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This is a very interesting article on “The new Chinese” from El Pais.
It does not pull any punches and shows that many Chinese think Spain is neglecting possible prospects with China.
http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/08/27/inenglish/1346069596_299391.html
Chen believes that Spain has to do much more if it is to improve its links with China. “We think that Spain is still lagging behind. Up until 15 years ago, it was a largely unknown entity, perhaps associated with soccer, but not much else. Spain has to understand that China is now a leading economy, and, like the Americans, we aren’t really that interested in what is going on in the rest of the world, so Spain will have to work hard to raise its profile if it wants Chinese investment.”
In short, Spain still has a lot of catching up to do. “Take tourism,” says Chen. “Spain has done nothing to attract Chinese visitors. The average Chinese tourist spends between 3,000 and 4,000 euros when visiting foreign countries. Last year, 50 million Chinese took overseas holidays; this year there will be 70 million. Spain has not been capable of attracting even one million of those visitors. The tourist circuits in Europe that are organized for Chinese visitors do not even include Spain, and one of the reasons is safety. During one visit, a senior government official was beaten up during an attempted robbery. It’s the same with the Japanese, who now take their own security teams.”
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What an interesting article. As an American, I do appreciate Europe for the quality of life and the approach to health care. What I despise is the overt racism I’ve seen there. I know that most people believe the US is the most racist country. But that is not true when compared to most countries in Europe.
The article shows that some Chinese are just as despicable in their prejudices as Spaniards. Here in the US, it is still common for Chinese to refer to whites as ‘white devils’ – in Cantonese or Mandarin, of course.
And the last thing any country with an ailing economy needs is this “…what best defines the Chinese is a love of work, and a love of the rewards that hard work brings – particularly luxury goods and gambling.”
After some consideration, I think that the people interviewed for this article are not representative of all Chinese in Spain.
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It is very interesting, it would be a shame if the article is correct and Spain is missing out on the bonanza of tourists from China. When I’m travelling around Europe (most weeks), I see so many Chinese tourists and business people, especially in France and Germany. I can’t really remember seeing many on my last few visits to Spain which were to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Burgos, Segovia, Zaragoza and Tenerife.
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@GarySFBCN wrote:
What an interesting article. As an American, I do appreciate Europe for the quality of life and the approach to health care. What I despise is the overt racism I’ve seen there. I know that most people believe the US is the most racist country. But that is not true when compared to most countries in Europe.
The article shows that some Chinese are just as despicable in their prejudices as Spaniards. Here in the US, it is still common for Chinese to refer to whites as ‘white devils’ – in Cantonese or Mandarin, of course.
And the last thing any country with an ailing economy needs is this “…what best defines the Chinese is a love of work, and a love of the rewards that hard work brings – particularly luxury goods and gambling.”
After some consideration, I think that the people interviewed for this article are not representative of all Chinese in Spain.
Which parts of the article shows that the Chinese are just as despicable in their prejudices as Spaniards?
Ok they made a few generalisations about the Spanish but I don’t think their comments were completely unfounded.
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I hope I am not being prejudiced when I say this about the Spanish but what is true about the Spanish is the quality of work they put in particularly when building houses. We on this forum tend to concentrate on the price of property in Spain, which is quite reasonable and understandable, but there is another aspect of Spanish property that probably doesn’t get much of a mention and it really is the elephant in the room as far as Spanish property is concerned and that is Spanish build quality. Mention the words build quality to a typical Spanish builder and they will think that you are coming from Mars. Take a look at the video and audio below for an example of what Spanish build quality can be like and you decide whether you still want to buy a property in Spain:
Video: Examples of typical Spanish build quality
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@katy wrote:
Well there are thousands of Chinese restaurants in Spain. The ones who ran our closest one were living two families in a 2 bedroomed apartment. 🙁
Our Rumanian cleaner lives under similar circumstances. A Chinese owner of a local bar lives with her family in the room above it, using the bar’s kitchen and washrooms for themselves when the bar is shut (which ain’t that often). She has a 6 year old daughter living with her grandmother in China. I think she sees her once every two or three years. They are also extremely good at running their bar and it is always busy.
I guess this has to be better than what is on offer in their home countries otherwise they wouldn’t do it.
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I’ve already seen that report on tv jakesuper some while ago. It does show that it’s not only property prices are falling rapidly in Spain but so are many properties themselves.
Having lived in a few Spanish properties and know people who still do, the main problems seem to be general build standards, insulation against noise etc are not as in the UK, and, one of the main areas to avoid in Spain is new property built on hillsides where the Winter rains undermine the not very deep footings and so causing cracking.
But the Chinese restaurants are ok in general Gary. I have this image now of booking a table for 6 in a San Francisco Chinese restaurant under the name of ‘white devils’ 😛
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@angie wrote:
I’ve already seen that report on tv jakesuper some while ago. It does show that it’s not only property prices are falling rapidly in Spain but so are many properties themselves.
angie,
You seem very knowledgeable about Spain, you acknowledge that property prices are falling rapidly, but what do you suggest someone who already owns a property in Spain should do. Should they just sit tight and not worry about how much their house is worth and hope for better things to come or should they get out and sell as fast as they can before their property ends up priced in worthless Pesetas?
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Away from the generalisation etc. Spain always has this issue & they have always been behind the curve on all & sundry. They just do not have the vision to exploit what resouces they have and prefer to sit on their achievement. A civil servent is not known for enterprise & vision.
A pertinent issue on this forum is the construction industry & all associated with it.. Do you think they well take the bull by it horns and deal with the issues !!! .
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There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this site who have been posting for a while some for years, including katy, logan, chopera, dartboy, itsme, shakeel, fuengi, Angela and many others but for my 1 euros worth this is what I would do if possible.
If I owned property in Spain, or in places like Cyprus, Turkey, Bulgaria, Portugal and Greece I would be trying to get out of it and move on. I don’t like the situation but that’s how it is, we can’t influence things so I would try my damnedest to sell and be prepared to take a hit. This is not so easy for those with mortgages but still If I had one I’d try and sell to clear this.
Angela did sell recently and can put this behind her now and not have the continuing worry, itsme has moved and we wish her luck with the nasty Bank and I’ve said what I would do in this situation which is not everyone’s idea but mine alone.
I would worry more about Spexits, Grexits, Euro collapse, Bank runs, Eurozone break-ups than worry that I might miss out if prices rise if I sell now, that’s how I am.
I am sorry for those caught up in this and wish them luck if they can’t sell, in which case just hold tight pay the bills and wait for things to ease one day whilst enjoying their property in the sun. I’d also consider house swaps with Brits who are still hoping to retire to the sun who may be unable to sell in the UK.
All this is hypothetical though and partly down to luck and determination, make your property the nicest looking in your area both inside and out to have a better chance and undercut similar property 😛
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The worst properties as regards build quality can be found in London – often split out and rented as bed-sits. I’ve stayed in various Spanish flats over the years – Madrid, Valencia and Pamplona, and the quality has been better than those I’ve stayed in London. The Pamplona place especially was a far better quality build.
But I can believe that badly built properties are found on the Costas of Spain – especially if built during the boom when greed took over. It’s one reason I would want to stick to a Spanish town or city if buying my retirement place.I agree that Spain has perhaps not exploited the Chinese connections to date, although I do remember seeing a government tourist plan to develop this sector.
I see there was a plan to develop a Chinese retirement city in Spain. Wonder if it ever got going?
http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/empresas/ciudad-chinos-costa-espanola/20120531cdscdsemp_1/ -
Are you having a laugh about the worst properties for build quality are in London surely you’re not comparing those with the general poor build in Spain? 😆
There are probably 10’s of thousands of poorly built homes in Spain compared to generally around the UK. It’s the Spanish ones and Cypriot ones etc that constantly get highlighted on tv programmes with the odd mention of any UK properties. New builds in the UK apparently have to be built to new standards constantly updating, not so in Spain methinks. Have been in our UK new build for 15 months and not a shrinkage crack in sight and everything working well, built to Code 3 standards, eco ish!
The apartments you stayed in Spanish cities might be good quality, and the student lets in the UK are pretty awful in every town/City but some of the best real estate in the world is in London as with any other major city. 🙄
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@angie wrote:
Are you having a laugh about the worst properties for build quality are in London surely you’re not comparing those with the general poor build in Spain? 😆
There are probably 10’s of thousands of poorly built homes in Spain compared to generally around the UK. It’s the Spanish ones and Cypriot ones etc that constantly get highlighted on tv programmes with the odd mention of any UK properties. New builds in the UK apparently have to be built to new standards constantly updating, not so in Spain methinks. Have been in our UK new build for 15 months and not a shrinkage crack in sight and everything working well, built to Code 3 standards, eco ish!
The apartments you stayed in Spanish cities might be good quality, and the student lets in the UK are pretty awful in every town/City but some of the best real estate in the world is in London as with any other major city. 🙄
Angie – there is no contradiction between having both awful accommodation and good quality housing in the same city. Just pointing out you have to be careful wherever you go. A builder showed me a new place a couple of years back in London (south of the river) – he advised me to steer clear of buying the place but recommended I rent it out for a while if I was stuck. Needless to say I didn’t take him up on the offer. If you don’t believe me, read the following article and the comments to follow.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14909066 -
You’re absolutely right about that article M, I’ve read it before. I’ve often berated local councils for the crammed in properties on huge estates in the UK with master bedrooms the size of box rooms of old, they are a disgrace. Their excuse is that the UK is short of space for building which can’t be used for Spain.
I wouldn’t want one however, but I believe the build quality not the lifestyle is probably better than the Spanish equivalent on their estates. For what it’s worth, in fact little, a 10 year NHBC guarantee on UK properties. Unfortunately, these UK estates are not highlighted on tv in the same way as in Spain.
City living is a different kettle of fish, good properties abound around the world’s cities, and really bad student digs too especially in the UK 🙄
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