The curious reports of the British media have made many Chinese students who are still middle-class or well-off although their families are well-off, be inappropriately represented by people like "Chief Tenant of London" and Yu Wanwan
Wen | special contributor to Caijing Wei Cheng from London
Editor| Haozhou
A Chinese student renting a house in London has recently become the subject of several British media coverage.
But this is not an ordinary rental.
<h1>Record for the most expensive rent in the world's top luxury residential areas</h1>
"The 24-year-old Chinese heiress rented a five-bedroom mansion in Mayfair for a record £130,000 a month" — the headline of a Feb. 24 report in the British tabloid The Sun.
Mayfair is one of the top luxury residential areas in central London, the capital of the United Kingdom.
The Sun reported that the Chinese female student did not want to rent an apartment because of the new crown epidemic, and she wanted more space, so she rented the villa with a private cinema, dance hall, swimming pool, sauna, gym and back garden.
Several other British newspapers have also reported the story of the mysterious daughter of China's richest man, but have not revealed her name or identity, not to keep her secret, but to have no information about it, saying only that she is the daughter of one of China's richest billionaires.
The Chinese woman, who watched the Channel 5 reality show Posh Sleepovers, fell in love at first sight and prepaid £3.1 million by wire transfer to secure a two-year lease, setting a record for the most expensive lease in London's history, the Daily Mail said.
The Evening Standard further introduced that the mansion had three floors above ground and three floors underground, connected by a glass elevator worth £1.5 million, and the entire mansion was priced at £32.5 million in the property market.
The Chinese woman allegedly planned to try it out for two years before deciding whether to buy it or not, so she paid £3.1 million in rent in advance.
The mansion is owned by Kam Babaee, a British real estate tycoon of Iranian origin, who is said to be a close friend of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose company, K10 Group, designed and built the mansion.
Babay later said: "The £3.1 million two-year lease is the largest deal ever made for a new home rental in Mayfair and the largest advance rent ever in the London rental market. ”
On Feb. 25, the Daily Mirror continued to dig deeper, saying the woman's father's wealth came from his real estate, fashion and IT industries in China and Hong Kong.
The newspaper also said the Chinese schoolgirl would live in the £4,246-a-day mansion with her boyfriend, servants and personal bodyguards.
<h1>Crazy Chinese rich in the eyes of the British</h1>
For the sake of convenience, let us call this nameless and nameless woman whose father is hidden in the dark as "the chief tenant of London".
Considering the impact of the "Chief Tenant of London" on the British media, then, in the minds of ordinary Britons, what is the Chinese rich?
"Why are Chinese students in UK universities so rich ?????????????" In a college student online forum in the Uk, a British student with the screen name "boxsterboxster" posted and asked. To express his surprise, he used 12 question marks in a row.
The whole problem with boxsterboxster is: "At my university, there are a lot of students from China, they're all crazy rich, everyone drives a brand new BMW or Porsche, everybody wears designer clothes, and they go to high-end restaurants every day to eat." I thought China was a poor country, but why Chinese so rich??? ”
Three more question marks are used in tandem. Under his questioning post, there were several interesting answers.
A British student, whose screen name goes "Doctors of the Future", said: "They are international students and obviously their families are well off. ”
Another person with the screen name "marrythenight" said: "You see the richest and most ambitious Chinese students. Most Chinese are not like this at all. Chinese students at British universities are extremely wealthy in China, but in reality they make up only a small fraction of the Chinese population. With the exception of places like Shanghai and Hong Kong, China is still a poor country, and in general, even those 'affluent' Chinese, lucky, can only enter Chinese universities or colleges in their hometowns. ”
Under this post, the questioner Boxster Boxster did not hesitate, and continued to ask: "But their number is so large, just in my university, there are about 5,000 Chinese students, and they are so rich!" How many rich people are there in China?! ”
Formerly FrisbeeFan answered Boxsterboxster's new question: "Don't forget that Chinese population is much larger than in the UK, so the Chinese students you see are still a tiny minority." ”
A student who claimed to be of half Chinese ancestry, HKDSP, also joined the discussion: "For most Chinese, image is extremely important. I'm half Chinese, and I know two Chinese students who, on the surface, are wealthy, drive good cars, wear brand names, but in reality they come from medium-sized families. Chinese parents often do whatever it takes to help ensure that their children have a high-paying job in the future so that they can care for them in the future. ”
Of course, the "Chief Tenant of London" is by no means superficially wealthy, but she is certainly one of the very few Chinese.
<h1>Spend money to "buy" into the British celebrity circle? </h1>
The "chief tenant of London" has no name and no name, but the daughter of another tycoon from China, Yu Wanwan, does not change her surname and does not change her name.
A few years ago, a friend of mine in the Chinese circle in London sent me a WeChat message inviting me to participate in a tall event, saying that the celebrities who were staring and praising the moon in this event were Yu Wan.
I asked unashamedly, "Who is Yu Wanwan?" ”
Friends said bluntly: "You don't know each other at night, are you out?" ”
Before participating in the event, in order not to continue out, I made up a little knowledge about the rest of the night on the Internet.
There is information on the Internet that says, "Yu Wanwan is the only daughter of Yu Jingyuan, chairman of Mengtian Wooden Door, the largest wooden door manufacturing group in Asia, and enjoys the favor of the entire giant..."
There is also information that says, "Yu Wanwan's English name is Wendy Yu, born in Zhejiang, China, currently living in London, from the age of 15 to study in england's aristocratic boarding school, graduated from the London Fashion Institute, she also took a course on how british aristocrats behave, including how to walk, talk, dress, after the course, she spent a lot of money as a socialite to participate in the British Princess Charlotte Ball." Yu Wanwan liked the British way of life and continued to learn the way British high society behaved..."YunYun.
I took this knowledge of evil supplements to the tall activity, and had the privilege of approaching Madam Yu Wanwan and asking a few questions, but Ms. Yu seemed to answer the question differently. She said a lot throughout the event, but I didn't understand it, so much so that I couldn't write the manuscript I had promised my friend.
Later, I learned that Yu Wanwan was very famous in the British fashion circle and celebrity circles, and the famous Western media who wrote her interviews included the Wall Street Journal, but I still did not regret that I did not write after the event that day.
Later, I learned that she was more famous on Chinese social media, and some people said that she actually "bought" into the British celebrity circle by constantly buying and buying, of course, there are other more unbearable ridicule, but I also disagree with this ridicule: what circle can be "bought" into the Uk with money is also a kind of glory for the country.
Just as today's "Chief Tenant of London" has won glory for the country with a one-time advance of £3.1 million in rent.
Indeed, over the years, the image of Chinese who come to the British Isles, whether immigrants or international students, has changed greatly in the minds of the British: they are no longer stowaways who hide in frozen containers and venture into the port of Dover, or risk picking shells in Molkham Bay, nor are they poor international students who work hard in Chinese restaurants to earn tuition fees, and some of today's Chinese have changed, and through a thousand dollars, they have constantly refreshed the British understanding of Chinese.
If you look at it this way, the money is not spent in vain.
<h1>The UK has become the first choice for Chinese students</h1>
But how much of the British's new perception of Chinese is real?
Twenty-three years ago, when I first came to work in the UK, there were few Chinese in the UK, and even in the suburbs of London where I live, by train or bus, I can often hear people in the front seat chatting in Henan, Northeast or other Chinese dialects.
Most of those people are international students from Chinese mainland.
It is said that even in the remote towns of northern Britain, Chinese mainland students with baby's faces walking together in the streets and alleys have become a "British scenery".
Once upon a time, studying in Britain used to be a symbol of aristocratic status or aristocratic sentiment, not to mention the "lack of running dogs of the capitalists" who stayed in Britain that Lu Xun vigorously ridiculed in the twenties and thirties of the last century, that is, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, studying in Britain seemed to be still a public derivative privilege as the "elite of the elite" of the Chinese mainland.
The reason is simple: uk tuition fees are expensive, scholarships are few, unless the state pays, generally self-funded students do not dare to ask for BRITISH universities.
At that time, self-funded students who could get a scholarship went to the United States or Canada, and those who could not get a scholarship or just wanted to use the acceptance letter as a part-time work permit went to Japan or Australia. It's no wonder that even when I first came to the UK in 1998, the number of self-funded students studying in the UK was still unheard of.
Today, in the British Isles, whether it is a famous city or a remote town, up to Oxford, Cambridge, down to private secondary schools, you can see the faces of Chinese mainland students, and hear the accents of a certain region of China - not only the accents of beijing and Shanghai, which are big cities with high-ranking officials and giants, but also the accents of Henan and Northeast, which used to be regarded as poor areas.
And, most importantly, the vast majority of them are self-funded.
Although American universities are more well-known and offer more opportunities to provide scholarships, many Chinese students are now prohibited by too harsh visa conditions, and what began with Trump, but will not end up trump's vicious fight between the United States and China, has made many Chinese parents try to persuade their children to think twice; although in some European countries, such as Germany, foreign students are basically free to go to college, but many Chinese are still willing to choose English-speaking countries as "gilded" places. Although the UK has high tuition fees, it has finally become the first choice for Chinese students today because of its long educational tradition, relaxed visa conditions and competitive advantages of English.
According to the "2020 White Paper on Studying in China" released by the Chinese educational institution New Oriental, the UK has become the "preferred country for studying abroad" in the minds of Chinese students: among all respondents, 42% of students first consider studying in the UK, which is also the first time that the UK has surpassed the United States and become the first destination for Chinese students to study abroad.
A recent big data survey for international students released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) also found that in 2019/20, a total of 408825 of all non-EU students in the UK, of which 35% were from China, that is, there are more than 143,000 Chinese students in the UK, more than any other overseas country.
The more than 140,000 Chinese students, usually from middle-class or above-middle-class families in China, are children from well-off families by Chinese standards, but people like the "chief tenant of London" are still a very small minority.
However, the British media's reports on the very small number of Chinese students who have spent thousands of dollars have given ordinary Britons the illusion that Chinese are very rich, and the behavior of some rich Chinese children who drive luxury cars, rent mansions, and flaunt the market has also led to a significant increase in criminal activities against Chinese, especially theft and robbery.
In a word, the curious reports of the British media have made many Chinese students who are still middle-class or well-off, although they have a good family, be inappropriately represented by people like the "chief tenant of London" and Yu Wanwan.
(The author has worked as a senior journalist and editor in many well-known media outlets in the United Kingdom.) Author WeChat public number: Weicheng to see the world)