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Rethinking “Chinese Community” in the Context of Transnationalism: the Case of Chinese Economic Immigrants in Canada

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Abstract

The current research on transnationalism has paid little attention to the impacts of immigrants’ sustained ties to their homelands on their relationships with ethnic communities in the host countries. Drawing on data from a qualitative study of economic immigrants from China to Canada, this article explores the new generation of Chinese immigrants’ definitions and perceptions of and experiences with the “Chinese community” as both an ideational and an empirical entity. Having faced various barriers to settlement and integration in Canada, these individuals tend to see China as “closer” to them than the established ethnic Chinese communities in Canada when it comes to fulfilling their needs for economic security, social support and, even, a sense of belonging. The findings suggest the urgent need to understand the relationship between the new waves of immigration, the ethnic community, and transnationalism, and to reflect on the mosaic multicultural approach to ethnicity and immigrant governance in the context of diversification of diversity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express her appreciation to research participants of this study in both Canada and China. We also thank this project’s other research investigators (Drs. Yingying Huang, Wei Wei, Roy Cain, and Christina Sinding), research associates and assistants (Helen Hong Su, Liping Peng, Emmy Arnold, Nancy Johnson, Xiaoqing Gao, Xiaoxin Ji, and Jane Ma), and collaborators (Chi Heng Foundation, Shanghai, China; Institute of Sexuality and Gender, Renmin University of China; Asian Community AIDS Services, Toronto, Canada; St. Stephen’s House, Toronto, Canada) for their contributions at different stages of this study. This work was carried out with the aid of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR Grant #111081).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University, KTH 319, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4M4, Canada

    Yanqiu Rachel Zhou

  2. School of Social Work, King’s University College, Western University, 266 Epworth Avenue, London, ON, N6A 2M3, Canada

    Lisa Watt

  3. Balsillie School of International Affairs and Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Hagey Hall 317, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, BSIA: 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada

    William D. Coleman

  4. French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), CESSMA (UMR 245), University Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France

    Evelyne Micollier

  5. School of Health and Human Performance, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, 6230 South Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 3J5, Canada

    Jacqueline Gahagan

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  1. Yanqiu Rachel Zhou
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  2. Lisa Watt
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Correspondence to Yanqiu Rachel Zhou.

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Zhou, Y.R., Watt, L., Coleman, W.D. et al. Rethinking “Chinese Community” in the Context of Transnationalism: the Case of Chinese Economic Immigrants in Canada. Int. Migration & Integration 20, 537–555 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0622-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0622-9

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