At first glance, thecity of Changle seems
like any other bustling boomtown on the
southern coast of China. Cranes punctuate
the horizon, signaling the construction of
shopping centers, office towers, and luxury
hotels. The local population has given up
bicycles for cars, and old roads are widened,
while new roads paved every day. Sleek textile
plants line the highway on the outskirts
of town, churning out bales of nylon and
other industrial fabrics around the clock.
But Changle is unusual. Along with a
handful of neighboring cities and towns in
Fujian Province, a mountainous sliver of
coast north of Hong Kong and across the
strait from Taiwan, Changle owes its economic
prosperity not just to the rising tide
of China’s economy, but to hundreds of
thousands of native sons and daughters who
have been smuggled out of the country in
recent years to make their fortunes
overseas.
