Millions of Chinese are planning to leave China. Why? Where are they going? What do they plan to do? The FT is running a series exploring this (Silk Road Redux). Run your eye down the list of nationalities taking advantage of the “golden visa” schemes across Europe and you will find that the majority of those buying relatively expensive property to be able to apply for residency are Chinese – 81 per cent so far in Portugal’s scheme.
That might be just about the nice weather in Lisbon, the semi-democracy offered by the EU and the lower levels of air pollution in the west. But it might also be to do with the fact that China’s economy isn’t quite what it was.
There have been dire warnings for some time on the nasty ending awaiting what some call “the Chinese growth miracle” and others call “the Chinese credit bubble”. But it is now hard for even the most optimistic observer to escape the evidence of a sharp slowdown.