New migrants and the revival of overseas Chinese nationalism

Journal of Contemporary China

Volumn 14, Issue 43, 2005, Pages 291-316

  Liu, Hong ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DIASPORA; IMMIGRANT POPULATION; INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION; MIGRANTS EXPERIENCE; NATIONALISM;

EID: 18644378347     PISSN: 10670564     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10670560500065611     Document Type: Review

References (123)

1. Dudley Poston, Jr, Michael Xinxiang Mao and Mei-yu Yu, 'The global distribution of the overseas Chinese around 1990', Population and Development Review 20(3), (1994), pp. 631-645.
2. Yen Ching-hwang, 'Overseas Chinese nationalism: a historical study', in Yen Ching-hwang, Studies in Modern Overseas Chinese History (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1995), pp. 135-158.
3. Luo Qi and Zeng Jianfen, Haiwai Huaren yu Fujian de Jinjing Fazhan [Overseas Chinese and the Socio-economic Development in Fujian], East Asian Institute Working Paper No 23, National University of Singapore, 2000;
4. Mette Thunø, 'Reaching out and incorporating Chinese overseas: the trans-territorial scope of the PRC by the end of the 20th century', The China Quarterly 168, (2001), pp. 910-929.
5. Zhao Hongying, 'Jin yiershi nian lai zhongguo dalu xin yinmin ruogang wenti de shikau' ['Reflections on the mainland Chinese new immigrants over last one to two decades'], Huaqiao Huaren Lishi Yanjiu [Overseas Chinese History Studies, hereafter, OCHS] 4, (2000), pp. 7-16.
6. China Daily, (10 June 2002).
7. www.people.com, (3 February 2002).
8. Lianhe Zaobao, (11 July 2004).
9. Cited in Zhao Hongying, 'Jin yiershi nian lai'.
10. www.chinanews.com.cn, (19 September 2001).
11. Shi Xueqin, 'Gaige kaifang yi yilai fuqing qiaoxiang de xin yimin-Jiantan feifa yimin wenti' ['New migrants from the Fuqing qiaoxiang since the reform, with some reference to the problem of illegal immigrants'], OCHS 4, (2000), pp. 26-31.
12. See also Frank Pieke, Pàl Nyiri, Mette Thunø and Antonella Ceccagno, Transnational Chinese: Fujianese Migrants in Europe (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004).
13. Ronald Skeldon, Emigration Pressure and Structural Change in Southeast and East Asia (A Report Prepared for ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 1997);
14. Paul J. Smith, ed., Human Smuggling: Chinese Migrant Trafficking and the Challenge to America's Immigration Tradition (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1997);
15. Far Eastern Economic Review, (24 June 1999).
16. Zhang Xiumin, 'Guoji yimin tixi zhong de zhongguo dalu yimin - Ye tan xin yimin wenti' ['The mainland Chinese migrants in the system of international migration: with reference to the new migrants question'], OCHS 1, (2001), pp. 22-27;
17. Luo and Zeng, Haiwai Huaren yu Fujian.
18. www.chinanews.com.cn, (19 September 2001).
19. Yazhou Zhoukan, (25 April 2004).
20. John A. Armstrong, 'Mobilized and proletarian diasporas', American Political Science Review 70(2), (1976), pp. 393-408.
21. See for example, Wang Gungwu, 'New migrants: how new? why new?, in Gregor Benton and Hong Liu, eds, Diasporic Chinese Ventures: The Life and Work of Wang Gungwu (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), pp. 227-238;
22. Thunø, 'Reaching out and incorporating Chinese overseas';
23. Pàl Nyiri, 'Expatriating is patriotic? The discourse on "new migrants" in the People's Republic of China and identity construction among recent migrants from the PRC', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 27(4), (2001), pp. 635-653;
24. and Frank Laczko, ed., 'Understanding migration between China and Europe', International Migration Review (Special Issue) 41(3), (2003).
25. For details, see Hong Liu, 'Explaining the dynamics of Chinese migration since 1980: a historical and demographical perspective', Journal of Oriental Studies (Hong Kong), forthcoming.
26. Peter Stalker, Workers without Frontiers - The Impact of Globalization on International Migration (Geneva: ILO and Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000).
27. Luo and Zeng, Haiwai Huaren yu Fujian.
28. Skeldon, Emigration Pressure and Structural Change.
29. Lee Hsien Loong, 'Let us welcome immigrants', A Bimonthly Selection of Ministerial Speeches 13(4), (July-August 1989), pp. 76-78.
30. Zhu Huiling, Zhongri guanxi zhengchanghuay yilai riben huaqiaohuaren shehui de bianqian [Changes of Overseas Chinese and Chinese Community in Japan since Normalization of Relationship between China and Japan] (Xiamen: Xiamen daxue chuebanshe, 2003), pp. 88-90;
31. Lianhe Zaobao, (11 July 2004).
32. Chen Da, Nanyang huaqiao yu minyue shehui [Nanyang Chinese and Societies of Fujian and Guangdong ] (Changsha: Sanwu yishuguan, 1937);
33. Li Yiping and Pan Qianping, 'Yijiu qiba nian yilai jinjiang haiwai yimin yu jinjiang shehui jinjing de fazhan' ['Jinjiang emigrants and socio-economic development in Jinjiang since 1978], OCHS 2, (1999), pp. 35-42;
34. Huang Jing, 'Zhanhou zhongguo dalu kejiaren haiwai yimin poxi-Meizhou diqu renkou guoji qianyi qingkuang de diaocha' ['The overseas migration of mainland Hakka since the end of World War II - a survey of international migration from the Meizhou region], OCHS 1, (1995), pp. 41-45.
35. Yazhou Zhoukan, (2 September 2001). I randomly checked one such agency, Mercan Capital (meikang touzhi youxiang gongshi), listed in the website of www.netsease.com.cn and found that it has received more than 400,000 hits as of the middle of February 2002.
36. Stalker, Workers without Frontiers.
37. Luo and Zeng, Haiwai Huaren yu Fujian.
38. Huang Yiping, Economic Reform and Emigration Pressures in China (A Report Prepared for ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 1996).
39. Huang Jing, 'Zhanhou zhongguo dalu kejiaren haiwai yimin poxi'.
40. David Murphy, 'Europe, here we come', Far Eastern Economic Review, (24 June 2004).
41. Chen Wenshou, 'Lun xiandai huaren yimin' ['On contemporary Chinese migration'], OCHS 1, (1993), pp. 25-34.
42. See also Zhu Huiling, Zhongri guanxi zhengchanghuay yilai, p. 35.
43. Hans Kohn, 'Theories of nationalism', in David L. Stills, ed, Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New York: Macmillan and Free Press, 1968), p. 63.
44. Anthony D. Smith, 'Nationalism', in Mary Hawkesworth and Maurice Kogan, eds, Encyclopedia of Government and Politics (London: Routledge, 1992), vol. 2, pp. 111-127, on p. 114.
45. I b i d.
46. Yen, 'Overseas Chinese nationalism', p. 136.
47. Wang Gungwu, Don't Leave Home: Migration and the Chinese (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 2001);
48. Presenjit Duara, 'Transnationalism and the predicament of sovereignty: China, 1900-1945', American Historical Review 102(4), (1997), pp. 1030-1051.
49. Zhu Rongji, 'China's economy, greater opening-up and growing prosperity', Opening Address at the Sixth World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention, Nanjing, 19 September 2001. [The English translation is original.].
50. Cheng Xi, Dangdai zhongguo liuxuesheng yanjiu [A Study of Chinese Students Overseas in the Contemporary Era] (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Press for Social Sciences, 2003), p. 45;
51. see also Nyiri, 'Expatriating is patriotic?'.
52. Straits Times, (6 January 2002).
53. My interviews in Beijing (September 2001 and October 2002) with officials dealing with overseas Chinese affairs have indicated clearly such a shift in focus. On the background and implications of this policy shift, see Thunø, 'Reaching out and incorporating Chinese overseas'.
54. www.chinanews.com.cn, (28 January 2002).
55. www.Chinaqnet.com/news/011701.
56. Fujian Qiaobao, (3 September 2001).
57. www.Chinaqnet.com/news/023102.
58. www.chinanews.com.cn, (22 February 2002).
59. www.chinanews.com.cn, (7 March 2002).
60. Min Zhou and Rebecca Kim, 'Formation, consolidation, and diversification of the ethnic elite: the case of the Chinese immigrant community in the United States, Journal of International Migration and Integration 2(2), (2001), pp. 227-247.
61. Zhu Huiling, Zhongri guanxi zhengchanghuay yilai, pp. 66, 85;
62. Huang Yiping, Economic Reform and Emigration Pressures in China.
63. Zhang Xiuming, 'Qingtianren chuguo de lishi yu xianzhuang chutang' ['A preliminary survey on the history and current status of the emigrants from Qingtian'], OCHS 3, (1998), pp. 48-58.
64. Zhou and Kim, 'Formation, consolidation, and diversification'.
65. I b i d.
66. Zhao Hongying, 'Jin yiershi nian lai'.
67. Nyiri, 'Expatriating is patriotic?.
68. www.chinanews.com.cn, (19 September 2001).
69. www.chinanews.com.cn, (13 March 2002).
70. Especially among chain migrants, for instance, since the 1980s, immigrants originating from Qingtian have formed nearly a dozen locality associations in various European nations; see Zhang Xiuming, 'Qingtianren chuguo de lishi yu xianzhuang chutang'.
71. Zhou and Kim, 'Formation, consolidation, and diversification'. Some of the well-known professional organizations in North America include: Chinese Association for Science and Technology (national with 15 regional chapters); American Association of Chinese Physicians (New York based with regional chapters); Chinese Finance Association (national); Chinese Information and Networking Association (San Francisco based with regional chapters); Chinese Association for Science and Business (national); North American Chinese Sociological Association (national); and Silicon Valley Chinese Engineer Association (Silicon Valley based).
72. I b i d.
73. Zhu Huiling, Zhongri guanxi zhengchanghuay yilai.
74. Lianhe Zaobao, (12 November 2003); personal interview with the Secretary General of the Association, March 2001.
75. www.chinanews.com.cn, (14 March 2002).
76. See more details in Hong Liu, 'Old linkages, new networks: the globalization of Overseas Chinese voluntary associations and its implications', The China Quarterly 155, (1998), pp. 582-609.
77. Da Gong Bao, (11 October 2001).
78. Zhu Huiling, 'Dandai zhonguo liuri xiuren jiqi zuoyong' ['Contemporary Chinese students/scholars in Japan and their roles'], OCHS 2, (1995), pp. 22-31. My own interview with the Secretary of the French Teochew Association in Paris (March 2002) also confirms this lack of interaction between professional associations and locality associations of the chain migrants;
79. see also the critical comments about the new migrants in the Philippines by Go Bon Juan, 'Old and new immigrants from China: comparative dimensions', in Pal Nyiri and Igor Saveliev, eds, Globalizing Chinese Migration: Trends in Europe and Asia (Aldershort: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 309-319.
80. Luo and Zeng, Haiwai Huaren yu Fujian.
81. Yazhou Zhoukan, (20 January 2002).
82. Zhao Hongying, 'Jin yiershi nian lai'.
83. I have discussed in detail this new phenomenon and its implications in 'Chinese new migrants and transnational entrepreneurship: the Sino-Singaporean experience in comparative perspective', paper presented at the University of California Pacific Rim Conference 'A New Breed of Chinese Entrepreneur in the Pacific Rim? Culture, Organizational Imperatives, and Globalization' (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, 21-22 May 2004).
84. Zhu Rongji, 'China's economy, greater opening-up and growing prosperity'.
85. See for example, Cheng Xi, Dangdai zhongguo liuxuesheng yanjiu, pp. 200-202.
86. Huang Yiping, Economic Reform and Emigration Pressures in China
87. Luo and Zeng, Haiwai Huaren yu Fujian.
88. Lianhe Zaobao, (31 January 2002).
89. See for example, George Hicks, ed., Overseas Chinese Remittances from Southeast Asia, 1910-1940 (Singapore: Select Books, 1993);
90. Hong Liu, 'Bridges across the sea: Chinese social organizations in Southeast Asia and the links with Qiaoxiang, 1900-1949', in Leo Douw, Cen Huang and Michael Godley, eds, Qiaoxiang Ties: Interdisciplinary Approaches to 'Cultural Capitalism' in South China (London: Kegan Paul International, 1993), pp. 87-112.
91. www.chinaqnet.com/news/20010407.
92. www.chinaqnet.com/news/20010415.
93. In both occasions, the term 'nationalism' is used and quoted approvingly by the official Chinese news media.
94. Previous annual conventions had been held in Berlin, Hong Kong, Washington, DC, and Tokyo. Together with two former Prime Ministers of Australia, Bill Clinton spoke at the Sydney Convention and predicted that the peaceful unification of China was 'an unstoppable historic process'.
95. www.chinanews.com.cn, (21 and 23 February 2002).
96. www.chinaembassy.org.sg/chn/65106.html.
97. www.chinanews.com.cn, (22 February 2002).
98. Yazhou Zhoukan, (10 March 2002). However, some recent reports indicate that the gaps between conflicting opinions toward the future of Taiwan among different factions of Chinese living overseas are narrowing, with more identifying with a unified China.
99. See for example, San Francisco Chronicle, (26 April 2001).
100. Renmin Ribao (Overseas edition), (20 June 2001).
101. Globe and Mail, (3 July 2001).
102. Renmin Ribao (Overseas edition), (14 and 16 July 2001).
103. Lianhe Zaobao, (17 October 2003).
104. Tu Wei-ming, 'Cultural China: the periphery as the center', in Tu Wei-ming, ed., The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994), pp. 1-30.
105. Renmin Ribao (Overseas edition), (16 and 19 July 2001). This new wave of patriotism of the new migrants in the West seems to confirm findings from some recent field studies in Southeast Asia, which demonstrate that 'the recent arrivals [of Chinese new migrants] are much more patriotic and loyal to the motherland' and that China's growing political and economic clout has given the recent arrivals greater confidence and assertiveness'.
106. See 'A new generation of Chinese migrants fans across the globe', Far Eastern Economic Review, (24 June 1999).
107. Luoye guigen, 'fallen leaves return to their roots', refers to those Chinese who remain loyal to their native places and wish (usually in vain) to return to them; and luodi shenggen, 'falling to the ground and striking root', refers to the accommodationist project, which includes permanent settlement abroad and the renunciation of Chinese citizenship.
108. See Hong Liu and Gregor Benton, 'Introduction', in Benton and Liu, eds, Diasporic Chinese Ventures pp. 1-9.
109. Hong Liu, 'Kuaguo huaren: shizheng fenxi yu lilun shikao' ['Transnational Chinese: empirical analyses and theoretical formulation'], Ershiyi Shiji [21st Century], (June 2002), pp. 108-121.
110. One fruitful approach to overseas Chinese nationalism, especially among the settled societies, has been proposed by William Callahan which looks at the interplay between cosmopolitanism and nationalism within the broad framework of international politics and national identity. See William A. Callahan, 'Beyond cosmopolitanism and nationalism: diasporic Chinese and neo-nationalism in China and Thailand', International Organization 57, (Summer 2002), pp. 481-517.
111. Peter Drucker, 'Beyond the information revolution', The Atlantic Monthly, (October 1999), pp. 47-57.
112. David Zweig and Changgui Chen, China's Brain Drain to the United States: Views of Overseas Chinese Students and Scholars in the 1990s (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1995).
113. Cheng Xi, Dangdai zhongguo liuxuesheng yanjiu, p. 197.
114. Zhu Huiling, 'Dandai zhonguo liuri xiuren jiqi zuoyong'.
115. Cited in Hong Liu, 'Kuaguo huaren'.
116. www.chinanews.com.cn, (19 March 2002); (17 December 2001).
117. Linda Basch, G. Nina Glick Schillier and Christina Blanc-Szanton, Nations Unbound: Transnational Projects, Post-colonial Predicaments, and De-terrirorialized Nation-States (Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach, 1994).
118. Alejandro Portes, Luis E. Guamizo and Patricia Landolt, 'The study of transnationalism: pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field', Ethnic and Racial Studies 22(2), (1999), pp. 217-237.
119. www.chinanews.com.cn, (20 and 26 August 2001).
120. www.xinhuanet.com, (21 January 2002).
121. See for example, Dimitri Constas and Athanassios Platias, 'Diasporas in world politics: an introduction', in Dimitri Constas and Athanassios Platias, eds, Diasporas in World Politics: The Greeks in Comparative Perspective (London: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 3-28.
122. Nicholas Kristof, 'The new China syndrome', New York Times, (22 January 2002).
123. Globalization, for example, is considered to have led to the perception that 'state authority has leaked away, upwards, sidewards, and downwards'. It has been pointed out that 'just evaporated', or 'diminished', 'defective', and 'hollow' have become some typical adjectives applied to the contemporary state. See T.V.G. Paul, John Ikenberry and John A. Hall, eds, The Nation-State in Question (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003).