A burgeoning haven for expats

With its forest-clad coast, an amenable city government and clean air, Dalian is unlike most cities in China

On a factory floor in Dalian, Liaoning province, amid the cacophony of industry and the shouting of employees, Ladon Ghalili shows off the inner workings of the manufacturing operation she and her husband Foad have built over the past 25 years. Workers, some of whom have known her for more than a decade, greet her in the local dialect. She answers them in kind, fluently.

The Ghalilis, who came to China in 1989, not long after the nation began to open up, started their first business in Dalian using savings they'd scraped together. They now own and run several companies that collectively turn over about $20 million per year and employ around 100 people locally.

But while commercial opportunity was one of the main reasons the now 54-year-old United States citizen and her 57-year-old Iranian-born husband first came to the northeastern Chinese city as a young couple, she says it is not the reason they decided to stay.

Straddling a beautiful sweep of forest-clad coast in the nation's northeast, Dalian is unlike most cities in China.

The choking gray pall of industrial smog that blankets much of the country is an alien thing here and the hustle and bustle of the mega-metropolises further south is absent.

There is money to be made, but there's something more, too.

In China, where most foreigners come to make a quick buck or tick a box on a resume, the northeastern city is something different: It is the place where people from all over the world are making their home.

"Dalian is our home now," Ghalili says.

And it is no accident that this is the case for an increasing number of foreigners.

"This can be your home," says Liu Guozhi, the city's foreign trade division chief.

It is the message he wants hardworking, skilled foreigners to receive.

The official says concessions to make life and work more attractive and amenable to foreigners, a rare thing in China, are common in Dalian.

The city government regularly holds or supports events like music and fashion festivals and goes so far as to actively encourage expatriates to interact and become part of local Chinese celebrations like Spring Festival. There's even a regular forum where authorities meet with foreigners to hear their problems and receive feedback on what they can do to make the city a better place for expatriates to live.

"Our purpose is to make foreign experts happy to be here, to want to stay and be happy in their work and do it well," says Zhang Jichun, the director of the local government's Foreign Expert Bureau. "Most of them are very happy here. Many are interested in buying a house, or getting married to a local, or are already married to a local. But we want to solve their problems."

Liu says the local authorities are now investigating whether it might be possible to offer something like a "green card" that would allow long-term expatriates to make Dalian their permanent place of residence without having to undergo the hassle of renewing their work visa every year.

He concedes there is a simple reason why Dalian is so welcoming to foreigners.

While expatriates account for only about 10,000 of the city's 7 million-plus population, their economic impact is significant.

Since opening its first development zone in 1984, Dalian has played host to 17,000 foreign investment projects, 4,600 of which are currently still operational and employ some 460,000 people locally.

Currently, the local tax revenue from foreign companies accounts for 30 percent of the city's annual total, and some big projects in the works from companies like Goodyear and Volkswagen are expected to see that figure rise.

Foreign investment aside, the need for Dalian to connect with and understand international markets is pivotal to its economic fortunes.

From Dalian, northeastern China's primary port city, container ships head out to 79 international destinations.

There are 16,000 local companies involved in foreign trade, inbound or outbound, and the sector employs about 700,000 local people.

"Foreign trade is 56 percent of our GDP and it employs about 10 percent of the population," says Liu.

"The city's economic and social development is going very well, and it is arguable the introduction of talent and the role of foreign experts has been very important and pushed this local development," says Zhang, who stresses the importance of knowledge transfer to the city's burgeoning high-end manufacturing and service sectors.

"In the past four years, we've placed 1,928 foreigners (with Chinese companies) to work on 207 different projects."

The figures paint a compelling picture that shows why foreigners and foreign companies are welcome in Dalian, but beyond the bonhomie from local officials, why are expatriates choosing to stay and invest personally and financially?

Frenchman Fabien Azzi, 38, is the general manager of French headlight manufacturer Holophane, which employs 230 people in Dalian. His main reason for moving to China 13 years ago was to leverage the wealth of opportunity in the booming nation and advance his career quicker than he could have in a Western country, a goal that saw him live and work in several cities and provinces before settling in Dalian, where he discovered a work-life balance that appealed to him.

"Dalian is very nice," he says. "Compared to Sichuan, it is more developed. Compared with Guangdong, which is just factories, it is less polluted, greener, has blue skies and blue seas. Compared with Shanghai, it's more cultural. The weather in summer is perfect and there's central heating in winter. From my home I can walk to the forest and listen to the birds. You can't do that in other cities in China. This is my home."

Fashion designer Alia Juma, 34, is another foreigner who has fallen in love with Dalian. The Canadian, who along with her brother Jamil runs the Juma fashion label boutique, says they came to China about six years ago to oversee manufacturing of their clothing in Guangdong province. But despite the fact labor costs are cheaper in the south, she decided to set up her base in Dalian after visiting the city.

For her, it represents the perfect compromise between business and lifestyle.

"Dalian is known as the fashion city, the romantic city, of China," she says. "It's relaxed, it's comfortable, it's a good space to come back to because it's not as crowded as a lot of the other cities."

And it's not just foreigners who find Dalian an attractive place to relocate to.

Liu says the city has become a hub for offshore outsourcing from other nations and now boasts more than 1,000 businesses of this type that employ about 130,000 locals.

Alan Cao, director of delivery for Japan and China at client engagement and support firm Concentrix, says a big part of the reason why the company chose to establish its China base in Dalian was because the city makes it easy to attract and retain talent.

"There are very, very talented people here in Dalian, that's why it's easy for us to run a business here. It's nice weather and a beautiful city, that's why we can attract people from all over China."

Sebastian Hohenstein, head of planning for a joint venture in Dalian that produces engines for Audi and Volkswagen cars sold in the Chinese domestic market, agrees.

"Chinese want to move to Dalian. That for me is the most important point. If I think about my talk with new employees that we want to hire, it's always a point. We are not looking for people who want to join us for a year. We are looking for people that want to join us long term, which means they have to come here and bring their family here and set up their life here in Dalian."

The 37-year-old German and his wife, who is an artist, know firsthand how livable the city is. Christine Hohenstein says they were on their honeymoon three years ago when her new husband Sebastian broke the news they were moving to Dalian.

"I had no idea how beautiful it is here," she says. "Dalian is a place where foreigners could make a home. I think it's the best city we could have chosen in China. It has great air, these nice hikes or walks on the beach: it is so very nice."

Near the center of Dalian, in the luxurious confines of the Kempinski, the hotel's German general manager, Christian Wiendieck, has his finger on the pulse of who is coming and going in the city.

He says about 36 percent of guests who stay at his hotel are foreigners visiting either for business or pleasure.

"It's the people, it's the lifestyle, Dalian has it all," he says. You need to have a work-life balance and a lifestyle. Dalian is a perfect city to do this."

Liu says Dalian airport now has the fourth-highest foreign passenger volume in all of China, ranking only behind Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Fabien, like Ghalili, has bought a home in Dalian.

Both are hoping that eventually, visa reform will mean they can attain something similar to a green card.

Ghalili, in particular, who first arrived in Dalian when it was little more than a fishing village with dirt roads, says she would like more certainty about being able to stay long term in the place where she has made a home and put all three of her sons through the local Chinese education system.

"I really love it here, especially the environment," she says. "This is definitely my city. I feel very much a part of the network, more so than anywhere else in the world."

While the Ghalilis might not have a piece of paper confirming their status as permanent locals, long-time employee and friend Mo Zhanping, 55, says they're already accepted, where it counts.

"I've worked with them for a long time now," he says. "Their sons even have the local Dalian accent. They are good people, that's why I'm still here. They are local Dalian people."

Contact the writers through josephcatanzaro@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/02/2015 page1)