Chinese ‘Dream’ of Escape to West Turning to Nightmare

Leaving or being left behind is a way of life here in the capital of China’s human smuggling trade. But for Chinese seeking escape to the West, the price--and the risks--are growing.

An estimated 100,000 Chinese are smuggled to the West each year. The traffic intensified during the last decade, driving up the price of passage as much as fourfold. Some coastal towns here in Fujian province annually lose one out of 10 residents.

The outflow has the Chinese government cracking the whip. About 9,000 stowaways and more than 800 “snakeheads,” as the smugglers of the human cargo are called, were detained nationwide last year, a significant jump over past years, the official China Daily reported this month.

Here in this provincial capital alone, police foiled 94 attempts to smuggle a total of 1,477 people last year, according to the Xiamen Daily. From January to September, foreign countries repatriated 29 groups of illegal immigrants, totaling 3,060 people. The Xiamen Daily report also indicated that the numbers were climbing, though past figures were not given.

Most of the stowaways were found aboard ships.

In the small towns along the craggy coastline, Cultural Revolution-style slogans shout from the walls: “Urgently chase!” and “Forcefully smash human smuggling evil wind!”

Would-Be Migrants Face Fines, Prison

The police pressure has made it more difficult to leave China illegally, residents here say.

A Fuzhou driver had saved up for the journey eight years ago but got cold feet. “It was much easier then,” he said. “Some people went by plane with snakeheads arranging everything like a travel agent. The success rate was maybe 80%. Now, if 100 people try, maybe two make it.”

Those caught trying to leave face fines and possible prison terms, as do the snakeheads, who reportedly charge tens of thousands of dollars per person. Since last fall, about 450 people who had tried to sneak out of China received prison sentences, most for less than two years, the Fujian Economic News reported.

“Smuggling is bad for our image,” said Lin Yongjian, an economist at the Fujian provincial government’s Development and Research Institute. “We need to develop the local economy. But our income level cannot reach the U.S. level overnight.”

So the exodus continues. No amount of repatriations and horror stories seems to stem the tide--not even the deaths last month of three local men, found entombed with 15 alive but emaciated stowaways in the bottom of a container ship that had made port in Seattle.

“My hometown is almost empty,” said a home-improvement specialist from Jinfeng, about an hour’s drive north of here, a town that is notorious for producing human cargo. The specialist made a small fortune sprucing up local houses owned by Chinese who had made their money overseas and returned. Two of his relatives were smuggled abroad. One was caught twice before finally making it.

“It’s very simple,” said a shopkeeper in nearby Tantou, another hot spot for stowaways. His son left for the United States at age 17. “No matter what kind of work, you [Americans] can make more in one month than we could in a year.”

Fujians Constitute Bulk of Expatriates

It’s no secret that the coastal province has a long history of emigration. Millions of overseas Chinese, legal immigrants or otherwise, trace their roots here. Those of Fujianese descent make up the bulk of Chinese expatriates and are second only to immigrants from Guangdong province.

Much of Fujian province’s economy is driven by money they invest here. Local officials say that as much as 80% of the $31.5 billion in foreign investment to the province last year came from overseas Chinese. This prompts some locals to speculate that the government, until recently, turned a blind eye on the human exodus.

“Smugglers reduce China’s overpopulation and bring back money for the economy,” said the home-improvement specialist. “That solves two major problems for the government.”

On the other hand, locals say Americans are too eager to believe claims of political persecution. Snakeheads know that, and they often tell families of would-be emigrants to forge letters saying their relatives had participated in the pro-democracy movement that led to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and would face capital punishment if they returned to China.

In fact, the motivations of the would-be emigrants are mostly economic.

It’s hard to miss the contrast between the fates of those who have gone and those who remained. Among vegetable fields and on the sides of roads, new homes sprout like bamboo shoots after the spring rain.

“Look at these private homes--they are built by ‘American citizens’ who come back to show off,” said a driver on the newly paved highway connecting the urban center and the countryside. “Sometimes they have only three people living in a three- or four-story mansion.

“Sometimes they build the home, treat the neighbors to a big feast and take off. Leave the house standing,” the driver said. “Even then their house has to stand bigger and taller than their neighbor’s.”

Off the beaten path, rundown shanties with roofs held down by bricks and old tires stand beside lavishly remodeled buildings that are distinguished by white-tiled walls, blue-tinted windows and orange roofs.

A woman and her children inhabit one of these shiny buildings, living on money sent home by her husband in the United States. Neighbors say so many women are left alone that some towns in the area are dubbed “widow villages.”

“If I had the money, I would definitely go,” said one 25-year-old woman working a manual silk screen in a print shop. “A lot more women are leaving. It’s just a few years of hard work--it’s worth it.”

Most people choose to ignore evidence of the difficult passage, but they hear about it.

A middle-age Fuzhou resident with relatives who had reached the U.S. by way of Argentina recalled the saga of a friend who almost made it last year.

The passengers saw the shoreline somewhere in the U.S. but were afraid to land, he said. A dozen people shared six bottles of mineral water for a week. They were not allowed to swallow the water: They would rinse their mouth and then spit it back in the container. When the water ran out and the weak grew faint, they made a break for the shore, only to be captured by the local police and sent back home.

Hoping to Live the American Dream

Residents here say most of those who tempt fate are poorly educated farmers from remote areas.

“Going abroad is a dream,” said a young woman from Tantou who runs a bookstall in town. “Young people here can’t reach their full potential.”

Recently, a teenager came in to chat. He has no interest in books. Like many of his friends in town, he dropped out after middle school. Now he is an apprentice to a short-order cook. His relatives send him money from Taiwan, about 125 miles southeast of here across the Taiwan Strait.

Down the street, a 50-year-old grandmother is still waiting for the dollars to trickle in. Her son left for the U.S. six years ago. His wife followed a few years later and gave birth to a boy there. A year later the baby was sent to Fujian province to live with his grandmother so the parents could work full time as waiters.

“My son worked as a butcher here, killing pigs, selling meat,” said the grandmother. “He didn’t like it. Now he works in an American restaurant. But he doesn’t make enough money yet to send home.”

Two of her three sons left home for the U.S. Their pictures hang in a big frame above two laminated maps of the world and of China. She’s afraid to give details, saying only that someone had arranged fake marriages, which eventually got them to Washington.

“Of course I miss them, but what future do they have here?” said the grandmother, who runs a tailor shop in the front of her home. Business is slow, and the three manual sewing machines are almost always idle. What keeps her going is her grandchild.

“He is an American citizen,” she said. “His life has to be better than all of us.”