Expat, Sojourner, or Settler? - Navigating the Enigmatic Paradox of the New Overseas Chinese Migration Journey


Jiaxin Gu, University of British Columbia

As a precondition for maintaining one’s Chineseness, is it necessary to become a full participating citizen of one’s adopted country? Tu Weiming, one of the most prominent Chinese Confucian thinkers of our era, once posed this compelling question when underscoring the evolving role of overseas Chinese, positioned on the periphery of the cultural China, in reshaping the trajectory of Chinese civilization. The late 20th century had witnessed the Asian Miracle in Taiwan and Hong Kong, followed by the economic boom in mainland China after its transformative “opening-up” policies. Collectively, such economic ascendency in these societies with Chinese culture deeply embedded triggered a significant wave of educational migration marked by young Chinese diaspora seeking enhanced educational and career opportunities in western countries. In contrast to their predecessors, who were dedicated providers for their families back home weathered flagrant racial discrimination in the host country, this new generation of locally educated young Chinese immigrants hails predominantly from middle-class background with their financial and human capital not only valued but also welcomed by the adopted society. This evolving demographic raises essential questions about the immigration journey of these young immigrants in this new era of the Chinese diaspora. If we were to gauge their integration mindset on a scale, with traditional sojourner mentality – anchored in the eventual return to one’s homeland – at the far-left, and the complete embrace and full commitment to the host society – or in the word of migration scholars, the “settlers”—on the right, where does this new generation of Chinese immigrants position themselves? Encompassing migration and immigrant studies, social networks, social capital, Chinese diaspora, and comparative sociology in this project, I conducted interviews with immigrants from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong who reside and work in two Canadian provinces with distinct sociodemographic, cultural, and economic landscapes -- the Great Vancouver Area along the Pacific coastline and Nova Scotia, Canada’s second-smallest province, with the Atlantic Ocean to its east. Furthermore, to facilitate a meaningful comparison between skilled immigrants who arrived in Canada in earlier years and the locally-educated young immigrants under the TR to PR track (a Canadian immigration stream aimed at granting temporary residents with local education and working experience permanent residency), 30 in-depth interviews with Chinese immigrants and international students conducted prior to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic will be added into the analysis. Central to the research methodology lies the Interaction Ritual Chain (IRC) approach. Rooted in symbolic interactionism, IRC approach will guide my analysis of the identity formation process among Chinese immigrants in their everyday social interactions, the embrace or rejection of group affiliations and collective identities in workplace and public sphere as the key factors. In parallel, I will scrutinize the structure of the ethnic-based social web within the Chinese immigrant community, evaluating its impact on the economic and political integration, or disintegration, of its members from the social network and social-capital (guanxi) perspectives. Through an intersectional lens of racialization, immigration, and cultural traditions, my dissertation research aims explore the experiences of economic and political integration of this new generation of Chinese immigrant in the North American context – with a focus on Western Canada and Atlantic Provinces. By revisiting and tracing the sojourner mentality and exploring new ecological niches within Chinese immigrant communities, I hope to not only enhance our sociological understanding of the integration mechanisms of locally-educated Chinese immigrants but also engage with the conversation on the evolving relationship between the first symbolic universe (including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China) and the second (overseas Chinese communities) in reshaping the meaning of being Chinese in the contemporary era of Chinese diaspora.

This paper will be presented at the following session: