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Alan Li no longer sees a future for his family in China because draconian Covid restrictions wrecked his firm, disrupted his son’s schooling, and pushed his country behind the rest of the world.
After months of lockdowns in Shanghai, he has given up hope of a return to normalcy and plans to close his company and relocate to Hungary, where he sees greater chances and his 13-year-old son may attend an international school.
Shanghai’s protracted shutdown, which resulted in food shortages and riots, has prompted people to contemplate staying in a country where livelihoods and lifestyles might evaporate at the whim of the state.
Schools have been shuttered, and tests, including those for admission to American institutions, have been cancelled.
Li is irritated that his son’s expensive bilingual education has been mostly online for the past two years, and he is concerned about how Beijing has tightened curricular monitoring.
He was able to take advantage of a European investment scheme that allows him and his family residency in Budapest because he is pretty well-off.
“Many people are aware that if they liquidated all their assets, they might ‘lay flat’ in a European country,” he remarked, using a slang term for relaxing.
Guo Shize, a Beijing-based immigration adviser, told AFP that his firm had witnessed a threefold rise in Shanghai clients since March.
Even when the lockdown was lifted, requests continued to pour in at more than twice the regular rate.
“Once that spark is lit in people’s imaginations, it doesn’t go away easily,” he said.
Exit prohibition
Censors have attempted to silence discussion of emigration, causing astute internet users to use the term “run” instead.
During Shanghai’s shutdown, searches for the keyword on the messaging app WeChat surged.
However, as more people explore leaving, Beijing has tightened exit procedures for Chinese citizens.
All “unnecessary” international travel has been prohibited. Passport renewals have nearly ceased, with authorities citing the possibility of Covid being brought into the country.
Only 2% of passports granted in the first half of 2021 were issued by immigration authorities in the same period in 2019.
One woman who relocated to Germany told AFP that she receives dozens of messages from Chinese individuals seeking advice on how to flee.
Emily, who did not want to use her true name, attempted to assist a relative in obtaining a new passport in order to work in Europe, but the application was denied.
‘Absolutely ridiculous’
A Chinese freelancer told AFP that he was turned back by immigration agents when attempting to fly to Turkey for work last October, despite having checked in.
“My itinerary sounded strange to them. They took my passport into an office and told me 15 minutes later that I did not match the standards “under the condition of anonymity. “It was completely insane.”
He was able to leave weeks later by entering semi-autonomous Macau on a separate travel document and catching an onward aircraft.
Some are dissatisfied with Beijing’s tightening measures, which have been stepped up throughout the outbreak.
“I just want to live in a country where the government doesn’t meddle in my personal life,” said Lucy, a 20-year-old student at a prestigious Beijing university interested in LGBTQ and Marxist activism.
The viral policies had “enabled the government to regulate and monitor everything,” she claimed.
“Perhaps, rather of accepting and adapting to this system, we might travel elsewhere and start over.”
