为什么中国不接受移民？

type

status

date

slug

summary

China needs foreign workers. So why won't it embrace immigration?

中国需要外国工作者。那么它为什么不接受移民呢？

—Opposition to multiculturalism is fuelled, in part, by claims of racial purity

—对多元文化的反对，部分是由种族纯洁性的主张所助长

Last month China's reign came to an end. India has overtaken it as the world's most populous country. The demographic trends behind the shift have troubling implications for the new number two. China's working-age population has been shrinking for a decade. Its population as a whole declined last year— and it is aging rapidly. This is likely to hinder economic growth and create an enormous burden of care.

上个月，中国的（人口）独占鳌头结束了。印度已经超过中国成为世界上人口最多的国家。这一转变背后的人口学趋势对新的第二名有令人不安的意味。十年来，中国的适龄劳动人口一直在萎缩。去年，中国的人口整体上有所下降，而且正在迅速老龄化。这可能会阻碍经济增长并造成巨大的护理负担。

embrace v.欣然接受 multiculturalism n.多元文化主义 reign　v.独占鳌头 overtake v.超过 populous adj. 人口众多的 hinder　v.妨碍

Yet when officials in Beijing mull solutions, one seems largely absent from the discussion: immigration. China has astonishingly few foreign-born residents. Of its 1.4bn people, around 1m, or just 0.1%, are immigrants. That compares with shares of 15% in America, 19% in Germany and 30% in Australia. Place it next to that of other Asian countries which also shun immigration and China's total still looks measly. Foreigners constitute 2% of Japan's population and 3% of South Korea's. Even North Korea hasa higher proportion of immigrants than China, according to the UN.

然而，当北京的官员在考虑解决方案时，讨论中似乎基本上没有提到一个问题：移民。中国在外国出生的居民少得令人吃惊。在其14亿人口中，约有100万，或仅有0.1%是移民。相比之下，美国的比例为15%，德国为19%，澳大利亚为30%。将其与其他亚洲国家的比例放在一起，这些国家也回避移民，而中国的总数看起来仍然少得可怜。外国人占日本人口的2%，占韩国人口的3%。根据联合国的数据，甚至朝鲜的移民比例也比中国高。

mull v.仔细考虑 shunv.回避 measly adj.少得可怜的 constitute v.成为，构成

China's future economic and social needs resemble those that have made other societies recruit guest workers. In January the government released a list of 100 occupations，such as salesperson and cleaner，where there is a lack of staff.Over 80%of manufacturers faced labour shortages in 2022，according to one survey.Nearly half of China's 400m blue-collar workers are aged over 40, reported a study in December.That is in line with an official estimate that China will have trouble filling nearly 30m manufacturing jobs by 2025.

resemble v.像，类似于 in line with 符合

An abundance of young and cheap workers once filled these openings. But as China ages and shrinks that supply of willing labour is drying up. Firms complain of a mismatch between the jobs sought by young people, an increasing number of whom have university degrees, and those available. Many young Chinese do not want to work in factories, laments China Daily, a party mouthpiece. That helps explain why nearly 20% of 16-to 24-year-olds in cities are unemployed. China could make better use of its existing population. The country is under-urbanized and its rural residents under-educated by advanced-economy standards. Higher pay and fewer curbs on internal migration would certainly help. But even young migrants from rural areas seem less inclined than in the past to travel to cities for blue-collar work.

大量年轻而廉价的工人曾经填补了这些空缺。但是，随着中国的老龄化和人口萎缩，有意愿的劳动力供应正在枯竭。企业抱怨越来越多拥有大学学位的年轻人寻求的工作与现有的工作不匹配。党的喉舌《中国日报》哀叹说，许多中国年轻人不想在工厂工作。这有助于解释为什么城市中近20%的16至24岁的人失业。中国可以更好地利用其现有人口。按照先进经济体的标准，中国的城市化程度低，农村居民的教育程度低。更高的工资和更少对国内迁徙的限制肯定会有帮助。但是，即使是来自农村地区的年轻迁移者似乎也不像过去那样愿意去城市从事蓝领工作。

abundance n.大量 lament v.哀叹 urbanize v.城市化 rural adj.农村的 incline v.倾向于