Civic Stratification Within Cross-Border Families: Mainland Chinese Children and Wives in Hong Kong

Abstract

The extant literature on family-related migration has examined the civic stratification of the right to family reunification of citizens and non-citizens and the citizenship rights of their reunited family members. However, civic stratification amongst immigrant family members has received less attention. Accordingly, the current study highlights the significance of immigration status and social reproduction in the hierarchisation of the residency and social rights of Mainland Chinese children and spouses within cross-border families in Hong Kong, particularly since the policy changes in 2003. This study asserts that children are valued as prospective contributory citizens, and thus, they are afforded preferential treatment over spouses, who are mostly women, whose contribution to the reproduction of family and society are undervalued by central and local states.

Which hierarchy matters? Subjective social status, status incongruence and well-being among high-skilled Mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong

“…Finally, our study contributes to migration studies in Hong Kong and the study of high-skilled migrants in general. Previous studies of migration in Hong Kong tended to focus on low-skilled migrants who are the majority of migrants, and tended to overlook the high-skilled migrants, a substantial minority (Ngo and Li, 2016; So, 2003; Bacon-Shone et al, 2008; To, 2019). Our results reflect that, even among the high-skilled Mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong, a group of people supposedly to be more mobile and have more options than the general migrants, the detrimental effects of downward social movement are acute.…”

“…These migrants are generally low-skilled women coming from rural areas in Mainland China and married to poor Hong Kong husbands (So, 2003). Thus, most studies on Mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong tend to focus on these cross-border families (Bacon-Shone et al, 2008; To, 2019), leaving an important portion of Mainland Chinese migrants, i.e., the high-skilled migrants, underexplored. In addition to the “one-way permit,” the Hong Kong government implemented a series of talent schemes to ensure economic growth and enhance the overall pool of human capital (Fong and Guo, 2018).…”

The role of children in marital relationships and (in)stability of cross‐border stepfamilies in Hong Kong

“…Remarried immigrant mothers may encounter additional difficulties due to different types of immigration status and desynchronised migration trajectories between them and their children. Depending on the immigration policy and citizenship laws of the new host society, immigrant mothers and their children may have different legal statuses from each other as well as different levels of social rights (To, 2019a(To, , 2019b. These policies can result in different times of immigration into the host country for mother and her children, leading to challenges in cross-border childcare and integration into the new cross-border stepfamily.…”

How family policies redefine families: The case of mainland China–Hong Kong cross‐border families

“…Public discourse in HK portrays these mainlanders as taking advantage of HK and competing for social resources (Schuber, 2021). In particular, low‐income mainlanders are constructed as a social burden on welfare (To, 2019).…”