Nearly 4.02 million Chinese went abroad for private reasons in 2002, an increase of 30.3 percent over the previous year, official statistics show.
The country's exit and entry administrative departments approved 118,000 Chinese applying to settle in other countries andregions last year, and the figure rose 68.6 percent over 2001.
The number of Chinese applying to settle in other countries andregions made up 2.9 percent of the total applicants wishing to go abroad in 2002.
Meanwhile, the number of Chinese applying for further study abroad dropped slightly last year. A total of 138,000 students were approved for study abroad in 2002, 5.5 percent less than the previous year.
(People's Daily February 8, 2003)
|