate in New York.
2) Chinese students (and their money) are having a real impact in American higher ed, and a lot of people are exposed to that. Foreign students are an important revenue stream, and Chinese students simply outnumber Swedes, Germans, South Africans, Saudis, etc. And when your students drive Mercedes-Benz SUVs while you are climbing into your used 2008 vehicle, you do eventually notice. (It took me 3 years to notice but I finally did figure out 28 of my students are richer than I am at half the age!)
3) Last is the insecurity. White Americans are particularly insecure because they are failing calculus because they can't add fractions while the (Chinese) kid next to them is driving a car worth the entire year's tuition payment, and can add fractions with ease. That is intimidating. Things weren't supposed to be this way! Being well-off, white, and American is supposed to be a free pass to a good future! That's why the ancestors of well-off white Americans worked toward all three goals (make money, get to America, be declared white).
The two kinds of migration are very much part reason for the rich cultures we have in many places. I always suggest to check the local country's dictionary for the etymology of words. I don't understand how the caucasian-looking US population can claim to be the real Americans, ignoring that the US has been one of the richest mix of immigrants.
The article mentioned that the immigrant investor program is defunct, that's not entirely true. Québec still has it but they never stay in Montreal just move to Vancouver.
There's a huge population of Chinese and descendants of American-Chinese from the US rail road and gold digging days in Vancouver, so it kinda makes sense for them to concentrate there. But is it Canada only and not also San Francisco and similar locations of Chinese population on that continent?
Isn't there a lot more more to being a citizen of a country than paying one's taxes? Nothing about integrating into a community? A country is not an economy.
Let's put it this way... if I were a (white) billionaire, and a few hundred of my richest friends and I moved to China and started buying up real estate in a major city and flaunting our wealth all over the place, how do you think the locals would receive us?
As the article mentioned, many individuals are 'gifted' items from family members still residing in China. How do you tax somebody that has no official income? (aside from the tax one purchase itself, which isn't what I think you're referring to). Such tax avoidance schemes aren't unheard of[1].
What adds the contention and frustrations of residents is the foreign investments in real-estate, which, in Vancouver and Toronto specifically, are driving the costs above what they can realistically afford. Again, it's not unheard of for the foreign investors to be using the real estate as tax avoidance in their own country[2], at the cost of the local citizens quality of living.
[3] - ninja edit - I'm not trying to categorically say none of those mentioned in the articles pay taxes! Of course that's not the case! What I'm trying to communicate is, those who aren't and are avoiding paying taxes, are the ones causing issues for local residents and what the focus of these articles I've mentioned.
Maybe the gentrification is an issue, but you either have a free market or not. Deciding to not sell real estate to foreigners wouldn't fly with the rest of the world.
Another issue is that some of these rich kids usually don't integrate and have no desire to do so. They just milk the system. I studied at UBC. You will be surprised how many students can't speak basic conversational English.
They could cap the numbers at so many thousand and then have the state build that many new homes. Stop the accommodation problems and make some money for the government from the property development.
Don't forget the pink matte sticker paint job to go with new new BMW or Mercedes. The worst is one someone goes for a gold or chrome paint job on a Ferrari, they are always parked outside of Gongti night clubs in Beijing.
[+] [-] plg|10 years ago|reply
There is an undercurrent of racism in this article and in Vancouverites' attitudes towards rich kids from asia.
We tend to think of these kids through a lens where we think of our own childhoods and imagine adding enormous wealth. "Just like my childhood except add a $150,000 car allowance".
This is often not the case though. These kids can experience very difficult childhoods. Sent to a foreign country to attend boarding school, or live with a nanny in a big empty house. Hostile, often racist citizens all around them, and people constantly critical of their wealth. (how can you blame a 17 year old for having rich parents?)
I grew up in Vancouver with many kids like these around me. The vast majority of them are good, decent, friendly people who frankly have a tough time in their circumstance.
There is also a certain self-fulfulling prophecy in the whole dynamic, where hostile (often racist) Vancouverites immediately throw scorn all over these kids and their families... and then when they graduate and leave people say "see, they just came here to get an education and make a quick buck from the housing market". Well perhaps if we were less hostile and more welcoming, it would be a different story, and better for everyone including the local economy.
[+] [-] VeejayRampay|10 years ago|reply
I am not denying that some of that exists, but in a city where like 30% of the population is of Asian descent and where the rest of the population is mostly composed of welcoming and good-natured Canadians, I feel like you're painting with quite the broad brush there.
[+] [-] neilk|10 years ago|reply
On the other hand, Vancouver already had a tradition of embracing immigrants from Asia. It's the only city in North America that's majority Asian. This is one of the main reasons that the Chinese elite send their children here in the first place. So I don't find it credible that Vancouver is a particularly racist place against Asian immigrants. My guess is that a segment of the "astronaut" kids (so-called because they are launched into a foreign country all alone) just make themselves hard to ignore.
You have a point that whatever blunders they may be making, the kids are mostly pawns. I actually called for a Reddit AMA from a Chinese "astronaut" kid in /r/vancouver, but nobody answered.
Do you think you could arrange something like that? Maybe it would increase understanding.
[+] [-] UVB-76|10 years ago|reply
Especially at an age where it's extremely unlikely for that individual to have accrued the necessary wealth themselves.
[+] [-] revelation|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bko|10 years ago|reply
> China’s rapid economic rise has turned peasants into billionaires. Many wealthy Chinese are increasingly eager to stow their families, and their riches, in the West, where rule of law, clean air and good schools offer peace of mind, especially for those looking to escape scrutiny from the Communist Party and an anti-corruption campaign that has sent hundreds of the rich and powerful to jail.
This whole article breeds condescension. Peasants? "Stow away their families"? Not to mention the the fact that Canada is one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to seek a better life for themselves and their families free of political oppression.
[+] [-] seanmcdirmid|10 years ago|reply
No one here I think has a problem with working immigrants. In fact, it kind of sucks more for them because this is some of the fu'er'dai/red family unfairness that they were trying to get away from in the first place.
[+] [-] drchiu|10 years ago|reply
There are a lot of Canadians, however, who benefited from a disproportionate increase in wealth over this period of time as well.
In fact, many people who have bought multiple homes in Vancouver have now amassed a fortune which would make any startup founder who just got bought out by Google blush.
It's sort of like being in the right place at the right time. Like if you just so happened to have owned a hardware shop and sold shovels when the gold rush happened.
Toronto will probably be the next to experience the insane price increases we've seen in Vancouver as the housing inventory there becomes more scarce.
[+] [-] kohanz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cylinder|10 years ago|reply
Chinese are singled out by media because it plays on American whites' insecurity.
[+] [-] Apfel|10 years ago|reply
1) The methods in which their parents attained their money. Most that I've met have been reticent to talk about the source of their parents wealth (as mentioned in the article).
A lot are speculated to have been involved in widescale corruption and theft of the country's wealth - this should really irritate you (I'm making the assumption that you're an overseas Chinese here, apologies if not)
2) Their spending behaviour is seen as nouveau-riche and trashy. Furthermore, they don't conform to the west's idea of "civilized" behaviour. This can be seen in the thousands of videos of mainland chinese tourists available on youtube. Whether the west is right or wrong, this sort of cultural difference is undoubtedly something worth talking about in the media, wouldn't you say?
3) Most of these kids never had any siblings or decent caregivers growing up to help them develop any kind of emotional intelligence, so they develop into "little emperors".
Often, their parents enable these kind of behaviours, like in the example of Xu Yichun - the kid who caused a death and several serious injuries with reckless driving - his parents immediately paid his $2 million bail and tried to get him out of the country.
4) A lot of them make absolutely no attempt to integrate. Whether you consider this a negative depends on your perspective, but it definitely does irritate a lot of people. I've met Chinese masters' students at top 3 universities who can't string together a coherent written or spoken sentence.
I'm aware some of these things are not specifically Chinese, but suggesting they're actively singled out is untrue. Anyone who's spent a lot of time among chinese international students in the US or UK must see at least some aspect of these issues.
[+] [-] altotrees|10 years ago|reply
If they bring ambition, ideas and pay taxes, who cares? That is just my opinion, of course.
[+] [-] samastur|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kaitai|10 years ago|reply
1) America has always had a fascination for the new rich. Rags to riches is the old story. In pop culture, there are entire romance book series about new rich Americans going back to England to find titled husbands for the young ladies, and then on the "modern" side, entire series about romance with billionaires. Americans love thinking about new money, regardless of who's got it. Look at other NYTimes stories about Russians and real estate in New York.
2) Chinese students (and their money) are having a real impact in American higher ed, and a lot of people are exposed to that. Foreign students are an important revenue stream, and Chinese students simply outnumber Swedes, Germans, South Africans, Saudis, etc. And when your students drive Mercedes-Benz SUVs while you are climbing into your used 2008 vehicle, you do eventually notice. (It took me 3 years to notice but I finally did figure out 28 of my students are richer than I am at half the age!)
3) Last is the insecurity. White Americans are particularly insecure because they are failing calculus because they can't add fractions while the (Chinese) kid next to them is driving a car worth the entire year's tuition payment, and can add fractions with ease. That is intimidating. Things weren't supposed to be this way! Being well-off, white, and American is supposed to be a free pass to a good future! That's why the ancestors of well-off white Americans worked toward all three goals (make money, get to America, be declared white).
[+] [-] cm3|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Cenk|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] myth_drannon|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] middleclick|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pigpaws|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cm3|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chris_wot|10 years ago|reply
Time for me to stop reading headlines literally.
[+] [-] cm3|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hackerboos|10 years ago|reply
In fact, refugees are paying more in taxes than millionaire immigrants of the now defunct investor program [2].
[1] - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/the-market/foreig...
[2] - http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/refugees-pay-more-income-tax...
[+] [-] jmorphy88|10 years ago|reply
Let's put it this way... if I were a (white) billionaire, and a few hundred of my richest friends and I moved to China and started buying up real estate in a major city and flaunting our wealth all over the place, how do you think the locals would receive us?
[+] [-] ucsdrake|10 years ago|reply
As the article mentioned, many individuals are 'gifted' items from family members still residing in China. How do you tax somebody that has no official income? (aside from the tax one purchase itself, which isn't what I think you're referring to). Such tax avoidance schemes aren't unheard of[1].
What adds the contention and frustrations of residents is the foreign investments in real-estate, which, in Vancouver and Toronto specifically, are driving the costs above what they can realistically afford. Again, it's not unheard of for the foreign investors to be using the real estate as tax avoidance in their own country[2], at the cost of the local citizens quality of living.
[1] - http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kpmg-offshore-sham-deceived-... [2] - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/a-crisis-in-vancouver...
[3] - ninja edit - I'm not trying to categorically say none of those mentioned in the articles pay taxes! Of course that's not the case! What I'm trying to communicate is, those who aren't and are avoiding paying taxes, are the ones causing issues for local residents and what the focus of these articles I've mentioned.
[+] [-] myth_drannon|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cm3|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] branchless|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] middleclick|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tim333|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jordache|10 years ago|reply
Buying a BMW is not sufficient, it has to be a BMW not made in China, otherwise, it's considered a step down..
[+] [-] seanmcdirmid|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brianwawok|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
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