Dreams of Leaving

Ocean waves dance around Little Lin's toes before the water is pulled back out by a distant force. That faraway energy is tugging at him, too, drawing him away from this muddy beach in China's eastern Fujian province toward Europe, to a better life he is sure will one day be his. Last year, the 29-year-old told a snakehead, as traffickers who help smuggle Chinese abroad are known, that he was ready. Many of his friends and family members have already gone. Now it is his turn. He wants to follow his older brother to England, where he's heard that the need for cheap labor is so great that the police don't crack down on illegal immigration. Little Lin, who doesn't want his full name used, knows the journey will take months and cost at least $28,000, and that he will be in debt for years. But he can't wait to own a real English home, as he believes his brother living in Cambridge does. He will buy an suv, he says, red like the Chinese flag. One day, he will even open a Chinese restaurant, just like his brother has. "I cannot wait for my new life to begin," he says, pacing the beach and looking toward the sea. "I'm not afraid of the journey."

Little Lin is not alone. Tens of thousands of Chinese from his home province of Fujian alone have traveled from China to Britain in recent years. A coastal region with a booming middle class, Fujian produces a disproportionate number of China's overseas migrants. Back in the mid-1800s, Fujian released its first major wave of migrants, men bound for the Americas to build railroads, can fish and pan for gold. Other coolies, as they were known, headed for European colonies in Asia. Those who left have helped those who stay behind; today, Fujian's annual per-capita income of $1,300 is one of the highest among China's provinces, courtesy not just of its early embrace of private enterprise but also of remittances from overseas.

Despite Fujian's relative wealth, many talented youth still don't stick around. Instead, they entrust their lives — and their life savings — to the snakeheads who will shepherd them to new beginnings in the U.S., Japan and, now most of all, Europe. Around 20 people from Little Lin's own hamlet of 300 have left for Europe in the past decade, each one stopping in front of the village's holy banyan tree to ask for protection during the journey.

Why do so many middle-class Chinese risk a perilous crossing, mountains of debt and years of grueling labor to start over in a strange land? Life in Fujian is not one of mass starvation or political persecution. But the lure of overseas gold remains great. When his restaurant in England is busy, Little Lin's brother, Big Lin, can make $600 a week, tax free, and despite his underground status, his life is hardly a misery. Big Lin does not know anyone who has been held hostage by a snakehead or enslaved in a factory. Nor has he ever been stopped by the police or threatened with deportation, despite an official 2005 U.K. study that estimated there are up to 570,000 illegal immigrants there.

True, when he takes time to reflect, Big Lin admits he is lonely, and not quite the success he imagined he'd be. But the specter of social alienation means little for those back in Fujian, who are nourished by stories of riches made from manning a wok. Even the tragedy of the 58 Fujianese who suffocated to death while being smuggled in a truck to Dover in 2000 did not dent interest in a passage to Britain, according to Fujian locals. "If you're from Fujian, everyone expects you to go overseas," Little Lin says. "Fortune only comes from leaving home."