Why the cash is always greener on the other side

The bus jerked along the dirt path and shuddered to a stop. It was dusk, and I could barely make out what looked like a small barn.

I was first off the bus. The owner of the farm waded through the muck toward me smiling, showing off half a set of blackened and gnarly teeth. He waved to his children to take care of our luggage.

There I was, just a couple of years after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) in the middle of a pig farm with a group of other Chinese-Canadian on a three week tour in China.

For the most part, the adults were immigrants themselves and not completely shell-shocked at the conditions. Their children, on the other hand, were Canadian-born teenagers constantly whining about the lack of McDonald's, pizza and the unbearable nastiness of squat toilets.

It turned out our hotel reservations were bumped by an incoming foreign experts group, and, being "compatriots", they thought the pigpen inn would be acceptable to us. It didn't take long for the screaming to begin.

Let me shorten the story by saying I was the leader of the tour.

I was 17. I hid on the bus.

Today, that farmer is probably sporting thousand-dollar titanium implants in his mouth, driving a Porsche SUV and visiting his grandchildren in Monterey Park, California, thanks to the toy, shoe or plastics factory he traded up to.

There are more than 1 million US$ millionaires worth more than 10 million yuan ($1.58 million), 60,000 multimillionaires worth more than 100 million yuan and more than 200 US$ billionaires in China.

Foreign citizenship for this wealthy class is not, however, a must-have item in their portfolio.

It's interesting that historically, while the labor and middle classes have sought immigration as a means to improve their lot, the wealthy class of Chinese have decided to stay home.

I don't blame them. In the West, everyone is equal. Rich or poor, you wait like everybody else for the cable installer to arrive at your home anytime within a four-hour window.

Hiring household help is so expensive that learning "how to Swiffer", a DIY mopping system, is one of the top searches on Chinese websites. Drivers are unheard of, unless you're referring to the Callaway's in your golf bag.

Yet, potential emigrants cite their children's education, air quality, food safety and financial security as reasons to emigrate. It's ironic that for the less wealthy, assimilating into a new culture may be easier. In China, the rich, the famous and the powerful are accommodated daily through deferential shows of "face".

In the West, all Chinese are treated the same - like an immigrant. There's no favoritism, no guanxi, no shortcuts to the front of the line.

And then there are the kids. Not only can they expect the teenage rebellion against their heritage, where Chinese is understood but not spoken and chopsticks are delegated to the dustbin, but also interracial marriage is at an all-time high.

In the West, Asian females have a 1 in 3 chance of marrying a non-Asian, although the flip side shows that Asian/White interracial newlyweds had a higher combined annual income than any other pairing, including Asian/Asian, at more than $70,000 per year.

For the uber-wealthy, the tradeoff for a healthier environment and independence may not be enough.

Worldwide tax rates of up to half of their income, a loss of status and the dilution of their cultural heritage may be too dear a price to pay.

Since the '90s, China has presented opportunities for success beyond what other countries can offer.

When I first stepped off that bus, I was more than grateful to my grandfather for immigrating to Canada a century ago.

But when I look at the sophistication and progress in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou today, I wonder where I would be if only he stayed a little longer.