Immigrant China

Abstract

This article tackles a new phenomenon that will have profound consequences for the future of the international migration order: international migration to the People's Republic of China. For decades, China has had large numbers of foreign students, expatriates, returned overseas Chinese, and ethnic Chinese refugees. However, in the past few years, immigration to China has become much more diverse and numerous. Chinese students and scholars abroad return to China in ever greater numbers. Traders and labor migrants from all over the world are attracted by China's trading opportunities, political stability, and prosperity. Middle-class Koreans, Taiwanese, and Southeast Asians are looking for cheaper living costs and better jobs. European, North American, and Australian university graduates travel to China for employment or to start a business. This article asks to what extent government policy making and the formation of immigrant groups and ethnic relations are informed by unique features of China's late socialist society and government, or alternatively, to what extent they follow patterns similar to established developed immigrant countries in Asia, Europe, and North America.

European Migrant Professionals in Chinese Global Cities: A Diversified Labour Market Integration

“…These developments have made China an emerging destination for international migration (Haugen, ; Pieke, ; Zhuang, ). China's immigration policy has responded to this trend with a number of measures.…”

“…As China's economy has expanded to include foreign multinational corporations of varying size, the profile of Western immigrants has diversified, in terms of educational background and the sectors in which they work (Pieke, ). Self‐initiated migrant professionals form part of what Leonard and Lehmann () call the “new wave” of immigrants to China.…”

“…During the early phase of China's economic reorientation in the the late 1980s and early 1990s, foreigners were primarily diplomatic personnel, corporate expatriates and students. Recently, self‐initiated migrant professionals have been on the rise, rendering foreigners in China a growing and diversifying group (Leonard and Lehmann, ; Pieke, ). A total of 900,000 foreigners were working in China in 2016 (Huang and Yan, ) and further increases are expected (Zhuang, ).…”

Mobility, Immobility and Migration

“…Th e incorporation of new areas into the global migration system seems to be an essential part of this process and is discussed in more detail below. Certainly, new destinations emerge, as in cases in eastern Asia, for example, where China may also ultimately emerge as a major destination (Pieke 2012 ;Skeldon 2011 ). However, certain areas, such as Argentina, seem to fade and areas that were once important origins for migrants emerge as destinations, as in the case of several countries in western and southern Europe.…”

“Middling” Chinese Returnees or Immigrants from Canada? The Ambiguity of Return Migration and Claims to Modernity

“…Another approach is characterised by a new attentiveness to immigration trends in China. While China is seen traditionally as an emigration source country (Xiang, 2003), this is changing with the arrival of immigrants from a variety of countries who are converging on China for diverse reasons, including education, trade, business and work opportunities (Pieke, 2012). Chinese return migration, the focus of this paper, can arguably be seen as a distinct type of "immigration" in cases where the returnees have already naturalised in another country and given up their Chinese citizenship and hukou 1 status in accord with a dual citizenship restriction practised by China (Cheng, 2005).…”