4 ms·

Dont forget there are nearly a billion people who will have to migrate out of low-lying areas on the east of India/bangladesh over the next few decades as sea l

Dont forget there are nearly a billion people who will have to migrate out of low-lying areas on the east of India/bangladesh over the next few decades as sea levels continue to rise. China is wise to have extra housing capacity. Even if they are 'nail houses' ... they only have to beat sleeping in the streets.

i_am_nomad 8y ago
That assumes that China will welcome immigration on a historically unprecedented scale. Seems unlikely.
jonathankoren 8y ago
It’s unclear to me why Bangladeshis would migrate to China as opposed to India or Pakistan.
- Mikeb85 8y ago
  They've already tried to annex a part of Myanmar...
- imtringued 8y ago
  Probably because china has 50 million empty apartments. 3 People per apartment should be enough to let all of Bangladesh escape (they'll need it).
  - jonathankoren 8y ago
    Countries aren't fungible commodities. The problem isn't if there's a spare bedroom, it's the political, social, and economic forces. And since we're talking about mass migration, we also have to talk about geography. Think about it. In order to get to China, you have to cross the Himalayas, probably on foot. Then once you're there, you have to enter an economy (perhaps clandestinely) where you can't speak the language, have no large population of people that speak your language, have no common social ties, and if that wasn't enough challenges, the country is famous for clamping down hard on internal economic migration (i.e. the hukou system), and has no history of foreign immigration since... ever? It's just not plausible. You can walk to India. You can walk to Pakistan. There are cultural ties to Pakistan. If you want to go someplace outside of South Asia, Kuwait and the other Gulf States have extensive Bangladeshi expat communities, due to the number of migrants workers. (Hell, 70% of Kuwait's population isn't Kuwaiti[0].) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kuwait https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kuwait

i_am_nomad 8y ago

That assumes that China will welcome immigration on a historically unprecedented scale. Seems unlikely.

jonathankoren 8y ago

It’s unclear to me why Bangladeshis would migrate to China as opposed to India or Pakistan.

Mikeb85 8y ago
They've already tried to annex a part of Myanmar...
imtringued 8y ago
Probably because china has 50 million empty apartments. 3 People per apartment should be enough to let all of Bangladesh escape (they'll need it).
- jonathankoren 8y ago
  Countries aren't fungible commodities. The problem isn't if there's a spare bedroom, it's the political, social, and economic forces. And since we're talking about mass migration, we also have to talk about geography. Think about it. In order to get to China, you have to cross the Himalayas, probably on foot. Then once you're there, you have to enter an economy (perhaps clandestinely) where you can't speak the language, have no large population of people that speak your language, have no common social ties, and if that wasn't enough challenges, the country is famous for clamping down hard on internal economic migration (i.e. the hukou system), and has no history of foreign immigration since... ever? It's just not plausible. You can walk to India. You can walk to Pakistan. There are cultural ties to Pakistan. If you want to go someplace outside of South Asia, Kuwait and the other Gulf States have extensive Bangladeshi expat communities, due to the number of migrants workers. (Hell, 70% of Kuwait's population isn't Kuwaiti[0].) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kuwait https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kuwait