While many Chinese businesspeople have adopted a foreign nationality or obtained permanent residence overseas as a means of expanding trade, most choose to stay in China for reasons related to family and work, as Yu Ran reports from Shanghai.

Although he has held a permanent resident's permit for Italy for more than a decade, Yang Changyi, 50, prefers to stay with his family and run his shoe-trading company in China, rather than emigrating.

To maintain his business, supplying footwear to Italian clients, Yang flies to Italy almost every month for meetings with buyers and potential partners as he looks to expand the market for his wares.