Immigration has increased modestly since the opening up of the country and the liberalization of the economy, mostly of people moving to the large cities and to Hong Kong.
Foreign students studying at overseas universities are allowed to engage in regular internships at Hainan's star-rated hotels, hospitals, international schools, and other entities.
[10] Approximately 1,850 North Koreans fled their country in 2004, but China views them as illegal economic migrants rather than refugees and sends many of them back.
[13] Many of those who succeed in reaching sanctuary in foreign diplomatic compounds or international schools have been allowed by China to depart for South Korea.
Since the country's late 1990s economic boom, thousands of African traders and businesspeople, predominantly from West Africa,[14] migrated to the city of Guangzhou, creating an "Africatown" in the middle of the southern Chinese metropolis of approximately 10 km2.
According to official statistics of the PRC government, the number of Africans in Guangzhou has increased by 30-40% each year, and now form the largest black community in Asia.
[16][needs update] This has led to controversies and anger by the local community due to rumors of increasing numbers of crimes, including rape, fraud, robberies, and drug dealing committed by Africans.
[16] Huang Shiding of the Guangzhou Institute of Social Sciences estimates the number of permanent residents of foreign nationality (six months and above) to be around 50,000, of which some 20,000 are of African origin.