Actually, there are quite a few hundred foreigners taking Chinese citizenship in hong kong each year. Among the hong kong borns, off the top of my head, the notables are, one Ocean Park boss, a Canadian and the former hong kong director of public prosecution, a Brit. the two are now proud holders of a Chinese passport. One has to be a Chinese to be a top hong kong mandarin, perhaps. is the reason. :-)

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I knew some folks back in the US who gave up their citizenship back in the old hippie days and they regretted the hell out of it later. And if you were going to do that why not choose some place like Britain or France or Canada. Not that China is not a place to live out your life in but I think it can get complicated here as time goes on. It is still a culture that is a bit paranoid of outsiders and things foreign. Wish the visa situation could be easier or there was some dual citizenship option, but as I understand it china really has no immigration program to speak of. Chinese guys who marry women from Vietnam or Laos, for example, cannot make those women Chinese citizens. They often live on a year to year to visa like the rest of us do.

Why wouold you do so if its not the secret? If it is just because to be able live in CHina without visa then IMHO marryng a Chinese is better way to go....If you are marryed to a Chinese you get a 5year residance permit wich is automaticly renewed.

You have to be married for 5 years first.

@ crowai, a foreigner cannot legally work on a Spouse visa, so unless your retired or super rich, that's not really a answer.

:-) You could get a Hong Kong Chinese citizenship which is different from a 'real' Chinese citizenship, technically a 'Chinese' nonetheless. with that, you get a HKSAR passport which gives you visa-free travel to 145 countries, included Russia (comes in handy for some), and of course, the regular big bad wolf states, like the UK, Canada,.... :-) the Hong Kong Chinese citizenship also allows you unrestricted stay in china and work too, except jobs requires a communist party membership card. if you really want to, you could even join the people's liberation army and drive and park your vehicle anyway you like, no one will bother you. Hahahhahh

now, how about a taiwan ROC Chinese citizenship, it offers a bit more, 151 visa free countries included, WAIT, Cuba. hahahahah

Hmm sounds interesting. I think if you really love the country enough, then why not? I was told by a Chinese academic last year that China is considering allowing dual citizenship sometime in the future. In fact, I believe Vietnam now recognises dual citizenship in limited circumstances So China could be next. Anyway, I hold multiple citizenship from a couple of European countries + the largest country in the South Pacific, so I can tell you that dual citizenship is of enormous benefit to anyone that holds it.

@Billdan, I think that explains why Chinese men married to SE Asian citizens are more likely to reside in those countries than the other way round? For starters, those countries are more foreigner friendly than China, and visas are easy to renew on a long-term basis. All you need is enough money to pay for the visa extension, that's it. It also explains the large number of other foreigners married to locals living there.

Would I care to take on Chinese citizenship? For now, nah...Thai citizenship would be better, besides, Thailand is that little bit more cosmopolitan than China, features visa-free travel to all ASEAN members (including Myanmar, soon) and recognises dual nationality if you become a naturalized citizen! Not to mention the low cost of living and great climate.

China used to have dual citizenship, but they had to cancel it because there were too many Chinese citizens in SE Asia, those governments didn't like the fact that so much of their GDP was held by Chinese citizens.

So I doubt that China will bring back dual citizenship within the next 20-30 years, especially now that the relationship with some SE Asian countries is not so good.