Abstract
Post-return migration has been seen as a linchpin that conceptually connects return migration and transnationalism. However, little is known about why return migrants embark on the journey to return to the host country after resettling back in their home country. In recent years, there has been a growing number of Hong Kong Canadians who have returned to Hong Kong, only to resettle back in Canada again. Drawing on the findings of a biographic narrative study of 20 post-returning migrants, this study attempts to explain how the interplay of the changing life-course needs of family and societal contexts influence decision-making processes in post-return migration. This paper reveals how the accumulation and maintenance of transnational resources, such as social networks and cultural experience, intergenerationally provide options for the future migration of migrant families. Based on the findings, we offer a tentative conceptual map for the understanding of the possible pathways of intergenerational transnational migration.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ammassari, S., & Black, R. (2001). Harnessing the potential of migration and return to promote development: Applying concepts to West Africa. UN. https://doi.org/10.18356/e702d9a1-en
Basch, L., Schiller, N. G., & Blanc, C. S. (Eds.). (1994). Nations unbound: Transnational projects, postcolonial predicaments, and deterritorialized nation-states. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203347003
Beshers, J. M. (1967). Population processes in social systems. Free Press.
Bijwaard, G. E., & Wang, Q. (2016). Return migration of foreign students. European Journal of Population, 32(1), 31–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-015-9360-2
Bryceson, D. F. (2019). Transnational families negotiating migration and care life cycles across nation-state borders. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(16), 3042–3064. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1547017
Carling, J., & Erdal, M. B. (2014). Return migration and transnationalism: How are the two connected? International Migration, 52(6), 2–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12180
Cassarino, J.-P. (2004). Theorising return migration: The conceptual approach to return migrants revisited. International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 6(2), 253–279.
CBC. (2019). From Vancouver to Hong Kong and back again: Why some Hongkongers are eyeing a return to B.C. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/hong-kong-returned-1.4983204
Chan, J. (2014). Assimilation of Hong Kong immigrants in Canada. Pacific Economic Review, 19. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0106.12079
Faist, T. (2000). The volume and dynamics of international migration and transnational social spaces (1st edition). Oxford University Press.
Faist, T., Fauser, M., & Reisenauer, E. (2013). Transnational migration (1st edition). Polity.
Fong, E. (2012). Return migration from Canada to Hong Kong. China Review, 12(1), 25–43.
Hagan, J. M., & Thomas Wassink, J. (2020). Return migration around the world: An integrated agenda for future research. Annual Review of Sociology, 46(1), 533–552. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-120319-015855
Jain, S. (2013). For love and money: Second-generation Indian-Americans ‘return’ to India. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(5), 896–914. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.641576
Johnson, G. E., & Lary, D. (2016). Hong Kong migration to Canada: The background. In R. Skeldon & X. (Shawn) Wang (Eds.), Reluctant Exiles?: Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese (pp. 87–97). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315483139
Kalinowski, T. (2018). Toronto’s housing bubble cost sellers $136 million: Report. The Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2018/04/12/torontos-housing-bubble-cost-sellers-136-million-report.html. Accessed 4 Apr 2022
Kobayashi, A., & Preston, V. (2007). Transnationalism through the life course: Hong Kong immigrants in Canada. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 48(2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8373.2007.00338.x
Kolar, K., Ahmad, F., Chan, L., & Erickson, P. G. (2015). Timeline mapping in qualitative interviews: A study of resilience with marginalized groups. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14(3), 13–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940691501400302
Lauer, S. R., & Wong, Q. (2010). Transnationalism over the life course. Sociology Compass, 4(12), 1054–1062.
Ley, D. (2010). Millionaire migrants: Trans-Pacific life lines (1st edition). Wiley-Blackwell.
Ley, D., & Kobayashi, A. (2005). Back to Hong Kong: Return migration or transnational sojourn? Global Networks, 5(2), 111–127. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2005.00110.x
Li, Y.-T., & Fung, K. Y. (2021). Donating to the fight for democracy: The connective activism of overseas Hong Kongers and Taiwanese in the 2019 Anti-extradition bill movement. Global Networks, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12345
Zhang, K., & DeGolyer, M. E. (2011). Hong Kong: Canada’s largest city in Asia—Survey of Canadian citizens in Hong Kong (Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.). https://www.asiapacific.ca/sites/default/files/filefield/hk_survey_feb2011_v8.pdf
Macrotrends. (2020). Hong Kong birth rate 1950–2020. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/HKG/hong-kong/birth-rate. Accessed 4 Apr 2020
Ong, A. (1999). Flexible citizenship: The cultural logics of transnationality. Duke University Press.
Reuters. (2018). Hong Kong home prices post record-breaking growth in 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-economy-property-idUSKBN1FK0E3. Accessed 4 Apr 2022
Roberts, B. (2014). Biographical research: Past, present, future. In Advances in Biographical Methods. Routledge.
Skeldon, R. (1994). Hong Kong in an international migration system. In R. Skeldon (Ed.), Reluctant exiles? In R. Skeldon & X. Wang (Eds.), Reluctant Exiles?: Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese (1st edition, pp. 21–51). Routledge.
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed). Sage Publications.
Sussman, N. M. (2010). Return migration and identity: A global phenomenon, a Hong Kong case. Hong Kong University Press. https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888028832.001.0001
Tsuda, T. G. (2014). Why does the diaspora return home? The causes of ethnic return migration. In T. G. Tsuda (Ed.), Diasporic homecomings: Ethnic return migrants in comparative perspective (pp. 21–43). Stanford University Press.
Waldinger, R. (2008). Between “here” and “there”: Immigrant cross-border activities and loyalties. International Migration Review, 42(1), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00112.x
Wong, K. C.-P. (2021). From helmets to face masks: How collective emotions sustain diaspora mobilization from homeland uprising to global pandemic among the Hong Kongers. Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/STICS-10-2020-0028
Yan, M. C. (2021, April 21). Return of the returnees?: Dual citizenship and Hong Kong’s global talent base. Asian Global Online. https://www.asiaglobalonline.hku.hk/return-returnees-dual-citizenship-and-hong-kongs-global-talent-base
Yan, M. C., Lam, C. M., & Lauer, S. (2014). Return migrant or diaspora: An exploratory study of new-generation Chinese-Canadian youth working in Hong Kong. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 15(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-013-0274-8
Funding
This research is funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada, Insight Grant 435–2014-0983.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wong, K.Cp., Yan, M.C. Leaving the Homeland Again for My Family’s Future: Post-return Migration Among Hong Kong Canadians. Int. Migration & Integration 24, 467–486 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-022-00955-0
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-022-00955-0