Chinese Welders Live the Good Life in Australia, Reactions

From Phoenix Online:

Dozens of Welders in Shandong Emigrate to Australia: 20-30K Monthly Pay, Live in 200㎡ Homes

Original title: Farmers “Working Overseas” Receive Green Cards, Live in Big Houses

–Using welding skills to go to Australia, 25 families with over 100 people from one village have settled overseas.

A 20,000-30,000 yuan monthly income, living in houses over 200㎡, with rolling grass and fresh clean air outside, and high quality education and medical care… A life that even urban white collars dare not think about, enjoyed by over 20 families and over 100 people from the Houchu village of Xiaoli town in Jinan city’s Changqing district, except it’s not in China, but instead Australia.

Relying on their superior welding skills, young men from 25 families of this 201 household village went to Australia to “work overseas”, and have received green cards.

Working in a shipyard and overtime on the weekends, one can make 20,000-30,000 yuan a month

60-year-old Houchu Village resident Wang Jinming looks at a stack of photos of his son’s family of four everyday. It has already been a year since they’ve seen their grandson and granddaughter.

Wang Jinming’s son, the 36-year-old Wang Zhaosheng, and his family are currently living in Australia. According to Wang Jinming, after his son worked in China as a welder for over 10 years, he went to Perth, Australia in 2006 through a labor intermediary agency and did electric welding in a shipyard. His son’s wife and his grandson also went along.

The life in a foreign country is completely differently from here. Wang Zhaosheng works 38 hours a week according to regulations, makes 36 yuan per hour. And he always works overtime on weekends, and the pay is 1.5x more than usual. “Foreigners are lazy, they don’t work on weekends but drive cars to play at the beach. Us Chinese people love money, so we work overtime on weekends whenever we can,” Wang Jinming says.

By this account, Wang Zhaosheng’s weekly pay is about 1,700 AUD, and after deducting 30% tax, he can still make more than 3,000 AUD each month, which is over 20,000 yuan in RMB.

After two years abroad, Wang Zhaosheng and his family received green cards, took out a loan and purchased a 450,000 AUD house. It’s 220㎡ larger, with a 760㎡ yard where they grow flowers and grass, and even some vegetables. In 2011, Whang Zhaosheng and his wife had a daughter, who obtained Australian citizenship as soon as she was born.

Wang Zhaosheng’s wife used to work in a vegetable factory’s cold storage, but hasn’t been working ever since their little daughter was born. When she gave birth, not only did she not have to pay for her hospital stay, the local government even subsidized her 5,000 AUD. Their family has two cars, a Toyota and a Honda, that he and his wife drive respectively. The Honda is a used car, and a total of 7,000 AUD was spent, which is more than 40,000 yuan when converted to RMB.

After settling down in Australia, Wang Zhaosheng sends money back to his family in China from time to time. With the money, the family home has been renovated beautifully, with all the necessary furniture and household appliances.

19 families live in one community, forming “Little Houchu Village” in Australia

There are a total of 25 families from Houchu Village that work and have settled down in Australia like Wang Zhaosheng. They all arrived in Australia through the export of labor, and gained a firm foothold relying on their superior skills.

The wave of going abroad started with villager Yin Fagang. In 2005, when he was working in a shipyard in Shenzhen, he learned some good skills. Clients came to inspect several times, and while other people’s work wouldn’t pass, his work was excellent every time. This attracted the attention of a foreign employee of the company. He told Yin Fagang: ”Go to Australia, you can make more money there than in China. With your skills, there’s no problem.”

Yin Fagang decided to give it a try. He asked two young fellow villagers who worked in Shenzhen as welders to go with him together. But back then, the various expenses of going abroad added up to 120,000 yuan to go abroad, which is no small number. The two fellow villagers backed down, but Yin Fagang borrowed money from his relatives, and asked for a loan from the bank, gathered 120,000 yuan and gave it to the intermediary/agent.

One year later, Yin Fagang arrived in Melbourne, Australia. 3 years later, he bought a big house in Melbourne, and had a son with Australian citizenship.

With the first person’s success in something that had never been tried before, the other villagers could no longer sit still. Yin Fagang’s mother says that many young people who have gone abroad all went through the intermediary agent handled Yin Fagang’s paperwork, went to the same training school that Yin Fagang attended to study English, and then then went to Australia as husband and wife.

Over the past 7 to 8 years, Houchu Village, which has 201 families in total, has had 25 young men go to Australia for work one after another. Of them, 19 live in a community in Perth, everyone within than than 10 kilometers of distance from one another. Villagers joke that there is a “Little Houchu Village” in Australia.

[…]

Comments from Phoenix Online:

凤凰网陕西省西安市网友 gonobs:

The moon in a foreign country is simply rounder [things are simply better abroad], even China’s peasant farmers know this, so stop kidding yourselves, that China is still better, that it is uniquely remarkable? Bah!

凤凰网北京市网友 凤凰网友:

Workers [there] have received true respect and the treatment they deserve.

凤凰网重庆市网友 凤凰网友:

This embodies the intrinsic value of skilled worker immigration.

凤凰网北京市网友 手机用户:

Fellow workers: There are more guarantees/security in going abroad than staying!

凤凰网浙江省宁波市网友 沙骆驼:

Those of us who can’t emigrate can only dream our Chinese Dream!

凤凰网安徽省铜陵市网友 六月的雪3721:

If you have the skills, don’t stay here and let yourself suffer. Go abroad, where you can better demonstrate your value.

凤凰网湖南省长沙市网友 长沙刘志方:

People of other countries emigrate in pursuit of wealth, while Chinese people emigrate to protect/preserve their wealth. And of course, also freedom!

凤凰网新浪微博网友 钟钟大于天O_o:

Find a boyfriend and settle down in Australia!

凤凰网新浪微博网友 小兔逃跑:

Is it too late to enroll ourselves in Lan Xiang [a vocational school in Shandong Province]?

凤凰网新浪微博网友 懵女蓉蓉:

Completely rooting for them. It’ll be better if they all leave.

From QQ:

Jinan Welder Emigrates to Australia, Father Shows Off Photos of Luxurious House

August 2, after just coming back from visiting family in Australia, villagers Chai Qingyun of Jinan Changqing District Xiaoli Town Sijie Village and his wife treated their neighbors with Australian candy. Picture is of Chai Qingyun holding photos of a “luxurious house” his son owns in Australia, telling his neighbors about his experience visiting his family in Australia.

According to Sijie Village [Party] Secretary Zhang Guoming, there are villagers from dozens of families of Sijie Village and Houchu Village who own “luxurious houses” in Australia like Chai Qingyun’s son. They work in Australia relying on their superior welding skills, and have received Australian “green cards” one after another. Some villagers even have children in Australia. This picture is of young men of Jinan Changqing District Xiaoli Town Sijie Village working hard learning welding skills, striving to go to Australia for work.

Zhang Guoming says with a smile on his faces that in the past, children always returned to visit their parents, but now it’s the parents who are invited by their children to enjoy a happy life in Australia. Picture is of Chai Qingyun and his wife treating their neighbors with Australian candy.

When Li Kaihai misses his son’s family, he looks at a photo of his son and grandchildren on his mobile phone.

Li Kaihai hold’s a photo of his Australian grandson Mike and says: It’s not as good [a name] as the Chinese name “Long Long” I gave him.

Chai Hongyuan can’t help but beam when showing off photos of his Australian grandson, telling his neighbors about his experience visiting his family in Australia.

A villager having a video chat with her family in Australia.

Chai Hongyuan pointing out the Australian city his son lives in on the map.

Comments from QQ:

腾讯洛阳市网友 梦里浮华:

It doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you yourself are living well, then that’s all that matters.
Behind all the glamour, there’s bitterness you can’t see [similar to there being hardship behind success]. Those smack-talkers who have seized the chance to talk smack [referring to comments criticizing Chinese people for emigrating abroad likening it to betrayal or arrogance], look closely, “with superior skills” one can go to Australia. When you have the time, go learn something. Talking smack about country and countrymen here is useless.

腾讯辽宁省网友 fuzzy: (responding to above)

I’m a welder with very superior skills in our Kingdom…and I can’t even afford to be a mortgage slave at this point…

腾讯网友 岁月无声: (responding to above)

If you don’t strive when you’re young, you’ll be doomed to stay in the mainland forever.

腾讯芜湖市网友 大象很大口: (responding to 梦里浮华)

LZ is a 2B. Only those who with superior ability [talent] can go to Australia, but didn’t he [Chai Qingyun’s son] also have superior ability before going abroad? So why did he go there? [This person is changing “skill” to “ability” and suggesting that if the person had superior abilities, why couldn’t he succeed in China and had to instead go abroad.]

腾讯网友 緈鍢:

In China, it’s good enough just to get paid after welding yourself to death [a life of work], but a luxurious house? Even after several generations of welders have died, [the family will] still be living in a shack.

腾讯芜湖市网友 大象很大□: (responding to above)

Capitalist countries even deprive people the right to spend money to see a doctor? Now this is going too far.

腾讯网友 完美的结局:

In Australia, welders can afford luxurious houses. Here, can a welder afford one after a lifetime of working? We also want to be patriotic, but when comparing the same work in foreign countries… I want to loudly state that my desire to go abroad doesn’t mean I’m not patriotic. Money can’t do everything, but nothing is possible without money, so I love money more.

腾讯肇庆市网友 文:

The national conditions are different, so don’t be envious. You should know that going abroad isn’t such an easy thing to do, even [getting] the visa alone can kill you [be extremely difficult]. Besides, they [emigrated welders] weren’t poor when they were in China. They have houses and cars in a foreign country, but the luxurious house he [Chai Qingyun] talked about is in fact a single family house. Such a house is not called a luxurious house in Australia, it’s only an ordinary residence. It’s because the proportion of land relative to the population isn’t the same as the Heavenly Kingdom. It’s just like if you go to the countryside right now and purchased a piece land and built a house. Just 100,000+ yuan is enough to decorate/furnish it very well. It’s the same thing. So there’s no need to cry foul. Look at the location he [Chai Qingyun] pointed at is the western part of Australia, not the eastern part. Do you know where is the economic center of Australia? The housing prices in Sydney is also very expensive, can suffocate you. And one more thing, we are under great pressure right now. Why do our people go abroad? Firstly it’s because our national policy. Secondly it’s because of all kinds of [negative] social phenomena, [the society] is ill. Thirdly, our country doesn’t have systematic social insurance. All these have incited an extreme panic with us [society]. It’s not us common people who are to be blamed. You can’t blame the heaven, neither can you blame hell.

腾讯常州市网友 马文才:

Those who do not love their country should fuck off as soon as possible, and never come back!!! And take me with you when you go.

腾讯网友 品质装饰-单成:

When I was little I had many dreams. Now my only dream is to emigrate…

腾讯网友 痴情何寄:

Happy smiles appear on the family members of those welders who have gone abroad. Seems like Australia really is a place where you can rely on your skills [own labor] to make a living!