Turistas chinos comprando lingotes y accesorios de oro en LukFook, una joyería de Hong Kong, el domingo. Credit...Billy H.C. Kwok para The New York Times

       Gold Bars and Tokyo Apartments: How Money Is Flowing Out of China.

       Chinese families are sending money overseas, a sign of worry about the country’s economic and political future. But a cheaper currency is also helping exports.

       Turistas chinos comprando lingotes y accesorios de oro en LukFook, una joyería de Hong Kong, el domingo.Credit...Billy H.C. Kwok para The New York Times

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       By Keith Bradsher and Joy Dong

       Keith Bradsher reported from Shanghai and Beijing and Joy Dong from Hong Kong.

       Nov. 28, 2023

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       Affluent Chinese have moved hundreds of billions of dollars out of the country this year, seizing on the end of Covid precautions that had almost completely sealed China’s borders for nearly three years.

       They are using their savings to buy overseas apartments, stocks and insurance policies. Able to fly again to Tokyo, London and New York, Chinese travelers have bought apartments in Japan and poured money into accounts in the United States or Europe that pay higher interest than in China, where rates are low and falling.

       The outbound shift of money in part indicates unease inside China about the sputtering recovery after the pandemic as well as deeper problems, like an alarming slowdown in real estate, the main storehouse of wealth for families. For some people, it is also a reaction to fears about the direction of the economy under China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who has cracked down on business and strengthened the government’s hand in many aspects of society.

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       Keith Bradsher is the Beijing bureau chief for The Times. He previously served as bureau chief in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Detroit and as a Washington correspondent. He has lived and reported in mainland China through the pandemic. More about Keith Bradsher

       Joy Dong covers news in mainland China and Hong Kong. She is based in Hong Kong. @JoyDongHK More about Joy Dong

       A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 28, 2023, Section B , Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Suitcases of Cash: How China’s Money Flows Out . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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