Chinese Investment in Foreign Real Estate and Its Interactions with the Host State and Society: The Case of Jeju, South Korea

Since the early 2000s, a great tide of Chinese “go outside” (zouchuqu), or outbound foreign investment, happened in many regions and industries of the world. Among these, real estate emerged as one of the most rapidly increasing outbound investments from China in the 2010s. As a result, Chinese investors, both enterprises and individuals, have had increasingly extensive impacts on host states and societies, which are largely developed and democratic. This study analyzes the multifaceted interactions between Chinese foreign real estate investors and host states and societies using the case of Jeju Province in South Korea from 2010 to 2018. More specifically, it analyzes the responses of the host country’s national and local governments, as well as its grassroots civil society, to the soaring and often unconstrained Chinese investment in its real estate, focusing on the role of a host country’s democratic institutions.