When Justin Yifu Lin packed up and moved from Beijing to Washington DC in 2008 to become chief economist of the World Bank, he had three requirements for a place to live. “I wanted to go to the office in 15 minutes. I wanted a quiet place where I could enjoy the nature. And it had to be affordable,” says Lin, 59, who was the first economist from an emerging market picked for the post.

Lin and his wife Yunying Chen – who, as a member of the National People’s Congress and TV psychologist, is also a high-profile figure in China – settled on a rented house on the edge of Georgetown. Part of a new brick-fronted development in the grounds of a former mansion, it has views of thick foliage, and Lin spends as much time as he can working outdoors on his computer. “When I come down I can hear the birds sing and the frogs,” he says, pointing to a large wooden deck just off the light-flooded living room. “Sometimes there are deer running.”

Lin was born in Taiwan and met his wife while he was studying agricultural engineering at Taiwan University. Aged 27, Lin, by then a lieutenant in the Taiwanese army and stationed on an island near the mainland, decided to swim to the People’s Republic of China. Once ashore he was confronted by surprised soldiers. Why the unusual decision to leave Taiwan? “I wanted to participate in China’s development,” says Lin, shrugging off the legendary swim. “It’s just like moving from Hawaii to the US mainland.”