大象就医是什么:中国富人的移民潮

 白手起家的百万富翁李伟杰在北京郊外经营着自己的滑雪兼高尔夫球场，他觉得自己很爱国，所以他在大门口矗立起毛泽东真人大小的雕像，放在一个4米高的筑台上。但是，毛主席要是知道李伟杰很自豪地持有加拿大居民证，毛主席会怎么想？“我想接受发达国家的教育体系和医疗体系。”李说。李今年43岁，同时还经营一家北京最大的私人出租车公司，拥有两种车辆的销售代理权和一家房地产公司。李在温哥华西区有套价值600万美元的房子，当地人只知道房子的主人是个有钱的中国人。他的妻子在温哥华开着一辆黑色的迈巴赫，他20岁的儿子开着一辆深灰色的玛莎拉蒂去不列颠哥伦比亚大学上课。他的妻儿现已定居在加拿大了。

What began as a trickle a decade ago when Li moved his family to Canada has become a flood as China’s new rich seek foreign passports or residency permits (commonly known as green cards in the U.S.) largely from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. More than 500,000 Chinese have investable assets of over 10 million yuan ($1.57 million), according to a joint survey released in April by China Merchants Bank and Bain & Co. The study says almost 60 percent are considering emigrating, have begun the process, or have emigrated.

李是十年前和家人移民去加拿大的，那时候，还很少人这么做。现在越来越多的中国新富如潮水一般寻求国外护照或是居住许可（在美国，通常叫绿卡），大部分护照都是美国，加拿大，澳大利亚，新加坡，还有新西兰。根据中国招商银行和美国Bain&Co咨询在4月份发布的调查显示，超过500，000人拥有海外资产，资产超过1千万元（157万美元）。报告指出差不多60%的人正在考虑移民，或是正在办理移民和已经移民。

In the U.S. so far this year almost 3,000 Chinese citizens have applied for investor visas, up from 270 in 2007. That’s 78 percent of the total applicant pool for this type of visa, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The U.S. investor visa, also known as the EB-5, requires a minimum investment of $500,000 by the applicant in a commercial project in the U.S. that employs at least 10 Americans within two years. If the Chinese applicants can’t generate those jobs, they and their family may have to leave the U.S.

相较于2007年的270人，今年几乎有3000中国居民在美国申请投资签证。根据美国公民及移民机构(USCIS)数据显示,78%的申请人是申请合伙投资。美国投资签证，也叫EB-5,申请人必须在美国投资至少500,000美元的商业项目，两年内聘请至少10位美国人。如果中国申请人无法提供这些工作岗位，申请人及其家属必须离开美国。

The drive to emigrate makes for brisk business for people like Jason Zhang, a broker at Realty Direct Boston, a branch of a nationwide chain. Zhang’s office specializes in settling Chinese in the Boston area. He says this year he has already helped dozens of Chinese families purchase homes and cars (the émigrés often pay in cash, he says) and find the right schools for their children, up from just two or three families in total a few years ago. Wealthy suburbs like Weston and Lexington are top choices.

    移民潮给像杰森.张这样的人带来了事业上的春天。他在全国华人房地产的分支机构波士顿华人房地产做经纪人，他的业务主要是帮助波士顿地区的华人置业。他说今年帮助了几十个华人家庭购置了房产和车子（他说，这些人通常付现金），还有帮这些家庭的小孩找到了合适的学校，而几年前，这样的业务一年只有两三单。像韦斯顿和列克星敦市的郊外房产最受人青睐。   

For the most part, China’s richest aren’t permanently fleeing their country, as some Russian oligarchs have. About 80 percent of the wealthy Chinese emigrating don’t plan on giving up their passports, according to an October survey by the Bank of China and Shanghai-based Hurun Report, which publishes an annual ranking of China’s richest people. Instead, the most common model is that of Li Weijie: Wife and child get foreign passports and live abroad, husband gets a residency permit but spends most of his time in China. “If you think of emigrating like Russians, it is because they are afraid and so are leaving their country,” says Hurun’s founder, Rupert Hoogewerf. “This is not true of the wealthy Chinese at all. They still have their businesses in China and most of their assets are in yuan.”

    大多情况，中国富人不像俄罗斯富人那样，一去不返。根据10月份中国银行和上海胡润报告中显示，80%的中国富人移民不想取消他们的护照。实际上，通常的情况就像李伟杰这样：妻儿居住在海外但有护照，自己取得绿卡但长时间待在国内。“如果你以为中国富人移民和俄罗斯一样，因为害怕在国内生活而离开国家，那你就错了，中国的富人完全不是这样。他们在国内还有生意，他们大部分资产依旧是人民币。”胡润百富榜创始者人胡润说道。

So why are they looking at residency abroad? The top motive cited is to pursue better educational opportunities for their children, according to the Bank of China-Hurun and China Merchants-Bain surveys, as well as comments from émigrés. The feeling among rich Chinese is that U.S. universities beat out their Chinese equivalents, and their children need to understand the world. émigrés note that top Chinese leaders such as Xi Jinping, likely China’s next president, send their children abroad to study. Escaping dire air quality and food safety problems are also factors.

 那为什么他们要盯着绿卡呢？根据中国胡润银行和招商银行的调查及富人移民的意见整理得出，主要的目的是给孩子创造更好的教育机会。在他们眼里，美国大学比中国大学优秀，他们孩子需要了解世界。他们提到国家领导人像中国的下任主席习近平，也把他的孩子送到国外读书了。还有空气质量问题和食品安全问题也是移居海外的因素。

Moving a family abroad and obtaining foreign residency cards could also prove useful in case of sudden legal or policy shifts that hurt entrepreneurs, or if social unrest reaches a boiling point. So-called mass incidents—riots, strikes, and protests—doubled in five years, to 180,000 in 2010, Sun Liping, a professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, wrote in a Feb. 25 article in the Economic Observer. “Some people in China are talking about class conflicts against rich people,” says Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of the National Economic Research Institute in Beijing. “Maybe some of those emigrating or getting residency are worrying about possible policy changes turning China ‘left’ that will put them in danger.”

   举家移居海外、取得绿卡在面对法律或政策突变的时候也很管用。法律政策突变或是社会不安情绪达到顶点，这些都对企业家们很不利。北京清华大学教授孙立平在2月15号《经济观察报》上一篇文章中写到，发生像暴乱、罢工、抗议等一般群众事件由2005年的90,000件翻倍到2010年的180,000件。“在中国，人们议论着对富人的阶级斗争，也许，有些富人移民担心着政策改变，中国又朝“左”走了，那他们可遭殃了。”北京国民经济研究所所长王小鲁说道。

One émigré in Boston (who asked only that his last name, Yang, be used since he still owns a factory in China) points out that the Chinese government spent more money on internal security (549 billion yuan) than on defense (534 billion yuan) in 2010. He says that if things got ugly, the rich would be targets not just for being rich but for their close connections with the government. Most of China’s wealthy have an “original sin,” or some illegality relating to earning their “first bucket of gold,” says Yang.

        一位波士顿的富人移民（他只说他姓杨，因为他在中国还有个工厂，怕人知道他是谁）说2010年中国在维稳上花费了5490亿美元，而国防只花5340亿美元，维稳比国防费用还多。他说如果社会变得动荡，富人不仅是因为有钱而成为攻击目标，更因为和政府密切相连而成为众矢之的。杨说，大多中国富人都有“原罪”，有些人的“第一桶金”都是非法手段赚取的。

“China develops so fast, and the society is unstable,” says Shengxi “Tina” Tian, an attorney at MT Law, a firm based in Burlington, Mass., that helps wealthy Chinese emigrate to the U.S. Tian points out that the émigrés appreciate the rule of law in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere.

  “中国发展太快了，导致社会不稳定。”位于马萨诸塞州伯林顿市MT律师事务所的律师Tina说道。她负责处理中国富人移居美国的事务，她说，中国富人比较欣赏美国、加拿大等发达国家的法律法规。

Some wealthy émigrés are nervous talking openly about why they have sought foreign residencies. “For us businessmen, we go wherever is safe,” says another recent émigré in Boston. “China’s political system and legal system make us feel insecure,” says the businessman, who still runs a furniture business in Shanghai and would not allow his or his company’s name to be used. He later refused to talk further and instead declared his devotion to the Party.

    一些富人移民对于公开谈论他们为什么追求海外定居的缘由很紧张。波士顿一个富人移民说：“对我们商人来说，我们去哪都是安全的（除了中国），中国的政治体系和法律体系让我们感到不安。”他在上海经营一家家具公司，他不让我把他的名字和公司的名字写在文章中。后来，他拒绝透露更多细节，因为他说他是很忠于党的。

In China, more than 800 licensed emigration service companies (and possibly hundreds more without proper government approvals) coach applicants for visa interviews, help them fill out forms, and identify possible overseas investments. Beijing-based Well Trend United, one of China’s oldest and largest emigration service companies, charges up to $30,000 per client. Well Trend, which has offices in 10 of China’s largest cities and more than 400 visa consultants and agents, says it has helped more than 10,000 Chinese get overseas visas since it opened in 1995. Business will remain strong for at least another decade, says founder Larry Wang. “It helps the U.S. get certain capital while Chinese can realize their dream of seeing the world. It’s supply and demand.”

  在中国，有超过800家合法的移民中介公司（同时可能也有几百家没有许可的中介公司）教导申请人如何通过签证面试，填写各种表格，准确投资海外资产。中国经营最久规模最大的移民中介公司之一北京和中联合（Beijing-based Well Trend United）公司向每位申请者收取高达30000美元的中介费。和中在中国十大城市都有办公点，拥有400位签证顾问和代理人，自1995年成立以来，已成功帮助超过10000名中国人取得海外签证。公司创始人王力民说移民业务至少还得繁荣十年，“通过移民美国人可以拿到钱，中国人可以实现开眼界的梦想。这叫一个愿打，一个愿挨。”

A serious issue for both the Chinese applicants and their prospective host countries is the origin of their wealth. To ensure that those with criminal backgrounds aren’t let in, and to make sure they’re truly affluent, officials of the U.S., Canada, and other countries want thorough documentation of their assets. That can be difficult. “Wealthy Chinese almost all have a history of evading taxes,” says Gao Tong, who emigrated to Boston six years ago and is now setting up his own immigration services company called Harmonia Capital USA, with his brother, a wealthy Shanghai businessman. “They fear getting caught if they have to report their income globally.”

   现在申请人和申请国共同面临着一个严峻的问题就是申请人财产的来源。为了保证不让有犯罪背景的人进来，同时也证明申请人是真的有钱，美国，加拿大还有其他国家的移民机构都要申请人递交全部的资产文件。这确实困难！“中国富人几乎都有逃税的历史，”六年前移民到波士顿，现在和他的兄弟上海富商合伙开一家叫Harmonia Capital USA移民机构的老板高通说道，“如果他们对外上报收入，他们担心会被抓起来。”

Some middlemen collude with clients to forge documents, say Well Trend executives, since many émigrés don’t have papers to prove the origin of their finances, or they may have gotten rich through illicit means. “There are more than a few bad apples,” says Victor Lum, a vice-president at Well Trend and a former Canadian visa official. “USCIS takes allegations regarding EB-5 program malfeasance very seriously,” USCIS spokesman Christopher Bentley wrote in an e-mail.

   和中的高管说道，一些中间人和代理人勾结一起，伪造假文件。因为很多富人移民没有财产的原始凭证，或者他们是通过非法渠道致富，没法出具证明。“有问题的人可不只一些，”和中的副总裁，曾任加拿大签证官维克托.朗（Victor Lum）说到。美国移民局发言人克里斯多夫.宾利（Christopher Bentley ）在邮件中写道：“EB-5计划若涉及渎职行为，美国移民局追究其法律责任是十分严厉的。”

Longer term, if China’s economy continues to grow, the emigration surge could abate. Ski resort entrepreneur Li says some of his friends are reconsidering plans to get foreign residency. In part that’s because of stricter rules in Canada and elsewhere. And while rich Chinese still crave Canadian or U.S. degrees for their children, they may see less reason to emigrate. “When I first went to Canada, I thought China was very backward and it would take 50 years for us to catch up,” says Li. “After 10 years, we can all see that China will absolutely surpass the rest of the world.”

  长远来看，如果中国经济继续发展，移民潮可减退。李伟杰说，他的一些朋友正重新考虑海外定居的计划。一部分原因是移民加拿大和其他地方，要求越来越严。还有如果中国富人的小孩可以在国内考取加拿大或是美国的学位，那么他们移民的原因也就少了一条。李说道：“当我第一次来加拿大，我认为中国真的很落后，要50年才能赶上人家。而我们现在看，再过十年，中国将会完完全全地超过世界的其他国家。”