Pollution makes some ponder emigration

By Yu Ran and Shi Jing in Shanghai (China Daily) Updated: 2014-01-17 07:15

Driving in heavy haze is like fishing in a pond with one's bare hands. To secure their safety, a large number of drivers are seriously considering buying automobile insurance. Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd, one of the leading insurance companies in China, saw the sales of automobile insurance reach a historic high of 13 million yuan on November 11 last year when Taobao promoted its annual shopping carnival. This was partly related to the concerns of driving safely on smoggy days, according to Ge Ruichao, director of Taobao's finance department.

"When the German insurer Allianz SE rolled out a "moon-gazing" insurance policy before the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, a large number of people came to us to ask when we will come out with insurance related to hazy weather. It is certain that the demand for such insurance in 2014 will remain a hot topic," said Ge.

One of the 10 buzzwords in the Chinese tourism industry is the so-called lung cleaning trips, according to research conducted by China's largest online travel agency Ctrip.com at the end of last year.

A large number of people chose to travel to Chinese cities including Sanya, Xiamen, Lijiang and Guilin to avoid the smog, which has haunted most of China for a long time. Phuket Island in Thailand, Bali in Indonesia and Mauritius were also among the most popular tourist destinations.

Ctrip experts predict that lung-cleaning trips will remain popular in 2014 because the situation is not going to change soon.

China Youth Travel Service Shanghai also repackaged some of their products in the last quarter of 2013 to lure more customers. "Quite a large number of people, especially senior citizens, chose to go to Sanya or Kunming for better air quality. Overseas trips to warmer places such as Australia and New Zealand were also more frequently inquired about," said Jia Lili, communications manager of the travel agency.

Even buying a 10,000-yuan air purifier from the United States did not help much for Xia Jing, a 33-year-old housewife in Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province, because she has two young boys aged 6 and 3. She made the decision to get out of the city in the pursuit of cleaner air after suffering from the poor weather for more than two months.

"We drove to stay at a hotel resort located on Mogan Mountain in Zhejiang province for six days in order to get away from the worsening weather in the city for Christmas and the new year," said Xia.

Properties

In the meantime, owning properties away from severely polluted areas is popular among Chinese residents. A commercial residential community developed by Guangzhou-based Agile Property Holdings Ltd in Tengchong, in Yunnan province, Southwest China, saw more than 300 properties sold within one week. Tengchong has more than 310 days throughout the year labeled as good air quality days.

Xia invested in a few apartments in earlier years in different cities as a long-term investment, which eventually brought her some benefits.

"I sent my younger son and my mother to our small apartment in Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, in early December because the air there was a bit better than where we're living now," said Xia.

She added that many of her friends who own properties in the regions with better air quality had already moved out with their families temporarily in order to avoid living among the smog.

Sharing Xia's views, Chen Ye, a mother of a 2-year-old son in Shanghai, sent him and her parents to their apartment in Haikou, in Hainan province, in early December when the air quality was extremely bad.

"I have to work and stay in Shanghai but I should let my child and my parents live in a safer and healthier environment," said Chen.

Emigration

Xia's ultimate plan is to emigrate as the most effective way of avoiding pollution completely.

"I've got no other choice because I cannot see the air condition being solved in the short term in China, and I have to figure out a quicker way to enhance the living quality of my family," said Xia, who is planning to take the whole family to New Zealand next year.

At the moment, Xia's husband is applying for a permanent visa for New Zealand as a business investor. They expect their visas will be approved within a year.

Xia added that more wealthy Chinese families will be forced to leave the country and live elsewhere where there are blue skies more often in the next decade if the smoggy weather continues.