Chinese Americans Think Twice About Visiting China

Over the last six years the Chinese yuan has risen in value against the US dollar by over 20 percent. This is making it more expensive for Chinese Americans to visit their homeland. Dominic Swire recently spoke¹ to some members of the Chinese community in the US city of Philadelphia and brings us this report.

 
Roger Luo is a Chinese economist² based in the US city of Philadelphia. Like many Chinese expatriates, he tries to visit his homeland at least once a year. But now he's having second thoughts.

"We used to visit China from 2001 to 2007 every year. Myself, my wife, two kids. We spend 3 weeks in China. At the beginning we spent about 12,000 dollars for 3 weeks. And the last holiday we spent 25,000 dollars just in 3 weeks. I told my wife, with that amount of money you can go anywhere. Why always go back to China?"

Roger's been living in the US for twenty years. As an economist, he keeps an eagle eye on the exchange rate.

"I came to US in 1991. Back then the exchange rate was 1 US dollar versus³ 8.2, 3 or 5. So it was very high. Today we're looking at 1 versus 6.5 or 4. So it's roughly⁴ 20% devaluation of the US dollar relative to Chinese yuan."

The increasing expense of traveling to China has persuaded Roger to make more family trips at home.

"Inflation⁵ is a factor⁶ and this year we think it's a lot cheaper to travel in the US because we live here and because the kids are growing up here we feel it's important to be involved in the US more because we're citizens now.

Other Chinese Americans seem to be thinking the same way. Figures from the China National Tourist Office show the number of US citizens visiting relatives and friends in China has dropped almost every year from over 20 thousand in 2006 to just over two thousand last year.

On the other hand the stronger yuan is making it cheaper for Chinese to travel abroad. Joan Yang is a Chinese American working for Siemans in Philadelphia. She used to enjoy cheap prices when visiting China. Now it's a different story.

"There are many times my friends come over here to visit us and I host a shopping spree in New York city. They're like, 'wow, it's so cheap!' They get so many bags and everything else. So it's upside⁷ down."

The US Travel Association⁸ suggests this trend⁹ is likely to continue. It says the number of Chinese visitors to the US in 2013 is expected to be over 60 percent more than in 2008.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

4 roughly   

adv.概略地，粗糙地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• If you treat your coat so roughly,it will be worn out soon.你如果这么糟蹋你的外套，它很快就不能穿了。
• The island is roughly circular in shape.这个岛屿大致是圆形的。

5 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

6 factor   

n.因素；要素；因子；因数；系数

参考例句：

• Her previous experience in social work is a plus factor.她先前在社会工作方面的经验是一个有利因素。
• Poor organization was certainly a contributory factor to the crisis.组织不善肯定是导致危机的因素之一。

7 upside   

n.上侧，上段，上部

参考例句：

• The children hung the picture upside down.小孩把画挂倒了。
• If you turn the envelope upside down, the key will fall out.你如果把信封倒过来，钥匙就会掉出。

8 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

9 trend   

n.趋势，倾向，方位；vi.倾向，转向

参考例句：

• Today's trend is toward less formal clothing.眼下时尚趋向于穿着随便。
• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。