Using data from several Chinese censuses and surveys, we provide a new perspective for the study of international migration. Focusing on the trends of international migration from China and Fujian province between 1982 and 2000, several findings emerge. First, Fujian and Yunnan provinces became the leading immigrant-sending provinces in China by 2000. Second, changes in socio-economic selectivity among emigrants from Fujian province from 1990 to 1995 are also clearly revealed in our analysis. The shift from urbanites to rural peasants among the emigrant population is particularly noteworthy. Third, in the context of Fujian province, factors such as age, education, rural/urban status, and occupation (especially the service sector) are the most important predictors of emigration. The paper ends with a discussion of the prospects of assimilation of Fujianese immigrants in destination societies.

This study examines the educational consequences for those children of emigrants who are left behind in Fujian Province, China. Specifically, we compare the school enrollment for children from emigrant households with the school enrollment for children from non-emigrant households. The data are drawn from the 1995 China 1% Population Sample Survey. We find consistent evidence that emigration affects educational opportunity for children in a positive way. First, children from emigrant households are more likely to be enrolled in schools than children from non-emigrant households. Second, emigration also has positive consequences in reducing gender gap in education. Although girls from non-emigrant households still experience a lower enrollment rate, for the emigrant households the overall school enrollment for boys and girls has been approaching convergence.Since the beginning of a market transition in 1978, China has sent a salient number of migrants to a multitude of different foreign destinations. One of the social consequences of this emigration is the issue with education of children who are left behind in migrantsending communities. It is not uncommon for children to live in their hometowns with only one of their parents or with other relatives or family members. Until recently, there was speculation about the educational consequences of these single parent emigrant households. As the educational attainment of children is a compelling indicator of their future upward socio-economic mobility, it is of utmost concern for parents, and especially for those living apart because of emigration.The issue of education of migrant children who are left behind has been a topic of research in other contexts. For example, in the case of Mexico, Kandel and Massey (2002) contend that children from households with a significant cultural influence pushing towards migration to the United States have a higher likelihood of abandoning their plans of pursuing an education in their native country. As such, children tend to drop out of school because their motivation is diluted, with the greatest concentration of effort directed towards moving abroad. We are interested in investigating whether or not this argument holds true for similar emigrant households in China and have chosen Fujian Province for this purpose. In addition, we reveal the salient factors that facilitate educational attainment through empirical analysis, as well as the consequences of the emigration of parents or household members and how they impact educational opportunity of the children. NIH Public Access

Asian Americans are considered the healthiest group among all the racial and ethnic groups in the United States. However, do they still enjoy the health advantage in terms of chronic conditions? How do the length of residence in the United States and nativity status affect the health of Asian Americans? The differences by Asian ethnicities are also explored. By using data drawn from the National Health Interview Survey, this research examines the prevalence of chronic conditions among Asian Americans as part of their adaptation process within the American mainstream culture after years of residence in the United States, as compared to their native-born counterparts. The findings suggest that the longer Asian Americans stay in the United States, the more likely that their lifestyle approaches one that reflects the mainstream American culture, and that the positive health effects gradually diminish. Some subgroups of more acculturated Asian Americans show a higher prevalence of diabetes than that of the non-Hispanic whites and the total U.S. population.

The crucial role of migration networks in the process of migration has been well established. The main goal of our paper is to examine the role of migration networks in the case of China, a country that has had the largest migrant population in human history. Specifically, we focus on issues that have received relatively little attention in the migration literature. We first examined how the use of migration networks differs for individuals with different characteristics such as education, gender and household registration ( hukou) status. Based on the migration literature, we generated a set of hypotheses. We then examined the use of migration networks by people with different characteristics both in the context of migration departure (initiation of migration) and destination choice, using the micro-data from the 2000 China Population Census. Our results show that female migrants, migrants without local hukou, and younger migrants are more likely to rely on well-developed migration networks, whereas the most educated migrants are less likely to depend on them. We also found that migration networks are more important for floating migrants than for permanent migrants.

No abstract