China needs foreign workers. So why won’t it embrace immigration?
Opposition to multiculturalism is fuelled, in part, by claims of racial purity
For hundreds of years China could boast of having more people than any other country. The title became official in the 1950s, when the UN began compiling such data. Such a large population conferred on China certain bragging rights. A huge labour supply also helped to boost its annual GDP growth, which has averaged close to 9% over the past three decades.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Wanted: people”
From the May 6th 2023 edition
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