Wealthy Investors

in Vancouver

 
 
 

Vocabulary

fan (2)	snip (3)	leave/left/left
vehicle	given that	consulting
haven	campus	give/gave/given
crisis	follow (2)	what’s more
reveal	major (2)	draw/drew/drawn (2)
policy	whereas	institution
status	ruin (2)	pocket change
set on	residency	change (2)
bill (2)	issue (3)	flee/fled/fled
bonus	investor	graduation
go out	straw (2)	choose/chose/chosen
chuck	high-end	wash down
income	lipstick	drink/drank/drunk
decade	spawn (2)	in their hands (2)
local	spiral (2)	prospective
fair (3)	property	out in the cold
empty	affluent	speculative
value	purchase	appreciate (2)
tax	require	brand new
trend	stability	to his name

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 

Transcript

 
 
 
 
Paul Oei left China with his wife to live in Canada five years ago. He businessman is quite a fan of luxury cars, from his Aston Martin at two-hundred thousand euros (€200,000) to his Bentley, a snip at just three-hundred and eighty thousand (€380,000).

Paul Oei, CEO, Business Consulting: “That’s why a lot of Chinese, when they come to Canada, they say ‘Wow! This car, this car, this car is so inexpensive, I want to buy two’!”

In fact, given that Canada is half as expensive as China, Paul has six luxury vehicles to his name. What’s more, he sees Vancouver’s stability following the 2008 financial crisis as a major draw to foreign investors.

Paul Oei, CEO, Business Consulting: “In China, if the government changes the policies, suddenly you can go from very rich to very regular, or with no money. Whereas here, I don’t think that the government is going to do that to anyone.”

The Canadian government has made it easy for Paul to stay. Residency status requires an investment of just a few thousand euros — pocket change for rich Asians fleeing domestic pollution for Vancouver’s better air quality.

Diana is one of them. She’s just graduated from one of the city’s university campuses where half of the students are Chinese. The institution bills them three times more than Canadian students. But that’s no issue.

Not when Diana reveals the cash bonus her folks have given her for graduation.

Diana Kim, University Graduate: “I don’t know; maybe a few million. I can start of my new business. Of course for them, my business is really small, tiny.

An experience unlike most, it seams. At twenty-four, Diane lives alone in Vancouver. She never cooks; instead choosing to go out to eat every day, washing it all down with high-end wine she chucks back like soda.

Diane Kim, University Graduate: “We don’t drink wine without a straw; otherwise it will be black here. I don’t want to ruin my lipstick and teeth — we always have teeth whitening. This saves money.”

Back in China, such a lifestyle has even spawned a reality TV series following an affluent army of Asian students around the Canadian city.

Still, any self-respecting billionaire needs a place to call home, and local property prices have started to fall, rather than rise in line with prospective buyers’ wallets.

This house is on the market for twenty million, with rates spiraling by 30% percent a year.

Vancouver has become Canada’s most expensive city, leaving locals out in the cold.

Female Vancouver Resident, one: “It’s not fair to us because they are taking all the beautiful properties. And it is in their hands.”

Male Vancouver Resident, two: “These houses are always empty. Brand-new houses; nobody lives here.”

For many Chinese, such purchases are speculative: they stay in China, leaving the property value to appreciate — and that does nothing for the local economy.

Male Vancouver Resident, two: “Even if you may have an income in Canada, you do not pay taxes on your income. I think the government could do more. At least they could get more money from people that invest here.”

Fifty-thousand (50,000) Chinese have moved to Vancouver in the last decade, a trend likely to continue with China’s rich have their eyes set on Western havens like this one, for their wealth.

 

 

Questions

1. Paul Oei’s outward lifestyle is very similar to Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. True or false? Is Paul a tech founder?

2. Is he critical of the Chinese authorities?

3. Why do many foreign buyers come to Vancouver, Canada?

4. Is there lots and lots of bureaucracy and red tape for (rich) people to immigrate to Canada?

5. The Chinese value education very much. Is this right or wrong?

6. Do Diane and her friends like to cook traditional, Chinese meals at home?

7. Have they become famous? Have they become celebrities?

8. Everyone in Vancouver is very happy about the wealthy foreign investors. Is this correct or incorrect?

 

A. In your town or city, are property values (prices of houses and rents) increasing, decreasing or remaining the same?

B. Many foreigners and other outsiders are moving into my city. Yes or no? Why do them come there? How do locals feel about this?

C. Do citizens from your city or country move to other places? Why do they go there?

D. My friends and I would like to move to another city or country.

E. What might happen in the future?

F. What should people and governments do?