A reader named Matthew Slater has kindly translated into readable English the reasons for "birth tourism" from the website ChineseBabyCare that I included in my last VDARE column. As you'll recall, I used a chaotic Google Translate version.
From Chinese Baby Care on why pregnant Chinese women should pay the firm $9,000 to $14,000 to have their baby on American soil.
The benefits of US citizenship
1. If your child is born in America, he will immediately have US nationality and will enjoy the rights of a citizen. When the child is 21, the parents can apply to be sponsored as family members, will have a permanent green card, will not have to wait their turn for the quota, and it will provide the basis for future immigration
2. In terms of the environment and education, the US is the most advanced state in the world, and your child will be able to attend US public schools from primary school to senior high school without any tuition fees at all.
3. Your child will pay only 10% of the tuition fees paid by foreign students in state unversities and research institutes, and it will be easy for him to enrol in famous universities.
4. Your American child will be able to apply for scholarship funds that only US citizens can enjoy and for student loans at a low interest rate of 1%.
5. Your child will be able to live and work in high-income America unconditionally (the average wage in the US is US$37,363 a year), and will be given preferential treatment in assuming significant leadership positions in the US government, public institutions and large businesses.
6. Your child will enjoy the right to enter more than 180 countries of the globe without obtaining visas, and and the convenience of crossing borders on the most preferential terms.
7. Your child will have a US Social Security card and will enjoy access to all American social welfare measures and medical facilities.
8. If the location your child resides in in the future is disrupted by war, US citizenship and nationality will allow him to benefit from protection and evacuation by the US government.
9. After yrs of free schooling and use of public library, your child will finally understand and appreciate the signifance of Bob Dylan.
ReplyDeleteAll quite true, without exaggeration, which is not always the case with advertising.
ReplyDeleteHey wait a minute...I thought China was the great up-and-coming superpower which we're all supposed to envy and emulate. And now we see that Chinese will jump thru hoops to get into a decrepit loser has-been country like America. What gives?
ReplyDelete@Heliogab
ReplyDeleteNever heard of hedging your bets?
Steve,
ReplyDeleteI can't recall how much the 'service' costs, but can you think (regardless of the advertisers' flash), of a better deal offered by anyone anywhere in the world? - where a modest upfront fee can confer such huge actual and potential advantages, the potential leverage , if exploited to the max (ie by bringing granny, auntie and their kiddies over) must run *in the tens of thousands percents*?
All paid by the sucker US taxpayer.
Supposedly perpetual motion machines are impossible - but this particular instance seems to disprove that rule.
My only though is 'why aren't more Chinese (indeed Indians or others, not necessarily 3rd world)actually taking advantage of all that free moolah? - what have you got to lose apart from a few $ thousand - probably less than you'll spend on a christening party, a dowry, prom party, bar mitzvah, college fund etc etc.
Asian, person here. I know a guy who lives in Shanghai, and despite all the talk of economic wealth and growth, he tells me that things are not what they seem to be.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not sure the US has a comparative advantage regarding point #8 any more; the Chinese did a great job of evacuating their citizens from Libya. The rest of the points stand, though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the Mexican version says?
ReplyDelete"A reader named Matthew Slater has kindly translated into readable English the reasons for "birth tourism" ..."
ReplyDeleteTheir reasons don't need much explanation. What I want to know is what are the US government's reasons for bestowing birthright citizenship on the children of foreign nationals.
For obvious reasons, they didnt mention that any Chinese living in China who has American passport is "protected". In case of incarcelation, the American consul will visit him/her and try to get him out. His chances of political persecution (always possible in China) will be considerably attenuated. And another point: he will be get out of China any time.
ReplyDeleteIn Texas, where I used to live, down in the Rio Grande valley, it is not uncommon for Mexican women in an advanced state of pregnancy to cross the border, legally or illegally, and then come to the local hospital when they go into labor. The hospital is required by US law to perform the delivery. And, standards are much higher than in Mexican hospitals. And if the baby is premature or needs special care, all that will be provided at no charge. When Momma heads home with her new little niño, he will have a US birth certificate - another native born US citizen! He can come back any time, and often the whole clan gets to accompany him under "family reunification!" What a deal!
ReplyDeleteI hope you send New York Times' reporter Jennifer Medina a copy.
ReplyDeleteThis is par for the course in the Caribbean. In most countries, most middle-class and on up the social ladder have US or Canadian citizenship or permanent residence in either country. Chain migration and easy access to visas for elites means that most of the children of caribbean elites are citizens of other countries.
ReplyDeleteBEnefits are obvious, but what it means is that you a political and economic elite who benefit so much from the status quo that the self interest needed to develope one's country is absent. That's why so many poor countries ar oriented towards aid rather than real economic development.
The flip side to this is that US. And Canadian govts get to attract highly skilled immigrants, essentially skimming off the cream. Of the crop who view higher wages as a sufficient attraction to leave. Doctors and nurses espcily
Pretty sweet deal for 10k.
ReplyDeleteThe best part, unmentioned in this list, is that the immigrant gains proximity to Canada.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Matthew Slater!
ReplyDelete"After yrs of free schooling and use of public library, your child will finally understand and appreciate the signifance of Bob Dylan."
ReplyDeleteBob Dylan is playing in Shanghai tonight. I'm not kidding.
I don't think that 20 years from now there will be that much benefit to being American over being Chinese, unless you value freedom of speech.
OT, since the discussion thread on how smart is Obama has been closed for a while.
ReplyDeleteTurns out, Obama may indeed have been really, really smart in the past, but may be a cretin now, due to recent major brain surgery:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373780/Mystery-scars-Obamas-head-begs-question--President-brain-surgery.html
The winner: Chinese anchor baby.
ReplyDeleteThe loser: The American taxpayer.
Reply to Heliogabalus:
ReplyDeleteIt's an insurance policy. Just like the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Hong Kong Chinese who took out Canadian citizenship - "the maple leaf express" - just in case they ever need it.
Is there any "birth tourism" by American parents in other countries? That is to say, are there reasons for American parents to have a kid in Canada, for instance?
ReplyDeleteWhether the balance will be quite as good when "your child" grows up is questionable.
ReplyDeleteIn 21 years, at 10% growth, the Chinese economy will be 7.4 times larger.
I assume this is not an issue because it isn't mentioned in the advertising hype but does such a child count towards China's one child quota? In theory it shouldn't if he/she is expected to live in America, let alone anchor parents/siblings there.
"I hope you send New York Times' reporter Jennifer Medina a copy."
ReplyDeleteEven after Chinese is translated into English, it'll be Greek to her.
I have tried to use Google translate for my Don Giovanni project. But the results have been very mixed.
ReplyDeleteFor example the famous aria about the fickleness of women - La Donna è Mobile comes out - the woman mobile. Suggesting that the Duke is interested in transportion by sex.
Albertosaurus
Whitey Whiteman III
ReplyDeleteHeh.
This is from the google translation of chinesebabycare.com:
"Senior center month of the white residential area in Los Angeles, Arcadia (Arcadia), Arcadia Los Angeles school district is one of the best school district. Peacock 5 minutes by car, walk 5 minutes to the supermarket, walk 3 minutes to the best school district Arcadia, Seven or eight from the Los Angeles hospitals and clinics are very close, only 15 minutes drive away. Arcadia White District elegant, beautiful, security management, allowing you to really enjoy the rich white American life."
When the "Tiger Mom" article was all the noise, I dropped in on the WSJ comments. There was lots of Chinese and Indians commenting. Since the comments were coming in at several every few minutes, I decided to experiment, though in a sincere way. I suggested that part of the problem was that Tigermomma made no mention of citizenship,religion, or volunteerism-that is, the world outside of Me. I threw in the platitudes about the importance of instilling civic values in a democracy.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there was within minutes plenty of comments from these people about how ridiculous and naive I was: we need more government, they came here for economic opportunity, they gave at the office, etc. Experiment went as predicted.
Funny, but they don't seem to mention all the fluffy rhetoric about how America is a creedal nation full of God's Own Chosen who embrace each other as brothers and sisters regardless of race and who want to risk their lives making the world safe for democracy and neoconservative global domination.
ReplyDeleteIt all seems very pragmatic and, well, greedy. I'm sure Bill Kristol and Jay Nordlinger would be shocked.
My aunt has lived in Arcadia for a half century. It was a very generic looking SoCal suburb, but now about the half the ranch houses, like the one my aunt lives in, and have been torn down and replaced by McMansions for Chinese.
ReplyDeleteThen again, they fail to mention that the US citizenship benefits your child will enjoy will greatly diminish by the time the child grows up, due to the effects from the border hopping behavior of him and his parents. And that China doesn't allow dual-citizenship to hedge the bet...
ReplyDeleteConsidering the over billion Chinese living, it's amazing this birth tourism isn't more common than it is. Perhaps the Chinese understand that we're a has-been declining power.
ReplyDeleteIt's an insurance policy. Just like the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Hong Kong Chinese who took out Canadian citizenship - "the maple leaf express" - just in case they ever need it.
Right.
Canada is 3% Chinese, the same as Califonia. The USA is 1%. British Columbia is about 10%.
Canada and the United States admit roughly equal numbers of Pakistanis and Sri Lankans each year. Note that Canada has only 1/8 the population of the USA.
Canada is far more boneheaded when it comes to immigration than the USA is, if that can be believed. Perhaps it's a good thing that Lincoln kept the Southern states in the Union...
"In 21 years, at 10% growth, the Chinese economy will be 7.4 times larger."
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese economy will never be 7 times larger than the US economy - at least not a USA that was ~85% white. Chinese workers may be smarter and more productive than US workers, but they aren't that much smarter and more productive. Of course that doesn't account for the growing Hispanicization of a US that, by 2032, will have a huge percentage of NAMs age 20-30 working (or not working) by then.
It's not the alien's fault. Is anyone here complaining to their rep/senators about this?
ReplyDeleteKeyboard cowboys get nothing done in this country. Real men have boots on the ground and they get involved in the non-virtual real life way.
Pffffft. You're bodies are all full of birth control pill runoff from the water system anyway.
Carry on, Estro-Poofs.
It's not the alien's fault. Is anyone here complaining to their rep/senators about this?
ReplyDeleteKeyboard cowboys get nothing done in this country. Real men have boots on the ground and they get involved in the non-virtual real life way.
Pffffft. You're bodies are all full of birth control pill runoff from the water system anyway.
Carry on, Estro-Poofs.
I just puked.
ReplyDelete"Canada is far more boneheaded when it comes to immigration than the USA is, if that can be believed."
ReplyDeleteIn idealistic terms it may be worse. Effectively, though, it's better off. A far larger proportion of its immigrants are well-educated. It's saved by the fact that a large, wealthy country stands between it and Latin America.
Realistically, NO First World country is worse on immigration than the United States. Not one - not Canada, not France, not Great Britain, not Australia. Nearly 45% of newborns in the USA are now Hispanic, black, or other poorly performing minorities.
The die is cast. Nothing short of full expulsion of illegals AND their anchor babies will change that, and that WILL NOT happen.
The Chinese are not smarter than American workers. Yes many of them are very bright, but the rural inland masses and slum dwellers are not smarter. I've known plenty of people that traveled through China and most were not impressed with the intellectual curiosity or general smarts of the common people they encountered, outside the entrepreneurial and professional classes. I would add that it is possible that poor environment and social rigidity have a negative impact on the general population.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese, however, are much harder working and more frugal than Americans. That seems to be true across economic classes or regions.
Canada and Australia admit huge numbers of immigrants, on a proportional basis, but those immigrants often come on the basis of their skills. Especially true in Australia.
ReplyDeleteSarkozy has been tightening up the immigration system in France.
UK historically was locked down pretty well, following immigration restriction in the 1960s and 1970s. Then Blair/Labor took power in 1997 and opened up the floodgates, which Tories are now trying to close. I predict by the end of the year, UK will be back to sanity, as Cameron seems serious on the immigration issue.
Germany is currently very locked down.
The US is probably the dumbest country in the Western world, with regards to immigration.
Meanwhile, Japan continues to admit zero immigrants. Imagine that.
Reply to corvinus:
ReplyDelete"Canada is only 3% Chinese"..
I don't think you understood my post.
Firstly, that is a huge jump from almost nothing just 40 years or so earlier. Well within living memory, Canada was over 98% white. Also a great many Chinese took out Canadian citizenship, BUT CURRENTLY STILL LIVE IN HONG KONG. This was my point, which was lost on you.
Also Canada has about one-ninth, not one-eighth of the U.S. population.
You ARE RIGHT that Canada has a totally bone-headed immigration policy. America at least has the excuse of having Mexico and the Caribbean as neighbours.
Captain Hack I was saying that in 21 years the Chinese economy would be 7.4 times larger than the current Chinese economy. I think that would make it a bit larger than the current US one, but would have to look that up.
ReplyDeleteOf course after a further 21 years it would be more than 7.4 times the current US one.
Not saying they & the US will keep up such comparative growth rates, not that they won't but trying to argue with the effects of compound growth is like trying to argue with gravity.
"In 21 years, at 10% growth, the Chinese economy will be 7.4 times larger."
ReplyDeleteNice paper projection.
"Considering the over billion Chinese living, it's amazing this birth tourism isn't more common than it is. Perhaps the Chinese understand that we're a has-been declining power."
ReplyDelete- Not really, its that the price mentioned in the article to do birth tourism represents about 3+ years gross salary for the average Chinese worker. This is something for the uberwealthy to them, kind of like a $200,000 ride in Richard Branson's space shuttle seems a bit out of the price range for most Americans.
"but trying to argue with the effects of compound growth is like trying to argue with gravity."
ReplyDeleteWrong.
You're projecting growth trends to infinity. While gravity may have infinite reach, growth, eventually, stops.
China has done massive environmental damage to itself in a short-term orgy of manufacturing cheap crap to sell to broke Americans, on credit.
This is not a sustainable business plan.
Societies are like stocks. When people start projecting their growth to infinity, that means the top is in.
Being the contrarian sort (with the fundamentals of history to back me up) I'm now bullish on people of Northwestern European ancestry.
Meanwhile, Japan continues to admit zero immigrants. Imagine that.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there is a country on earth that admits zero immigrants. Japan does admit immigrants, primarily other East Asians, and they have a right-of-return policy concerning ethnic Japanese around the world.
neil:
ReplyDeleteYou can't extrapolate from current growth rates forever. China is still following in the footsteps of the developed world, and digging out of a huge hole created by adherence to Maoist insanity. Eventually, they'll level out at an economy probably something like that of Japan or Taiwan or South Korea--solidly first world, wealthy, but not able to keep growing at 10+% every year. The easy development will be done.
China has done massive environmental damage to itself in a short-term orgy of manufacturing cheap crap to sell to broke Americans, on credit.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a sustainable business plan.
Environmental damage has nothing to do with the limits on Chinese growth. The country is slightly larger than the US, and the damage is only being being done in infinitesimal areas of the country.
Their real problem is that their growth - like that of other poor countries - is based on assembling widgets. A developed country gets its growth from inventing widgets. Bangladesh and Botswana can assemble widgets as well as the Chinese can - it's their governments that prevent this from happening due to a combination of corruption and cumbersome rent-seeking regulations. Can the Chinese move on to the invention of widgets? The paucity of inventions from China, given its huge land mass (2.5x the EU), population (larger than all of the West for all of recorded history, and more literate for most of recorded history) and relatively long periods of peace (far fewer large-scale conflicts than in Europe) is not encouraging.
Reply to Lucille:
ReplyDeleteJapan may admit immigrants but it only admits an extremely low number of them. They are not going to change the face of their country - and why should they? As Enoch Powell noted, "Its all about the numbers"! Nobody cared about race relations in Britain in 1947. There may have been a FEW non-whites living there then, but they were not demographically significant. Its all about THE NUMBERS!
I did say that I was not guaranteeing that Chinese growth would stay the same. However it could go up rather than down and America's could go either up or down as well as staying the same. However just relying on China's growth to stop is an unwise and unjustified assumption.
ReplyDeleteIf it did only stop at US/Japanese levels that would still leave them with an economy 4 times larger than America's.
I don't think China's pollution probelm is any worse than America's or Europe's was at various stages. In fact comparing Beijing's air withn the London smogs which, in the 1950s, killed 4,000 in one week, it looks pretty clean. Certainly nothing that would bring their growth to a stop.
If the location your child resides in in the future is disrupted by war, US citizenship and nationality will allow him to benefit from protection and evacuation by the US government.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone think that the U.S. would actually be able to protect or evacuate U.S. citizens from China should China be "disrupted by war"?