By the 1970s, Central Park was in a state of decay. Bridges were crumbling². Meadows had dried up. Graffiti and vandalism（破坏公物） blighted³ playgrounds and benches. There was an overwhelming feeling that its best days had passed. "Positive use had increasingly been displaced by illicit⁴ and illegal activity," is how the Central Park Conservancy describes it today.

 

Then George Soros stepped in. Frustrated⁵ by what he and others saw as New York City's inept⁶ management of the 160-year-old institution, Soros and another financier commissioned a study on potential fixes. Its chief recommendation was creating a private citizen-based board to oversee⁷ an individual running the park's operations -- in effect, allowing private citizens to control the park. Soon the not-for-profit Central Park Conservancy was created, and the area returned to its former glory. Thirty years later the conservancy provides 75% of a nearly $60 million annual park budget and is a New York institution unto itself. The board of trustees includes former J.P. Morgan Chairman and CEO William Harrison, KKR's Henry Kravis, and the hedge fund manager John Paulson, who two years ago announced he would give $100 million to the conservancy（管理，保护）, the largest park donation ever.

 

The growing wealth gap around the world is raising concerns about economic fairness and class divisions. But Central Park’s revival⁸ illustrates⁹ the importance of the very wealthy in civic¹⁰ society. Their private dollars fund projects that governments won't, and they have an especially key role in urban centers. All this explains why reports of China's air pollution driving out wealthy residents are so troubling. Is China losing its most important residents to smog?

 

The air in northern Chinese cities has been poor for a while. But after the past few years of "air apocalypses" and record-high levels of PM 2.5, the dangerously small pollutants under 2.5 micrometers in size (1/30 the width of a human hair) that find their way into the bloodstream and have been linked to cancers and respiratory（呼吸的） problems, citizens have increased complaints and growing numbers of rich have started making plans to move away.

 

A recent survey provides the strongest evidence yet that China's polluted cities risk driving away the rich. Released in January by the Hurun Research Institute, the survey shows 64% of China's rich (those with wealth above $1.6 million) were either immigrating¹¹ to another country or planning to, a rise from 60% in the last poll two years ago. That came as a surprise to Rupert Hoogewerf, founder¹² of the Hurun Report, an annual China rich list. He wasn’t expecting the already high figure to grow. He says pollution and food safety was the second-biggest reason for emigrating, after the general desire for security and financial well-being¹³. Although the numbers of those emigrating haven't yet reached a critical mass, Hoogewerf says "a lot of families are finding a lot of other rich families are going overseas," providing examples to follow.

 

What's happening is that those who can avoid the smog, especially families with children, are escaping what a recent Chinese study reportedly called "unlivable" cities like Beijing. They’re seeking permanent residency in America and Canada, and European countries Cyprus, Portugal, and the U.K.

 

Earlier this winter I spoke¹⁴ with half a dozen wealthy mothers in Beijing who explained to me how pollution had some of them considering moving away. It was enlightening to hear because what the survey doesn't tell you is that the rich don’t take moving to another country lightly. The women explained what a hard decision it was to make. China's culture and language had them wanting to stay. But many of them were afraid for their children's health, leading them to plans to go abroad.

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