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Crisis? Not yet, say expats in China

By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-27 09:44

"I would go out and do a lot more things in Beijing but I don't know how long or how deep the recession will be back home."

Foreigners have plenty of spare crash to dine out in Beijing. [China Daily]

Some who repatriate might even find the economic bust could boost their opportunities in their native economies.

"One good thing is that house prices are going down in Australia and if I'd stayed, I might have gotten into something that I couldn't afford," Sanderson says. "But that didn't happen."

Instead, the price plunge means he's better positioned to buy a home when he repatriates next year.

As a demographic, Liu says expats like Sanderson are likely to have few or no investments, debts or properties in their home countries.

While American business instructor Paul Cokeley does own mutual funds in the US, he says he feels "separated from the issues back home", adding: "They're not affecting the money I need to survive right now."

Cokeley says he hasn't checked on how the funds are doing since July. "I know it's bad but there's not much I can do about it," he says.

"I just hope things bounce back before I move back to the US. Maybe I could use that money on the down-payment for a house."

American Jim Spear, co-owner of China Bound Ltd, says his business has yet to feel the brunt of the global economic downturn. However, the company based in Beijing's suburban Mutianyu area is bracing itself for what might come.

"I work in the hospitality and tourism field where spending is discretionary," he says. "So we are concerned that the global economic downturn could impact our business from overseas while the situation sorts itself out and people get their confidence back.

"But we hope and expect that in the meantime our customers from inside China will find nearby destinations like ours even more attractive when they think of how to get away from it all. So the world will doubtlessly go on."

Spear says China Bound's lodging and tour business is "booming" but expects to take fewer bookings for corporate meetings next year.

"When times are tough and they need to control their budgets a little, they're still going to have meetings but they're more likely to have them closer to home," he says.

Still, he remains optimistic.

"The world's been through this before," he says, "and I'm confident we can make it through again."

Liu says the way expats in China react to the financial crisis should go beyond the fiscal to the psychological.

"Live smart and get informed about developments on both ends of the market," he advises.

"Don't overreact and always see the bottle as half full, because the quality of life is subjective."

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