Moving Back to China

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Philip Hu fled Shanghai as a child after the communists took over China in 1949. After growing up in Taiwan, he went to UC Berkeley and eventually became a Silicon Valley tech executive.

But he and his wife, Tanlie Chao, 55, have sold their house in San Jose and plan to retire to Shanghai in September, part of a reverse migration that reflects a turnabout among Chinese emigres.

"I've been living here and speak the language," said Hu, 60. "But inside I'm very Chinese."

Well-to-do Chinese around the world are being drawn homeward by affordable housing, food and recreation -- as well as a sense of belonging. Driving this trend are China's booming market economy, improved transportation and telecommunications, potential returns on real estate investments and the emergence of a transnational identity for many of the emigres and their children.

A trend that will continue.