Chinese Diasporas in Europe History, Challenges, and Prospects
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International Labor Migration 17 /// Series edited by Béatrice Knerr /// Béatrice Knerr and Fan Jieping (eds.) Chinese Diasporas in Europe History, Challenges, and Prospects kassel university press International Labor Migration Vol. 17 Editor: Prof. Dr. Béatrice Knerr Béatrice Knerr and Fan Jieping (eds.) Chinese Diasporas in Europe History, Challenges,and Prospects kassel university press Key words: Chinese diaspora, Chinese in Europe, international migration, cultural identity, cultural memory, heritage language, human capital, diaspora community festivals, Guanxi, migrants’ career development Bibliographic information published by Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISBN 978-3-86219-942-6 (print) ISBN 978-3-86219-943-3 (E-Book) URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0002-39430 2015, kassel university press GmbH, Kassel www.uni-kassel.de/upress Cover illustration: Tomasz Henning Cover layout: Bettina Brand Grafikdesign, München Printed in Germany by docupoint GmbH, Barleben Acknowledgements In addition to the authors, many people have contributed to this book. First and foremost the editors would like to thank interview partners and respondents who by sharing information and devoting time to our project have contributed to making this volume possible. Special thanks go to PhD candidate Ms. Kaikai Zhang who supported our work from the first beginnings at the 2012 symposium in Hangzhou and Yueqing until the fixing of the last words. Being competent in three key languages – Chinese, German, and English – and being dedicated to the project at any time she became the organizational pivot of the publication. James P. Ellison was again our English proof reader; we are grateful for his patient polishing of the language, and also for his dedication in noticing, on the way, numerous weak points beyond the language flaws. Jenny Paola Arevalo Vargas and Angela Döring took over the painstaking work of checking and improving the formatting, scrutinizing the accuracy of the references, and correcting uncountable versions of different articles and “final” book manuscripts. Several institutions have supported us by providing funding to our research and the dissemination of its results. Beyond their monetary support we also appreciate the trust which they have demonstrated for our work. In this context we would like to mention the Chinese Ministry of Education and the 985 project of Zhejiang University which together funded the research project on the Chinese diaspora in Europe, including its workshops; the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) which, via a its Stibet program, supported a research assistantship for baking up the book publication; and University of Kassel who made the printing funds Finally,available. we are thankful to many unnamed colleagues, friends, and relatives who by providing the authors their individual advice and sharing their time have contributed to achieving this publication. V Preface The early 21st century has witnessed a dramatic change in the international migration of Chinese people, regarding their number, their major destinations and their activities abroad. Europe, for more than a century a traditional destination of out-bound Chinese, but with comparatively low numbers and a largely stable profile of the diaspora, within a short time became a hot-spot, displaying a high dynamic in size and composition. To focus on this under-researched area, in May 2012, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Zhejiang University organized a bi-locational symposium in Hangzhou and Yueqing, as a kick-off event for its comprehensive research project on the situation of Chinese communities in different European countries, inviting an international scientific community for presentations and discussions. This symposium turned out to be highly productive in terms of new insights and fresh ideas. Hence, we developed the vision to share the results with the international scientific community, with policy makers, and the global public. Over the following time, workshop participants further elaborated the presented topics, complementing them with additional information, new primary data and inclusion of theoretical considerations. The present volume is the outcome of these efforts; we are sure it will become a most valuable resource to all those interested in this timely subject and / or having to deal with it in their professional life. It is certain that in the future global economic development will further encourage the movement of Chinese seeking economic, social and cultural opportunities in new places which makes the presented research results highly timely. The book is subdivided into four parts: an introductory chapter which provides an overview of the history of Chinese migration to Europe with a broader focus on the late 20th and early 21st century; a comprehensive section on the career context of expatriate Chinese, a short focus on the role of language, and a wide-ranging part on cultural identity. After the introductory chapter 1 providing background information about the history and the recent dynamics of Chinese migration to Europe compiled in by Beatrice Knerr, Xu Liwang and Yang Taoyu in chapter 2 focus on migrants from Qingtian City, VII Zhejiang Province who form an overwhelming majority of the Chinese immigrants in Europe which breaks the traditional pattern. At the same time Qingtian emigrants have exhibited a development pattern that demonstrates an individual uniqueness. Qingtian migrants’ fundamental driving force and basis of their development has been the reform and opening-up policy implemented in Mainland China since in the late 1970s. In Europe, over the subsequent decades, Qingtian immigrants exhibited several archetypal shifts in their economic activities, starting with small-scale commodity vending, followed by the establishment of Chinese restaurants, the vending of Chinese daily consumables and finally returning to China to make investments. Xu Liwang and Yang Taoyu’s article demonstrates how each of these developmental phases and their respective business patterns have been inextricably linked to the situation in China. In their paper on the migration of highly qualified Chinese to Germany in the early 21st century, Kaikai Zhang and Beatrice Knerr, focusing on Germany, explain the role which Chinese immigrants play in an economy where highly qualified staff has become increasingly scarce as the domestic supply of professionals continues to fall short of the demand in many areas. Many Chinese have taken advantage of the favorable opportunities offered by Germany which target the immigration of high-potentials. Many were issued a “European Union Blue Card”, and since the early 21st century, Chinese have formed the largest group among Germany’s international students. Also, with the number of Chinese companies in Germany on the rise and the strengthening of trade relations between China and Germany, the number of Chinese entrepreneurs and white-collar workers has soared up. These tendencies indicate that highly qualified Chinese play and will continue to play a significant role in Germany’s economy and society. In this context, based on primary and secondary data, Zhang and Knerr investigate professional and social situation of different groups of highly qualified Chinese in Germany in the early 21st century; the potential benefits which the migration of highly qualified Chinese bring to the migrants, the host country, their country of origin, and to third countries; and the challenges the immigrants are facing. Further deepening the consideration of Chinese immigrants’ role in Germany’s economic development, Xi Zhao and Beatrice Knerr show how Chinese self-employed have contributed to the entrepreneurial activities in the country, specifically by exploring the ethnic VIII business characteristics of the self-employed Chinese based on a survey among 20 self-employed Chinese in Germany by semi-structured interviews conducted in 2014. Applying the disadvantage theory and the culture theory in ethnic entrepreneurship, they found that the Chinese self-employed in Germany are segmented and characterized by certain cultural features which equip them with certain advantages of entering into business and running their enterprises. Addressing the phenomenon of the “Unbreakable Glass Ceiling” which describes the factors that prevent a person from achieving his/her career goals due to gender differences or ethnic discrimination, Zhao and Li investigate the living situation of first generation Overseas Chinese in Denmark thirty years after the first wave of emigration to understand the challenges they have faced which have prevented them from successfully integrating into the host society. The research presented concentrates on the daily activities of the Diaspora members. Zhao and Li conducted ten in-depth narrative interviews with Chinese migrants in Denmark, and present three representative biographies to demonstrate the core elements of “glass ceiling” outcomes, demonstrating how migrants navigate between two cultural realities in the various domains of their lives, including family roles and responsibilities, parenting, work, work ethic, and relationships with authorities, and focusing on the second generation immigrants, their point of view towards their parents and towards China, and the understanding of their parents’ way of thinking