From the Culture of Migration to the Culture of Remittances: Evidence from Immigrant-Sending Communities in China

Abstract

Extending the notion of “the culture of migration,” we propose and elaborate the concept of “the culture of remittances” to examine the flow of remittances in the immigrant-sending province of Fujian, China. We argue that the culture of remittances influences two important variables in the study of remittances: amount of remittances and whether they are used for public projects for the community. A careful statistical analysis using data from Fujian province supports our two major predictions. We also find that elite immigrants are more likely to use remittances for public projects in immigrant-sending communities. Our policy calls for more strategies and services in dealing with major concerns such as family members left behind (i.e., the elderly) in communities and increasing land use issues, as well as more proactive strategies to cultivate elite immigrants who are increasingly transnational and are likely to become catalysts for economic transformations in these communities and beyond.

Educational Aspirations and Expectations of Adolescents in Rural China: Determinants, Mental Health, and Academic Outcomes

“…Parental migration may be associated with educational aspiration-expectation discrepancies among rural adolescents. The financial remittances earned from parental migration may have a beneficial effect on children's education [14]. In addition, there are social remittances which relate to the parents' urban lifestyle and access to information about educational and occupational opportunities, which may broaden children's horizons [15].…”

Remittance Behaviors of International Migrants in Comparative Perspective: The Case in Fujian, China

“…In particular, our comparative study highlights the role of migrant hometowns’ cultural context in encouraging donations to public welfare. Remittances that are culturally and socially channeled to improve public services and basic infrastructure are not unique to migrant hometowns in Fuzhou, China, and are found across rural Mexico and Guangzhou, China, for example (Adida and Girod 2011; Zhou and Li 2016a; Liang and Song 2018). By developing community-based norms of remitting to improve public welfare in the community, migrant hometowns may provide an important model for promoting community development more broadly (Liang and Song 2018).…”

“…Such displays confer honor on donating migrants and, thereby, their families (Zhou and Li 2016b). This practice represents part of Fuzhou’s “culture of remittances,” as developed by Liang and Song (2018), in which social expectations help channel remittances to public projects and education.…”

“…Prior ethnographic work in this region showed that these cadres are usually gatekeepers and authorities who approve developmental projects by granting licenses and permits (Zhou and Li 2006b). Sometimes, they are also project initiators who engage local campaigns and political slogans to solicit contributors to public infrastructure projects (Liang and Song 2018). Therefore, local political elites in Fuzhou play an active role in facilitating collective remittances.…”

“…Third, enlightened by our fieldwork observations in Fuzhou about its cultural practices and about local government’s effort to attract investment in public constructions from abroad, we ask: do meso-level differences between Funzhou and Mingxi play a role in attracting remittances for public use? A handful of ethnographic studies have illustrated how local government and cadres, or even sports clubs or religious associations, set the stage and provide social status rewards to incentivize remittances spending for public infrastructure (Juárez Galindo 2002; Zhou and Li 2016a, 2016b; Liang and Song 2018). However, there is a lack of research that evaluates the effect of these meso-level factors from a quantitative perspective.…”