Destination Surprise
One in five Taiwanese say they would migrate if they could. Of these Taiwanese, 31% point to the United States as their desired destination. This is no surprise.
What is surprising, to those who have not followed events in the Fast East very closely, is the fact that Mainland China turns out to be the No. 2 favored destination of migration for the Taiwanese, chosen by 21% of the surveyed Taiwan residents who want to live somewhere else. These poll results were released earlier this month by the Taiwan-based Tianxia magazine.
To those who are familiar with the situation, the particular finding comes as no surprise. Already, 300,000 Taiwanese are currently working and living in the Chinese city Shanghai alone. Additionally, close to 200,000 Hong Kong residents have landed their feet on the mainland, mostly in the neighboring Guangdong province. Of those Hong Kong people, 160,000 have purchased houses or apartments in the area of their second abode.
The current populations of Hong Kong and Taiwan are 7.2 million and 22 million respectively.
Among the factors that pull the migrants of Taiwan and Hong Kong to the mainland are better job opportunities (the Hong Kong people who work on the mainland, with their expertise and know-how, on average make 80% more than those who stayed behind), relatively low cost of living, as well as greater space in which to move about - China is simply so much larger than the islands of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
All this would have been quite unthinkable just a few years before. The changes in China during the past decade have clearly made a significant difference. While serious problems remain for China, both economic and political, the country is obviously vast enough and diverse enough for hundreds of Hong Kong and Taiwan residents to choose some better spots in the country to make their second home.
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