Hi,

I don't think he "hates' China, like me (when visa rules were easier, and the people more amenable) he probably liked it very much. But China now is not China 2004-2006. Those were the proverbial good old days. Post the olympics, year by year, it got steadily worse due to increasing nationalism and xenophobia, and more recently now the economic slowdown. As he has said many times, a lot of the old china hands in the south have gone to Thailand or elsewhere. I used to like Shenzhen but even they are now cracking down, the HK visa run is no longer doable, and now they are saying they want rich and professional people to settle there (ie. not FT's!!!, in their language).

Add in a few mysterious deaths and the whole place is suddenly much scarier and less welcoming.

https://thenanfang.com/two-expats-dead-shenzhen-mysterious-circumstances/