Chinese have been massively immigrating to Europe since the early 1980s Chinese Global Migration In the early 1980s, as China began to emerge from its more than three-decade-long closure, Chinese began to flock to some of the traditional places of emigration, such as North America. In the last decade of the 2 0 0 0 s,*** 460,000 Chinese from the mainland settled in the U.S., doubling the number of mainland Chinese immigrants to the U.S. China is now the largest source of immigrants to Canada. Between 2000-2002, about 30,000-40,000 Chinese immigrated to Canada each year.　　At the same time, Chinese immigrants have begun to flock to countries and regions that are not traditional destinations for immigrants, landing everywhere from Siberia to South America and many other places in between. The influx of Chinese migrants into Europe has grown dramatically over the past decade. In a report published last year by the International Organization for Migration, Chinese migrants into Spain increased six-fold to 36,000 in the 10 years to 2001, the organization said. Chinese immigrants to Italy, on the other hand, grew by 260 percent to nearly 50,000 during the same period.　　In less than 10 years, Chinese immigrants into Ireland increased from almost zero to 40,000, or 1% of the country's total population. Hungary currently has about 30,000 Chinese. The number of Chinese living in Germany reached 75,000 last year, and 42,000 in France.　　For China, with a population of 1.3 billion, these immigrants are undoubtedly a drop in the ocean. But they have had a significant impact on their host countries. In Ireland, for example, most Chinese are on study visas, but most seem to be working. As Ireland's economy grows, locals working in pubs, stores and petrol stations find better jobs, so the Chinese fill the vacancies they leave behind.　　Ireland's deputy prime minister, Mary Hart, said that in a country where the idea of immigration has yet to take hold, the Chinese are seen as people who come to work hard and take things very seriously.　　New "globalist" immigrants Today's Chinese immigrants are full-fledged globalists who have broken with the traditional notion of having their lives organized by the government, their workplace and their families. They are independent, tech-savvy and very mobile. In fact, some of them seem to have embraced the idea of Europe as a borderless unity faster than many Europeans.　This generation of Chinese immigrants is as adept at exploiting the conveniences of the Internet, cell phones and cheap airfares, and as sophisticated as their counterparts anywhere else in the world," says Pang Lixin, a 35-year-old auditor. "It's called globalization, and it's the reality of today's world. Either you adapt or you are eliminated." Pang Lixin came to Ireland as a student in 1998 and stayed to work part-time until now.　　The number of Chinese students going abroad to study has also been on the rise in recent years, according to China's Ministry of Education. Since 1978,*** 700,000 Chinese students have gone abroad, with around three quarters of them choosing to stay. However, more and more have recently begun to return home.　　The impact of these new Chinese immigrants is not only felt in the receiving countries, but also at home. Many of the current leaders in China's high-tech, real estate and publishing industries studied abroad in the 1990s.　　The last few years have seen a boom in emigration as the government has eased restrictions on passport applications for its citizens; in 2003, 14 million Chinese citizens traveled abroad for private purposes. The World Tourism Organization predicts that by 2020, Chinese travelers abroad will reach 100 million annually.　　"There are just too many Chinese." The Chinese are not limiting their travel to far-flung developed countries; they are also settling in neighboring less-developed countries, and in some cases have even led to concerns in some sparsely populated countries that the foreign population is outnumbering their own. Mongolia, with a population of only 2.7 million, recently enacted a law that limits the number of foreign-born residents to no more than 1 percent of the total population, a move apparently aimed squarely at China. In the Russian Far East, populist politicians have expressed great concern about Chinese colonization as large numbers of Chinese businessmen and farmers have settled in border towns and villages.　　Kazakhstan has introduced strict quotas for foreign labor. However, well-trained and low-wage Chinese labor remains attractive to them. Li Wanxiang, director of the labor and social security bureau in Khorgos, Xinjiang, says Kazakhs are very conservative, but they're also very dependent, and they need Chinese help in agriculture, construction and other areas.　　As more and more Chinese go for gold abroad, they seem to be bringing some bad habits with them. Many Chinese businessmen in Europe complain that, similar to the situation at home, Chinese businessmen are killing each other abroad, leading to falling prices and lower profits. Part of the reason for this phenomenon is also that most Chinese are concentrated in industries such as restaurants and clothing.　　Looking out of one of the windows of the Asia Center, the signs of competition are already visible: a stone's throw away, the 1,60-shop China Business City, built by Chinese businessmen, is in full view. The biggest competitor is their own countrymen - even far away from Hungary, many Chinese people often hang on to a complaint often heard at home: "There are just too many Chinese."