<\/a><\/p>\nJust in 2013, one realtor, Peggy Fong Chen, sold over $71 million worth of homes in Arcadia (The Chinese Beverly Hills, 2014). For the most part, these large Arcadian mansions are in high demand because it gives millionaires a place to store their money. Because of China\u2019s shifting real estate policies and the social instability caused by income and wealth inequality in China, rich people have come to feel unsafe, said reporter Jue Wang (2014). For this reason, these Chinese immigrants often pay for their million dollar homes in cash in order to shorten the money trail, with the hopes of hiding their money more effectively from the Chinese government.<\/p>\n
When driving through the streets of Arcadia, you are able to large mansions with semi-circular driveways, lined with Range Rovers and Porches. However, when examining the houses closely many seem like they are unoccupied. A member of Arcadia\u2019s homeowner\u2019s association estimated that 20% of these new homes sit empty (Weise, 2014). The main reasoning behind this is that the Chinese are just using these homes to store cash. However, other reasons can be because the mansions are being used as vacation homes, or because many homes are purchased for millionaire\u2019s children, parents, or mistresses, or because language barriers have actually caused Chinese residents to move back to Asia or elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The fact that Chinese immigrants are leaving Arcadia because of a language barrier proves that, certain cities and amenities do not appeal to all Chinese elites. However, people are highly aware of the potential profits these immigrants could generate. Therefore, people have had to come up with specific ways to attract wealthy Chinese immigrants.<\/p>\n
To attract this specific Chinese market, architects and developers have been building and crafting million-dollar mansions with similar styles, which has drastically changed Arcadia\u2019s city landscape. Most of the homes architects create reflect the Chinese philosophy of feng shui and face the south, which are two important aspects of Chinese culture (Hawthorne, 2014). Chinese culture is deeply rooted in tradition, therefore, Chinese citizens are often more attracted to homes that represent and honor their culture. Arcadian architects also try to attract Chinese millionaires by creating mansions that include: wine cellars, theaters, double-height entry halls, elevators, many master bedrooms, and a separate wok kitchen (Hawthorne, 2014). Architects and developers make a conscious effort to build these Arcadia mansions to appeal to wealthy Chinese immigrants, in the hopes of earning a large profit.<\/p>\n
Architects and developers are not the only ones trying to bring Chinese millionaires to America. The U.S. government recognizes the money that wealthy foreigners have, and wants them to spend it on American soil. Therefore, in 1990 the U.S. government created a program to attract foreign investments, in the hopes of sparking investment. It requires that if wealthy foreigners invest at least $500,000 in an American business, they are eligible to apply for a green card known as the EB-5 Visa. As of this year, Chinese nationals allocated 85% of the 10,000 visas offered. Therefore, through this plan, the U.S. was able to generate $4,250,000,000 in investments; in addition to the money foreigners spent once they came to the U.S.<\/p>\n
The influx of wealthy Chinese immigrants has brought a lot of business, investment, and money to the United States. For example, in 2014, Arcadia brought in a record revenue of $7.9 million just from fees for building permits and developments, which is a 72% increase from the previous year (Weise, 2014). Wealthy Chinese immigrants also helped with the U.S. economy during the recession of 2009. During this time, China elites were slightly affected but still stayed wealthy. Therefore, as America was facing a time of dramatic economic downturn, Chinese millionaires continued to move to the U.S., bringing millions of dollars with them. This money was then used to hire workers, pay for goods and services, and to help keep businesses afloat.<\/p>\n
As much as this influx of wealthy Chinese immigrants can be beneficial it can also create problems in society. One problem is with long-term residents who feel like their cities are being commercialized solely for the purpose of financial gain. For example, people that have grown up in Arcadia have watched their hometown turn into a \u201cChinese Beverly Hill\u201d with mansions that are not even occupied. As of 2010, it was reported that than 44% of Arcadia\u2019s residents were Chinese (Bertrand, 2015). This report just shows how the Chinese population is starting to take over cities, which could further upset city natives. Therefore, it is evident that the thousands of wealthy Chinese immigrants that have settled in the U.S. have disrupted cities by attracting commercial development and expunging any remnants of a city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAnother potential problem that should be considered is that the growth that Arcadia is experiencing is not normal. The building of mansions has grown at a rate that does not seem to be sustainable. Therefore, we want to be conscious about how much money we are pouring into these projects, so that we can avoid any real estate bubbles in the future. If we continue building mansions we will either run out of resources or run out of buyers. Therefore, we must make a cautious effort to focus on only creating supply when there is demand.<\/p>\n
As you can see, there are pros and cons surrounding the immigration of Chinese millionaires. Regardless, it is important to recognize the impact they have on the U.S. economy and society, in the hopes of finding a harmonious balance between the two. Immigration is a great way to encourage diversity and change; however, we do not want to promote too much diversity in a way that will drive out the people who inhabited an area first. Therefore, this balance is essential to creating a world where everyone can prosper<\/p>\n
Works Cited:<\/strong><\/p>\nBertrand, Natasha. “This California Suburb Has Become a Haven for Wealthy Chinese<\/p>\n
Residents.” Business Insider<\/em>. Business Insider, Inc, 02 Feb. 2015. Web. 6 Oct. 2016.<\/p>\nHawthorne, Christopher. “How Arcadia Is Remarking Itself As A Magnet for Chinese Money.”<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Times<\/em>. Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2014. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.<\/p>\nVocativVideo. “The California Town Where Chinese Millionaires House Their Kids-and<\/p>\n
Mistresses.” YouTube<\/em>. YouTube, 05 Dec. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.<\/p>\nWang, Jue. “Chinese Homebuyers Heat up LA’s Real Estate Market.” US-China Today<\/em>. 4 Apr.<\/p>\n\n- Web. 10 Oct. 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Wei, Lingling. “China Challenged to Keep Yuan Stable as Dollar Rises.” WSJ<\/em>. Wsj.com, 16 May<\/p>\n\n- Web. 10 Oct. 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Weise, Karen. “Why Are Chinese Millionaires Buying Mansions in an L.A. Suburb?”<\/p>\n
Bloomberg.com<\/em>. Bloomberg, 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the last five years there has been a measurable increase in the amount of wealthy Chinese that have immigrated to the United States. The instability of the Chinese currency and increase in government regulation has caused some of the wealthiest Chinese citizens to worry about the fate of their fortunes. Therefore, since money is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":808,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/808"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2224"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2230,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224\/revisions\/2230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}