European Chinese and Chinese Domestic Migrants:
Scientific objectives
The workshop we propose here will contribute to the understanding of these crucial
changes of Chinese society. More specifically, it endeavours to bridge the artificial gap
separating two important fields in contemporary China Studies, namely internal migration
in China and emigration from China, specifically to Europe. These massive population
transfers are an important topic of scholarly research in modern China; understanding
their demographic, economic, social, cultural, and political repercussions is vital to
policy-makers and the business community in Europe who want to keep abreast of the
development of contemporary China and its interaction with societies in Europe.
Over the past fifteen years, much research has been done on both Chinese internal
migration and Chinese emigration. Surprisingly, however, students of Chinese internal
and international migration have hardly interacted so far. The workshop will help
discover the similarities (and dissimilarities) of many of the central issues in both fields,
such as the social organization of migration, the structure and culture of migrant
communities and the role of voluntary associations, the impact of migration on the home
communities, entrepreneurship and employment, and the formation of regional and ethnic
identities.
Internal and international Chines migration are two fragmented fields of academic inquiry.
Chinese migration is thus studied in many different settings (China itself, Southeast Asia,
North America, Australia, Europe) by researchers from many different countries and
many different disciplinary backgrounds. Bringing scholars together in one workshop will
contribute much to the maturation of Chinese internal and international migration studies
and further their integration with and contribution to modern China Studies and general
migration studies.
During the workshop, 15 researchers in Chinese internal and international migration will
meet three specialists in general migration studies. The workshop will be conducted in
English as the participants will be from Europe, China, Australia, and the U.S. Their
papers and discussion will be aimed to achieve the following objectives:
1 To discover the communalities between Chinese internal migration and
international migration, specifically to Europe;
2 To integrate the approaches to Chinese migration in disciplines such as sinology,
anthropology, history, demography, sociology, social geography, political
science;
3 To integrate Chinese migration studies in the larger fields of general migration
studies and Chinese Studies;
4 To develop projects for collaborative research by scholars from different
European countries and China.
Below, we will pinpoint the main themes of the workshop, followed by a discussion of the relevant organizational matters, an itemized budget, and a selected bibliography. In addition, two appendices are attached to this proposal. The first appendix is a list of scholars who will be invited to submit a paper proposal for the workshop. Resumes of the initiators are attached as the second appendix.
Themes
Roughly from 1958, China was characterized for a good two decades by strong anti-
migration policies and relatively low levels of population mobility. Only after the onset of
the reforms in the late 1970s, did population mobility started to increase and migration
appeared on the political and research agendas. The relative newness of the phenomenon
is the main reason for the paucity of migration data and studies. Investigations into
population mobility in China can be divided into two types: first, large, nationwide, state-
sponsored investigations like the 1990 census, the 1987 and 1995 intercensal surveys, and
the 1986 survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences of migration in 74 cities and
towns. The second type consists of local "floating population" surveys. These studies are
usually prompted more by practical issues and perceived (but not necessarily
substantiated) problems like urban planning complications, traffic congestion,
transgression of family planning quotas, and increased crime, than by academic
considerations. Publications tend to be oriented towards policy-making in a very general
way, but in recent years there has been a trend in the direction of the use of empirical
data and sophisticated techniques of demographic analysis. The main themes in the PRC
migration literature are statistical issues (numbers of migrants, types of categories,
problems of definition), characteristics of migrants, rural underemployment ("surplus
labour"), and migration policy. Migration is often treated in terms of its "contributions"
and "problems". The negative image of the migrant is perhaps best illustrated by the term
mangliu (short for mangmu liudong) or blind mobility, which is
commonly used in the media, daily speech, and even government publications, reinforcing
the image of uncontrolled movement of a "vagrant population" subverting ordered social
life. Here, the demographers often play a moderating role, by arguing for more a precise
use of terms, and propagating the term liudong renkou, which is usually rendered as
"floating population".
Chinese demographic research has yielded useful information but covers only a limited
range of topics. Fortunately, Chinese anthropologists and sociologists have recently
become interested in migration. Their research holds considerable promise as it addresses
broader issues such as the organization of migration networks, the social structure of
migrant communities, and the impact of migration on the migrants' home communities.
Studies by scholars outside the PRC have long been concerned with urbanization, rather
than migration per se, and much has been written on the problems of estimating the
migration to urban places, and its contribution of migration to urban growth and
urbanization. Focusing more on migration as a phenomenon in itself, the work of Sidney
Goldstein and Alice Goldstein (sometimes in cooperation with Chinese authors) consists
of thorough demographic analyses, especially of the different characteristics of permanent
and temporary migrants. Both types of work derive their data from Chinese official
statistics and migration surveys. A few authors have undertaken their own fieldwork, and
this usually takes place in rural areas rather than urban places.
A somewhat separate topic is the role of state policy and the relationship of the state to
migrants. Migration policy in the Chinese case is embodied in the so-called household
registration system, which for two decades formed a formidable obstacle to rural-urban
migration, but is increasingly being undermined by the effects of institutional and
economic reform. Given the strongly developed sense of regional belonging of many
Chinese, it is surprising that almost no studies exist about local identity and ethnicity of
migrants. Apart from the work of Emily Honig, the only other author who has taken an
interest in these issues is Helen Siu.
Overseas Chinese migration and communities are an older and larger field of research
than Chinese internal migration. Much of the work on overseas Chinese migration,
migrant associations, ties to the home community, entrepreneurship and employment, and
ethnic identity is directly or indirectly relevant to Chinese internal migration. But whereas
the Chinese in Southeast Asia and North America are well-researched, much less is
known about the Chinese in Europe. Up to now, research on the overseas Chinese in
Europe has focused on France, Great-Britain, the Netherlands, and more recently Italy.
Much less information is as yet available on the large Chinese communities in Germany,
Spain, and Portugal, Belgium, the Scandinavian countries, and Eastern Europe. However,
even more problematic is the fact that, with only a few exceptions almost all research is
limited to a Chinese community in one single European country, neglecting the fact that
the Chinese population in Europe is made up of several discrete transnational communities
with a shared history and extensive networks often spanning the entire continent. We
strongly feel that a correction of this image is long overdue by specifically concentrating
research on the Chinese as a pan-European ethnic group.
The surge of immigration to Europe is one of the most hotly debated issues in Europe.
Unfortunately, the debate is cast almost exclusively in terms of problems (unemployment,
crime, racism) and financial cost (social security, social work, housing). The parallel with
the discussion in China on the "floating population" is obvious. The Netherlands is a case
in point. In view of the heated debate about the introduction of compulsory ID cards in
this country as a means of controlling illegal immigration, it is interesting to note that the
Chinese authorities introduced a national ID card in the late 1980s in reaction to increased
- and partly unwanted - migration in urban areas. A better understanding of the nature
and long history of migration to Europe, the lives of migrants, and the integration of the
second generation will do much to improve the image of the migrant that has been
undeservedly tainted in such superficial and polarized debates. Migrants, moreover, are
not just a drain on the exchequer. Their labour, entrepreneurship, skills, and capital
contribute vitally to economic growth. Mobility of migrants between European countries,
for instance, is much more than the flow of people to those countries where social
security is best. It is also a way for immigrants to create and optimize business and
employment opportunities throughout the continent. Research on Chinese immigration to
Europe could help ameliorate this lopsided picture as the Chinese are among the most
successful and entrepreneurially minded immigrants.
To arrive at a more balanced picture, we need much more information concerning the
immigration, settlement, and employment of immigrant groups from a European rather
than a national perspective. What does Europe look like through the eyes of immigrants
and how do they negotiate its challenges and avail themselves of its opportunities? What
are the patterns of international and interregional mobility of immigrant groups after their
arrival in Europe and how can these patterns be explained? What are the resources they
use and the opportunities they seek? Which organizations do immigrants establish or turn
to for information or help? What role do local and pan-European networks of immigrants
play to gather information, discover opportunities, and find support?
To discover the many similarities between internal and international Chinese migration we
propose to start with questions of method by asking Who is a migrant? This seems a
trivial point but a number of important themes emerge when this question is
explored.
A migrant is a person away for his or her home. Migrants spend a considerable time in
another social environment where they are outsiders in opposition to dominant groups of
established residents. This opposition highlights a first cluster of themes: identity,
stereotyping, discrimination, power differentials, and exploitation. When confronted with
other people, migrants have to question and redefine identities previously taken for
granted. Identities are a social and psychological resource for survival in an alien
environment. A shared identity may, for instance, help to build mutual-aid networks that
assist migrants to get housing, jobs, or loans. When internal and international migration
are compared, migrant organizations rooted in mutual-aid networks are a topic of special
interest.
A shared identity can also be the basis of stereotyping and discrimination by established
residents who want to hold on to their dominant position and superior access to strategic
resources. Here the role of the state is crucial. In China, the state often reinforces
negative stereotypes of migrants through its manipulation of terms such as mangliu. In
Europe, the state's representation of immigrants is ambiguous. On the one hand,
economic immigrants (as opposed to political refugees) are often condemned as
opportunistic fortune-seekers. On the other hand, the minorities policies of most European
states have been designed to further the integration of established immigrant communities.
Simultaneously, however, these policies unintentionally reinforce stereotypes held by the
autochthonous population of immigrants as dependent free riders who have come to
Europe to enjoy the social benefits paid for by local tax payers.
Migrants may be moving to far-away places but they usually remain members of the
home community. This leads to a second cluster of themes: the impact of migration on
the families and communities of origin. Migration is usually a strategic family decision of
labour allocation and portfolio diversification, giving rise to geographically dispersed but
functionally connected "expanded" families. Even sort-term circulation can have a
profound impact on the (sexual) division of labour within families, and even on the
decision whether or not women live with their husband's family after marriage.
Not only the migrant's family plays an important role in the migration process. Migration
often involves both the home community (village) and the community of migrants at the
destination. Indeed through migration these communities are organically linked, an aspect
lost when migration is only viewed in spatial terms. Migration takes place in the context
of dense networks that link communities of origin and destination. Local authorities, both
at the place of origin and destination, are actively involved in facilitating, regulating, or
restricting the flow of migrants. In other cases, enterprises employ scouts to recruit
workers. More often, migrants find employment through informal contacts established by
chain migration. A well-researched aspect of Chinese international migration, such
migration mechanisms is totally unexplored in the study of Chinese internal migration.
Organization
The workshop will be held in Paris on 22 and 23 June 1996 in the context of the fourth
meeting of the Göran Aijmer European China Anthropology Network. The
advantages of this arrangement will be:
1 The workshop can be advertised through the network's newsletter;
2 In addition to the participants, a larger audience of modern China specialists will
be present which will stimulate the general discussion and will help towards a better
incorporation of migration research in China studies.
3 The anthropological and sociological orientation of the network's members will
provide a disciplinary perspective that thus far has been lacking, especially in internal
migration studies.
Initiators
Frank Pieke (University of Leiden / University of Oxford); Hein Mallee (University of
Leiden); Flemming Christiansen (University of manchester); Mette Thunø (NIAS,
Copenhagen)
Correspondence address
Frank Pieke
Sinological Institute
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Tel: +31-71-5272530
Fax: +31-71-5272625
E-mail: pieke@let.leidenuniv.nl
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