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SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITIONS IN THE BORDERLAND: CHOICES AND

EXPERIENCES AMONG YOUTH FROM KINMEN, TAIWAN

YANG CHIN-YI

PhD

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

2020

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Department of Applied Social Sciences

School-to-Work Transitions in the Borderland: Choices and Experiences among

Youth from Kinmen, Taiwan

Yang Chin-Yi

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of

Philosophy

January 2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it reproduces no material previously published or written, nor material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

(Signed)

______(NameYang, Chin-Yi of student) Gina

Abstract

Young people are sensitive to rapid social transformations. Located in the southwest of the main island of Taiwan and only six kilometres to the east of Xiamen, China, Kinmen

County was placed under War Zone Administration (WZA) during the Cold War and experienced a state of siege for forty-three years. After 1992, Kinmen has quickly transformed from being a war frontier to become a frontline borderland for business and politics between

Taiwan and China. Due to the geographical and historical periphery position of Kinmen, the school-to-work transition for Kinmen young people is bonded and complicated with decision- making processes of migration. This study thus investigates how decisions of education, employment and migration made by young people growing up in the marginal area—Kinmen, are affected by the impact of globalization, and its interaction with state power and local contexts.

Fieldwork was conducted in three sites-- Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan and

Mainland China. Youth in this research refers to young people who were at various stages of school-to-work transition. The age of school-to-work transition is diverse across different social backgrounds. Based on a qualitative ethnographic study from 2016 to 2018, formal in- depth interviews were carried out with 34 research participants including 16 female and 18 male youth, aged from 20 to 35 years old. Informal conversations with participants through online mobile applications such as Line or Facebook Messenger were conducted as well.

Furthermore, secondary data was also collected from online forums, news reports and government documents for a more comprehensive understanding of social, cultural and political issues affecting youth from Kinmen.

Using a geopolitical lens to comprehend globalization, neoliberalism and

cosmopolitanism, I propose a multi-layer framework of globalization interlocking with geopolitics, wider social structure and local topographies to understand the choices and experiences among youth. First, the uncertainties of young people in Kinmen stem from the ambiguous cross-strait relationship where the livelihood of young people is highly bonded with state power in an era of globalization. Secondly, the introduction of cross-border consumers and transnational corporations into Kinmen has revealed how effects of transnational capitalism and neoliberal globalization have led to increasingly individualized and insecure work environments for local youth. Thirdly, young people’s migration decisions and risk management techniques are affected by competing factors of economic power and cultural flows under the processes of globalization. Four types of youth are therefore identified: stay- at-home observer, pursuer of cosmopolitan, great-power dreamer, and cross-border traveller.

Meanwhile, traditional gender norms which has been reinforced by the prevailing patriarchal clan culture in Kinmen, deeply interlocked with social position of class and the unique ethnic identity of being Kinmenese, have all contributed to interweavingly influence young people’s decisions-making processes against a background of globalization.

iii

Acknowledgements

My interest in sociology started when I was working in feminist non-profit organizations in Taiwan. I learnt to understand various seemingly single social events from a structural perspective. Therefore, I am grateful to my work partners, Keng-yu, Chiwei, especially Yumei and Chienling, who later have become both mentors and friends to me.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Anita Ching-Hua

Koo. In the course of more than four years of learning, I always feel that I am so fortunate to have met her. The path of conducting academic research is lonely, but not necessarily painful, this is the biggest lesson that I have learnt from Professor Koo. I was always nervous about my thesis. But each time after our supervision meeting, I left her office with a smile. How amazing it is. She patiently discussed with me about the difficulties I encountered in my research and guided me with her professional knowledge all the time. She comforted me when I blamed myself for not performing well enough academically. I still feel touched by her when I am writing this note of acknowledgement.

I thank my research participants— every young person from Kinmen. This thesis could not be completed without their valuable life experiences and trust in me.

I also want to thank the supervisor of my Master’s thesis, Professor Wang Tsai -Wei.

She has always given me support and positive affirmation when I am not confident of myself, so that I can hold my head up high and move forward.

I began my journey of sociological research because of an opportunity to translate the academic book and article of Professor Travis Kong a few years back. I was very fortunate to translate his works. During the process of translation, I learnt how a sociologist, with his acute insights and warm compassion, conducted meticulous dialogues between sociological theories and social phenomena.

Thank you Professor Agnes Shuk -Mei Ku and Professor Hsia Hsiao-Chuan for your positive words and critical comments during the oral examination of my thesis. My warmest gratitude also goes out to Professor Ben Hok-Bun Ku, administrative staff Fanny Cheng, Jovy

Ho, Milly Chu, especially Shirley Hui. Administration work is often behind-the-scene but most indispensable.

My heartfelt appreciation and thanks to my friends, Hsinpei, Shih-I, Leepeng, Valerie,

Jaden “Pee” Peng, Vincent Hsueh, Shi-Yan, Missbee Ong and Xiao-Fan. I have never felt alone even when we’re so far from each other and didn’t get to see each other much at all. Ee Ling and Shawna, you’ve encouraged me on my academic journey. I value our friendship very much.

Thank you to all my friends in Hong Kong. Dr. Tommy Tse, your warm and encouraging words make me feel that I can aim higher and higher. You have never doubted my intellectual ability. Bing and Ann, you are my trusted friends whom I know I can always count on. To Alice, Chou Autumn, Marykay, Un, Onna, WY Chan, Sze Chuen, Natalie Leung,

Queenie, Shirley and friends of Yuen Long group: because of all of you, I feel a sense of belonging as a Taiwanese in Hong Kong.

Finally, I want to thank my dearest parents and family members in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Canada. I care about you all the time although I am not around. I feel sorry for not being able to accompany and take care of my parents who are getting older. Exceptional thanks to my three sisters and their partners. Without the love of my sisters, I can not go on this new journey of life, stay strong and be brave. Dear cat Ding and poop-picker MB, thank you for your company, patience and infinite love. The Meow of Ding is the best music and alarm when writing this thesis. Great care from MB allows me to recover from the seemingly endless work of thesis writing every morning. No words can express my gratitude except for tears. I thank myself for my own persistence and for working hard to complete this meaningful thesis. This

thesis is not only about the stories being documented but also the production process by itself is a memorable story.

Table of Contents

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

Abstract ii

Acknowledgements iv

Introduction 1

Prologue: A Trip to the Borderland 1

1.1 Research Background 5 1.1.1 Post-war economic development and demographic growth 7 1.1.2 National, regional, and ethnic identities from the Cold War to post-war period 15 1.1.3 Traditional patriarchy and gender relations in modern Kinmen society 17

1.2 Research themes and questions 30

1.3 Organization of thesis 34

Theoretical Framework 37

2.1 Overview 37

2.2 The geo/politics of youth in a global economy: An insight on Kinmen youth 37

2.3 Globalization, neoliberalism and youth employment 40

2.4 Controversy and policies over employment-oriented educational migration 48

2.5 Gender and class in a global world 54 2.5.1 Gender ideology and the gendered impact of globalization 55 2.5.2 A Bourdieusian approach to the youth migration decision-making process 58

2.6 Towards an integrated analysis of young people’s decision-making process 61

Research Methodology 64

It’s just a matter of time. Relationships in the field. 64

3.1 Overview 68

3.2 Qualitative research approach 68

3.3 Swinging between insider and outsider: Connected but distant 70

3.4 Data collection 72 3.4.1 Conducting an insider’s incomplete participant observation 72 vii

3.4.2 In-depth interviews 73 3.4.3 Documentary data 80

3.5 Data analysis 81

3.6 Research limitations 82

Land of opportunity, for whom? Youth employment, geopolitics, and transnational capitalism 83

4.1 Overview 83

4.2 The transformation and combination of geopolitics and transnational capitalism 85 4.2.1 The geopolitical shift: From A’bingge to LuKe 86 4.2.2 The bridge of peace and its connection to global capitalism 89

4.3 Taking the sightseeing bus: Young people who work in businesses related to tourism 100

4.4 Other business activities facilitated by the Mini-Three-Links 102

4.4 Conclusion: Uncertainties of employment co-created by government and entrepreneurs 108

The stay-at-home observer —Living with growing risk and uncertainty 110

5.1 Overview 111

5.2 Squeezed into the upper level: Working for the state (Jun-Gong-Jiao) 116 5.2.1 Complementary regional allowance against general economic depression 119 5.2.2 Unbroken belief in the iron rice bowl under societal uncertainty 121 5.2.3 Young people’s path to Jun-Gong-Jiao 122 5.2.4 Who has the qualifications to start a family? 128

5.3 “Voluntarily” staying in the lower level? Working for a local business 130 5.3.1 Young people’s profound distrust of local enterprises: “The bosses make the rules! 132 5.3.2 Being left behind by institutional labor rights protections 136 5.3.3 The pressure and repression in culture 139 5.3.4 The lost bargaining power of young people 143 5.3.5 Multiply marginalized youth 147

5.4 The new middle choice: Working in trans/national companies 150 5.4.1 The imagination of mobility 151 5.4.2 Individual’s effort is acknowledged by a distinct performance system: JoJo’s story152 5.4.3 The weak die: Sisley’s story 158

viii

5.5 Conclusion 165

The pursuer of cosmopolitanism —Looking beyond job opportunities 167

6.1 Overview 167

6.2 The reasons to go to Taiwan 169 6.2.1 Job satisfaction and individualism: It is impossible to be exposed to such new things in Kinmen 169 6.2.2 Leisure pursuits and mobility: I would be trapped on the island if I go back 172 6.2.3 Political participation and self-expression: You need to take part in things in person before you can make your own judgment 174 6.2.4 Gender, sexuality, and subjectivity: If I had been born in a friendly city… 177

6.3 The othered Kinmenese/Taiwanese: The border of identity, language, and globalization 184

6.4 Conclusion 190

The cross-border traveler and big-power dreamer —Negotiating the threats and opportunities 191

7.1 Overview 192

7.2 Working as a cross-border traveler 193 7.2.1 The nearest, the furthest: The alleged “low ambition” of youth 194 7.2.2 The nearest, the fastest: Travelers who taking advantage of the border status 196

7.3 Whose “great-power” dream? 200 7.3.1 The “have to” adventure of Yating and her return 205 7.3.2 Ren’s “big person” dream and his tactics 209

7.4 Conclusion 213

Discussion and Conclusion —De-structured or re-structured borders of youth? 216

8.1 Overview 216

8.2 Layers of globalization and young people’s lives 220

8.3 The risks and controls of the four paths 224

8.4 Rethinking cosmopolitan youth subjectivity, globalization, and neoliberalism 229

8.5 Negotiating social borders and making decisions on spatial movement 232

8.6 Future Directions 243

Appendix 245

A. List of gatekeepers 245

References 246

English-language sources 246

Chinese-language sources 256

List of Figures

Figure 1-1 Geographical position of Kinmen 6 Figure 1-2 Real estate advertisement for the benefit of registering a household in Kinmen. 14 Figure 1-3 Real estate advertisement to explain the provision of good welfare as a result of a lucrative liquor industry in Kinmen. 14 Figure 1-4 Real estate advertisement showing the business opportunities of Kinmen-Xiamen Mini-Three Links. 15 Figure 1-5 Young women in military-themed uniforms perform to hit tunes for tourist events. 28 Figure 1-6 Cheerleaders don camouflage uniforms for their performances. 28 Figure 1-7 Sorghum liquor containers. 29 Figure 1-8 Bullet crackers 30 Figure 2-1 Analytic framework of the decision-making process of young people from the borderland 63 Figure 4-1 Civilian population and garrison size in Kinsmen (Szonyi, p. 257) 86 Figure 4-2 Spring couplet endorsed by Kinmen mayor Chen Fu-Hai with slogan “Cross-strait integration. Happiness in Kinmen (兩岸融合, 幸福金門)” on a public bus in Kinmen 97 Figure 4-3 The homepage of the Kinmen government with the slogan “Kinmen-Xiamen join hands and walk together. Co-build a new future for both sides of the strait. (金廈攜手齊步走，共築兩岸新未來)” 97 Figure 4-4 Rented electric scooters in front of one drugstore 103 Figure 4-5 Tourists packing on the ground outside one drugstore . 103 Figure 4-6 Suitcases were placed outside of one drugstore. 103 x

Figure 5-1 Employed persons by class of worker in Kinmen 2017. 117 Figure 5-2 Working status regarding stability and income in Kinmen 130 Figure 5-3 Status of labor conditions inspections by penalty rate of counties in Taiwan, 2017 137 Figure 5-4 Status of labor conditions inspections by penalty rate of counties in Taiwan, 2016 138 Figure 5-5 Employed persons by industry in Kinmen 148 Figure 8-1 The layers of Globalization and the responses of young people. 223 Figure 8-2 The amount of capital and value orientation and their impact on young people’s decision-making processes. 236

List of Tables

Table 3-1 Dimensions and the Areas of Interview Questions. 74 Table 3-2 Female participants currently in Kinmen (Number: 10) 78 Table 3-3 Male participants currently in Kinmen (Number: 12) 78 Table 3-4 Female participants currently in Taipei (Number: 6) 79 Table 3-5 Male participants currently in Taipei (Number: 5) 79 Table 3-6 Male participant currently in Fujian, China-Male (1) 80 Table 4-1 Visitor (Arrivals and Departures) via Mini-Three Links in Kinmen 88 Table 4-2 Transformations of regulations relating to duty-free businesses in Kinmen 90 Table 4-3 Duty-free shops in Kinmen 94 Table 5-1 The transforming hierarchical structure of employment in Kinmen 115 Table 5-2 Employed persons by class of worker in Taiwan (Not including Kinmen and Lienchiang /Matsu Counties) 118 Table 5-3 Employed persons by number of employees in establishment and class of workers in Kinmen 150 Table 7-1 Related educational policies implemented or amended by China government 202 Table 7-2 Related policies implemented or amended by Taiwan government 203 Table 7-3 Interviewees who studied in universities in Fujian, China 204 Table 8-1 Opinions of Kinmen youth towards Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan 234 Table 8-2 Ideal distribution of youth based thoughts of place 234

Introduction

Prologue: A Trip to the Borderland

In January 2017, I went back to Kinmen, Taiwan through Xiamen, China instead of the main island of Taiwan, just as I have done in the past when I did not plan to stay and visit my family and friends in Taipei, Taiwan. I flew from Hong Kong to Xiamen first in the morning.

It was a one-and-a-half-hour flight. Then I took a short-distance taxi from the airport to Xiamen

Wutong Passenger Wharf. After spending 30 minutes on the ferry, I arrived in Kinmen in the afternoon on the same day. Before I moved to Hong Kong, I occasionally took the ferry through the Mini-Three-Links ports while traveling with my family from Kinmen to Xiamen for leisure.

I never thought that this route would become the shortest way to go home for me one day.

The “Mini-Three-Links” policy allows visitors from Taiwan and China to travel by ferry directly back and forth between Kinmen and Xiamen. Ferries run between the ports of

Kinmen and Xiamen every fifteen or thirty minutes, from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm every day. Since the ferries depart frequently, most of the time I am not worried about not getting a seat. Among the boat operators to and from the Mini-Three-Links ports, Kinmen and mainland Chinese companies account for half of the total number of companies respectively. This time I took a boat owned by a Kinmen company.

When the boat disembarked, a young crew member reminded everyone to take the luggage off the boat. I looked at him and felt he was familiar. I asked him with a little uncertainty whether he was a friend’s younger brother. He smiled and nodded. Probably because he worked at the dock all year round and his face had become tanned, I could barely recognize him. I pulled my baggage onto the pier and went through Customs after passing

through the duty-free shop. Each time I go through this duty-free shop, I look at chocolates and other snacks to buy for my nieces and nephews, but when I remember that my mother buys boxes of chocolates here all the time too, I often give up the idea. The neatly dressed clerks in the duty-free shops often ask me politely if I want to buy something, but generally they are not overzealous towards me and retreat quickly when I demur. Sisley, a research participant who worked in a duty-free shop, once told me about her experience as a clerk: “You need to be sharp-eyed. Once you see a customer you can tell whether he or she will buy or not.” Clerks in the duty-free shop think that Taiwanese or Kinmen people who come to their shops have relatively “weak spending power”. The LuKeTuan1, on the other hand, have only a limited amount of time to shop, so they tend to shop “Quai, Hen, Zhun” (“快、狠、準”，Mandarin, means swiftly, fiercely, and accurately).Therefore, the sales staff will also be relatively “more aggressive [towards them].”

I am, no doubt, the kind of client with “weak spending power”. After leaving the duty- free shop without buying anything, I walked past the Customs Hall. Outside the hall, several taxi drivers were standing there and asking me if I wanted to take a taxi enthusiastically, unlike the duty-free shop clerks. Most of these drivers were older. I tried to make my refusal not look too cruel and dragged my luggage passing through them. I went to a car rental agency on the opposite side of the street and told the staff that I wanted to pick up the scooter which I had reserved in advance. Although the time of my return was not during the high season of tourism when it was difficult for people to rent a scooter, I still felt more secure making a reservation in advance. Liling, a research participant who worked in a car rental company, also told me that “now on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, there are also many tourists from Mainland

China” even during the off-season. Especially after the cooperation between her company with

1 In the daily expression of Taiwan, DaLuTuan means Mainland Chinese tour group. 2

a vendor in Mainland China, the business has been growing. They “have a public account at

WeChat so that people can search and book a car or scooter”.

The staff at the counter made a phone call and then the head office sent a young man to pick me up by car. In the car, I asked him how old he was. He gave me a business card and told me that he has just finished his military service in Kinmen after having graduated from National

Quemoy University. He was still new in this company. The young man took me to the Bed and

Breakfast (B&B) to put down my luggage, and then drove me to the head office to get my scooter. The scooter was my major work partner during the fieldwork and also the most familiar transportation for me in Kinmen.

In order to concentrate on my field work, I booked a room in the B&B with an extended stay rate. When I arrived, the housekeeper of the B&B, Bee, whom I had met before, came to say hello to me. 25-year-old Bee graduated from Quemoy University. She worked part-time in this B&B when she was a university student. After her graduation from the university, she decided to stay in Kinmen and continued to work in this B&B. In addition to the slow pace of life, she chose to stay in Kinmen because she thought that life there was simple and it was easier for her to save money. The owner of the B&B was also good to her which gave her another reason to stay. During my stay for this trip, Bee told me that she was considering buying a house near Quemoy University. She hoped she could save enough money to buy it and rent it out. However, she told me later that she might leave Kinmen in a few years and find a job elsewhere. “I am still young, I can’t work in the B&B all the time. There is no good job here except for working in the B&B,” she said.

Ferry companies, duty-free shops, car rental companies and B&Bs: these businesses form the foundation of tourists’ travel experiences in Kinmen. They also form a new economic life for many young people in Kinmen. About half of my research participants in Kinmen were involved in tourism-related industries. In addition to the aforementioned businesses, they have 3

also worked as museum docents, souvenir shop clerks, travel agents, or airline staff members.

Some young people work in a laundry or a securities brokerage firm. These areas are not under the category of tourism directly, but their businesses are connected to the tourism industry and the Mini-Three-Links policy.

Some of these young people began working while studying at Quemoy university; some of them continued to work at the same company after graduating from university while the others changed jobs. Some of them studied at universities on the main island of Taiwan and came back to Kinmen after graduation.

The new economic life they are leading is different from that of their parents’ generation. It is different from my own experience, too. What do they think about their life in the midst of such a giant wave of change? Do they appreciate their current lives? Facing the opportunities, what are the difficulties they have?

The school-to-work stage is also a key stage for Kinmen young people when they consider leaving or staying. How do those young people view their young peers who have left?

Have they ever thought of leaving too? If yes, why do they stay in the end? For those who have left, what are the challenges they face and how do they overcome them? What are their thoughts about staying or returning Kinmen?

All these exploratory questions propelled me to embark on an intellectual journey investigating the opportunities, challenges and decision-making processes of Kinmenese youth, but more critically, I am concerned with what will become of youth who are neglected and marginalized in wider Taiwan society as a result of their own social location and Kinmen’s geopolitical position. This was a particularly important question for me as I also experienced the everyday life of a Kinmenese youth and of a young woman under a patriarchal clan culture.

Youth in the research

I conducted the fieldwork in three sites—Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan and

Mainland China. Youth in this research refers to young people who are at the stage of school- to-work transition. The age of school-to-work transition is diverse in different social backgrounds (Maguire & Ball, 2012). In this research, the research participants are 20 to 35 years old. They are studying or had studied in universities in three locales—Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan, and Fujian, China. I recruited 34 such youth from Kinmen for a qualitative study using in-depth interviews and participant observation.

1.1 Research Background

To understand why the decision-making processes, especially the decisions about leaving or staying, among Kinmen youth are important, we first have to be aware of the historical and contemporary development of Kinmen society. In this section, I primarily highlight the end of the Cold War2 and the subsequent lifting of martial law and the War Zone

Administration (WZA) in Kinmen in 1992 as the turning points of the transformation of

Kinmen society. I mainly focus on contemporary developments in the economy, demographics, ethnic identity, and gender relationships.

Kinmen, formerly known as Quemoy, consists of an archipelago of islands administrated by the government of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China or ROC). With a total land area of 150 square kilometers and a population of 132,995, the county is located southwest of the main island of Taiwan and only six kilometers to the east of Xiamen, China

(Figure 1.1). Due to its geographical positioning in the Taiwan Strait, greater Kinmen and

2 As the definition of the Cold War remains controversial nowadays, the term Cold War in this thesis is used to refer to the confrontation between the Eastern Block and Western Block, under the two hegemonies—the Soviet Union and the United States—from the end of World War II to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. 5

islands became the front line for military confrontation between the ROC army representing the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) representing the

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Cold War. In 1949, the Taiwan area, including

Kinmen, entered a period of martial law and later, in 1956, Kinmen and Matsu were specifically placed under the War Zone Administration (WZA) by Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalist government. After the Cold War ended in 1992 with cross-strait relations gradually easing and the emergence of Taiwan's democratization movement, the ROC government announced the lifting of martial law in Kinmen county, officially ending a state of siege of forty-three years under the WZA.

Figure 1-1 Geographical position of Kinmen (Source: J.J. Zhang3)

3 Zhang, J. J. (2010). Of Kaoliang, Bullets and Knives: Local Entrepreneurs and the Battlefield Tourism Enterprise in Kinmen (Quemoy), Taiwan. Tourism Geographies, 12(3), 395-411. doi:10.1080/14616688.2010.494685 6

1.1.1 Post-war economic development and demographic growth

War had restricted the development of the local economy. According to Szonyi (2008, p.134), more than “40 percent of households” relied on “A’bingge business”4 in the mid-1970s.

In the early years after the WZA was lifted, with fewer troops stationed, the main source of people’s incomes decreased dramatically. However, the opening up of Kinmen for tourists after

1992 has also brought economic opportunities.

Economic development—the most financially self-sufficient county government in Taiwan.

After the regulations of the WZA were removed, the government of Kinmen put great efforts into developing the local tourism industry. Furthermore, on January 1, 2001, Kinmen became the pilot area for the “Mini-Three-Links” 5. This policy enables direct traffic for the flow of people and goods between Kinmen, Matsu and shipping ports in Mainland China’s

Fujian province and it is the first time that a direct flow of people and goods between Taiwan and Mainland China was officially allowed since 1949.

This measure not only makes China a potential market for Kinmen’s tourism business, but it also incorporates cross-strait politics into the development of island tourism. According to the Tourism Department of Kinmen County, 685,000 tourists visited Kinmen in 20106. The number more than doubled to over 1.5 million tourists from Taiwan and China to Kinmen in

4 In local dialect of Kinmen, A’bingge means soldier. A’bingge business refers to the local enterprises such as laundries, restaurants, pool halls, retailers, etc… and their customers are mainly soldiers. 5 The initial “Mini-Three-Links” policy only allowed Taiwan-registered passenger and cargo ships to travel between Kinmen and Fujian Province's Xiamen and Quanzhou cities. It also allowed ship transportation between Matsu and Fujian's Fuzhou City. Currently, visitors from Mainland China can freely travel back and forth from these ports. Source: http: www.ey.gov.tw/policy5/Default.aspx 6 The statistical data was retrieved from the website of the Kinmen County Tourism Department. http://web.kinmen.gov.tw/Layout/sub_D/NodeTree.aspx?path=15094 Accessed Nov, 15, 2016, 6:10pm. Related news report: The China Times (2014, Dec 05). Effect of city marketing. The number of tourists doubles in Kinmen. Chinatimes. Retrieved from http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20141205002662-260405 on November 15, 2016.

2015, and this number does not include those Taiwanese business people who work in China and transit through Kinmen. As for the impact of the “Mini-Three-Links” policy, it has quickly transformed Kinmen from a war frontier to the frontline for business and politics between

Taiwan and China. In 2015, there were approximately 15,000 ferry trips carrying about 1.76 million people between Kinmen and Fujian7.

Simultaneously, the profits of Kinmen Distillery, which was established by the

Nationalist government in 1951, began to surge when the number of tourists in Kinmen increased after 1992. Later, in order to prepare for Taiwan’s entry into the World Trade

Organization (WTO) in 2002, Kinmen Distillery was privatized and renamed to Kinmen

Kaoliang Liquor Inc. in 1998, hence starting its market-oriented operation. Over the past twenty years, the lucrative profits of the Kinmen Kaoliang liquor industry have become the main source of Kinmen government revenue and have made a great impact on people’s lives

(Weng, 2002). The profit of the Kinmen Kaoliang liquor industry was around one billion

Taiwan dollars in 1992 when the WZA was ended. It rose to 2.3 billion Taiwan dollars in 1998 after the opening of the tourism industry in Kinmen. Since 1998, there the industry has earned over 4 billion Taiwan dollars of profit every year and the profit has become the primary source of revenue for the Kinmen government. In 2013, it accounted for 71.18% of the Kinmen government’s revenue; 67.93% in 2014 and 62.75% in 2015. Due to the income from the

Kinmen Kaoliang liquor industry, Kinmen is one of the only two counties in Taiwan which are not in debt and receives the highest proportion of its budget from its own revenues.8 This economic development has resulted in the striking population growth in Kinmen.

7 The statistics of ferry trips and people traveling between Kinmen and Fujian were retrieved from the website of the Habor Bureau of Kinmen County. http://web.kinmen.gov.tw/Layout/sub_A/NodeTree.aspx?path=10143 Accessed May 15, 2016, 2:12pm. 8 Financial report retrieved from the website of National Treasury Administration, Ministry of Finance of Taiwan. https://www.nta.gov.tw/web/AnnC/listAnnC.aspx?c0=86&Type=215&Unit= Accessed Oct 25, 2016,

Demographic growth—the highest population growth area in Taiwan

Demographically, the registered population of Kinmen has tripled over the last few decades. The city population in 1992 was around 44,170. It rose to 140,149 in November 2019 with a population of young people aged 20 to 35 of 35,307 9 . This dramatic growth is outstanding in comparison with the threat of a declining population faced by most of the other areas in Taiwan.10According to the annual reports of Taiwan Interior Affairs Statistics, Kinmen and Matsu11 had the highest population growth rate12 annually from 2005 to 2015, and the reports also point out that the striking increase in population is primarily due to the effect of the “Mini-Three-Links” policy and the social welfare policies of Kinmen.

Generally speaking, the opening of the tourism industry, the “Mini-Three Links” policy and the Kinmen Kaoliang liquor industry have brought major investments and job opportunities into Kinmen13. Active development of the local tourism industry has also created new types of jobs. It seems that the emerging work and business opportunities have gradually attracted people who had formerly moved to the main island of Taiwan to return home. The attractive social welfare policies are also often cited as reasons for returning home.

2:05pm. Related news report: Global Views Monthly. (2015, Sep. 20) “General examination of the municipal debts of 22 Counties.” Global Views Monthly. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/r70JJS on November 2, 2016. 9 Population statistics obtained from http://www.ris.gov.tw/zh_TW/346. Accessed December 11 , 2019, 8:47 pm. 10 The report of “Population Projections for Republic of China (Taiwan): 2014 ‐2060”. Information retrieved from the website of Department of Human Resources Development National Development Council. http://www.ndc.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=2E5DCB04C64512CC&s=002ABF0E676F4DB5 Accessed May 22, 2016, 11:32 pm. Related news report: Stormmedia(2015. July 18) What is the current situation of Taiwan’s population? Kinmen and Matsu increase the most. Stormmedia. Retrieved from http://www.storm.mg/lifestyle/57785 on November 10, 2016. 11 Kinmen and Matsu are the only two counties which belong to the Fujian Province of Taiwan. Therefore, in many official reports in Taiwan, Kinmen and Matsu are counted together as the Kinmen-Matsu area. 12 The population data was retrieved from the report of Taiwan Interior Affairs Statistics http://sowf.moi.gov.tw/stat/week/list.htm. Accessed May 22, 2016, 10:22 pm. 13 Cai, J.-Z. (2014, August 10) Shedding off the military image. Businesses rush to open stores in Kinmen. Udn.Com. Retrieved http://goo.gl/nUmv1X on October 31, 2016. 9

Kinmen is well-known in Taiwan for its exceptional social welfare policies in comparison to other counties. As mentioned above, the main source for its government budget is the county’s high profits from the island’s Kaoliang liquor industry. Children who are registered in Kinmen are exempt from tuition and meal fees for every stage of schooling before university and Kinmen residents also enjoy various other kinds of subsidies, including those for maternity, the elderly, public transportation, flight tickets to and from Kinmen to the main island of Taiwan, and so on. The exclusive social welfare policies give Kinmen the reputation of being a “Welfare County”. These benefits, in addition to the convenient transportation between Kinmen and Xiamen, have made Kinmen less physically isolated from 2000 onwards and have led to an increase of former Kinmen residents who move back to their hometown individually or with their families.

For example, abundant resources in education have also become an attractive enticement for people to study and stay in Kinmen. Originally a branch campus of the National

Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology when it opened in 1997, the National

Quemoy University was granted university status in 2010. In its short lifetime of 17 years as a higher education institution, it has witnessed a sudden increase of applicants due to a wider availability of scholarships, living subsidies, and affordable tuition fees. The university’s current student population is close to four thousand, an exponential increase of 28-times over

17 years. The school has also become more competitive, even attracting some above-average students who were in the top 25% of graduating high school seniors14. In addition, Taiwanese business people with commercial activities in southern China have also started to settle their

14 Huang, Y.-Q. (2014, Jun 25). National Quemoy University admissions grew 28 times, stealing top students from National Taiwan University. Business Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/KArticle.aspx?id=54963 10

families in Kinmen so that their children can receive education in Taiwan while being close to their parents at the same time.

In addition, a higher birth rate also contributes to its rise in population. Compared to the low fertility rate faced by most of the counties in Taiwan, Kinmen has a relatively higher birth rate. According to the annual birth rate statistics reports from National Statistics, the annual birth rate of Taiwan from 2005 to 2015 was lower than 10 per 1000, whereas that of

Kinmen ranged from 10.72‰ to 13.19‰ and remained one of the counties in Taiwan with the top three highest birth rates 15. This phenomenon, on the one hand, is due to the maternity allowance policy that provides allowance for full time mothers. A full-time mother is defined as a woman who is the sole caregiver of the children. Since 2013, a father can also take up the role of being a full-time caregiver of the children. In terms of financial allowance, parents can receive a lump sum of TWD20,000 for the birth of one child, TWD60,000 for the birth of a second child, and TWD40,000 for each additional birth. Additional subsidies are provided for the full time care of a child. Parents can receive TWD3000 per month for being the full-time caregivers of one child, TWD5000 for two children, and TWD6000 for each additional child.

Kinmen was the first and one of the few counties in Taiwan to adopt this policy. On the other hand, the prevailing patriarchal ideology of the clan system, which emphasizes the importance of carrying on the family’s patrilineal lineage, also contributes to a higher birth rate. The influence of the clan system in Kinmen society will be discussed later in this chapter.

The growth of transnational marriages in Kinmen is also notable in the discussion of population. According to the 2015 Marriage Registration Statistics Report released by the

Ministry of Interior, Kinmen and Matsu had the highest proportion of transnational marriages

15 The annual birth rate statistics reports were retrieved from the website of National Statistics. http://statdb.dgbas.gov.tw/pxweb/dialog/statfile9.asp Accessed May 18, 2016, 5:08 pm.

in Taiwan16. The report points out that 21% of all marriages in Kinmen and Matsu involved a foreign partner in 2015. It also notes that due to the geographical closeness to Xiamen and the enactment of the “Mini-Three-Links” policy, 78% of the foreign partners in Kinmen and Matsu came from China. If we only look at Kinmen, out of a total of 730 registered marriages, 151 involved a foreign partner in 2015. 129 marriages out of the 151 involved a female foreign partner (85%). 120 marriages out of the 151 involved a Mainland Chinese partner. It is remarkable that the growth of transnational marriages, on the one hand, shows a tight connection between Kinmen and Xiamen, China, but, on the other hand, also presents the potential difficulties for local men to marry local women.

Lastly, it is worth noting the issue of the “phantom population” (YouLing RenKou) in

Kinmen. The term “phantom population” refers to people who have registered their household in a place without residing there. It has been repeatedly reported that the extraordinary social welfare policies and the convenience for businesspeople to invest in Kinmen and Xiamen after the “Mini-Three Links” policy have led to the increase of the “phantom population”17. These benefits have even become the pull factor for the real-estate developers to attract people outside

Kinmen (Figure1.2,1.3, and 1.4). Besides, the phantom votes during election campaigns for candidates running for political office18 is also one possible cause of the “phantom population”.

As a result of this phenomenon of “phantom population”, the official number of the registered population is not a reflection of the actual population that lives in Kinmen. Therefore, it is difficult to be certain about the exact figures of inhabitants on the island. Even so, I believe

16 The 2105 Marriage Registration Statistics Report obtained from the website of Ministry of Interior. http://www.moi.gov.tw/stat/news_content.aspx?sn=10251. Accessed May 22, 2016, 2:35pm. 17 Wu Zheng-Ting (2011, Aug 03). Excellent welfare! The household registration in Kinmen breaks 100,000. Liberty Times Net. Retrieved from http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/local/paper/513498 18 Lee Ching-Seng (2015, October 22). Kinmen scout Phantom Population in case they become voting forces. China Times. Retrieved from http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20151022004555-260405 12

that it is still worth noting the social transformations that have brought about the growth of both the official and actual population.

To sum up, the developments mentioned above identify the rapid growth of the economy and its impact on population growth in Kinmen. However, the growth of the economy does not mean that wealth distribution in Kinmen is equal. On the contrary, the wealth gap may grow along with economic progress if the prosperity of the society is only limited to specific types of business and the capitalist class. Similarly, the increasing options of education and employment do not necessarily bring freedom of choice to young people. The existence of

Quemoy University presents an opportunity for those who cannot afford to pursue a university degree elsewhere, but this opportunity can also be perceived as a restriction for people who originally wanted to leave their hometown through the channel of education; nevertheless, it may also bring no difference to those young people who are from middle or upper class families and whose decisions about moving are not limited by financial concerns. As for the maternity allowance policy in Kinmen, it is worth investigating if the gender ideology behind it encourages or prevents young people from pursuing their educational and career goals.

Figure 1-2 Real estate advertisement for the benefit of registering a household in Kinmen. The benefits include free provision of liquor during festivals such as Chinese New Year, Tuen Ng festival and Mid-Autumn festival. (Photo taken in the central area of Taipei City, Taiwan by the author in August 2016)

Figure 1-3 Real estate advertisement to explain the provision of good welfare as a result of a lucrative liquor industry in Kinmen. (Photo taken in the central area of Taipei City, Taiwan by the author in August 2016)

Figure 1-4 Real estate advertisement showing the business opportunities of Kinmen-Xiamen Mini- Three Links. (Photo taken in the central area of Taipei City, Taiwan by the author in August 2016)

1.1.2 National, regional, and ethnic identities from the Cold War to post-war period

After the end of the WZA, the issue of the national identities of people in Kinmen has become complicated with the development of cross-strait relations. Historically, the ancestors of the people of Kinmen were mostly immigrants from the southern region of China. Therefore, there are similarities between Kinmen and Xiamen in terms of culture and local dialect. After the government of the Nationalist party retreated to Taiwan, Kinmen was subjected to the administration of the government of Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) and became the most crucial battlefield in conflicts between the Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party during the Cold War. Since then, Kinmen has been positioned as the outpost for counterattacking Mainland China. The political and social institutions as well as the official language have been under the governance of the ROC government, and the culture of Kinmen has been getting closer to that of the main island of Taiwan.

However, the suffering of war and the scarcity of various resources as a result of its remote location have led the people of Kinmen to believe they are regarded as second-class

citizens. In addition, a number of activists and politicians from the main island of Taiwan have excluded Kinmen and Matsu in their appeals for Taiwanese independence. Even nowadays,

Kinmen and Matsu are the only two counties which belong to the Fujian Province of Taiwan, a relic of the original organization of the ROC government into separate Taiwan and Fujian provinces. Kinmen residents have thus developed contradictory national and regional identities which are different from those who live on the main island of Taiwan. These differences and contradictions have begun to surface in the democratization of Kinmen society and the increased autonomy of the local government after the lifting of martial law.

After the implementation the “Mini-Three-Links” policy, there has been frequent inter- governmental cooperation and cultural exchanges in terms of daily life and consumption practices between Kinmen and Xiamen, China19. Accompanying the growing proportion of transnational marriages with spouses coming from Mainland China, and the political campaigns such as establishing political parties which promote ideologies such as ‘Cross-strait,

One Family” 20, the national and regional identities of people in Kinmen are getting more complex and contradictory. Part of the population in Kinmen “regard themselves as Kinmenese, neither Taiwanese, nor Mainland Chinese (People’s Republic of China)” 21.

19 See related reports: Kiki Zhao (2016, Jun 12). DPP comes to power, where should Kinmen go between the two sides of Taiwan Strait? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://cn.nytimes.com/china/20160612/jinmen-taiwan/zh-hant/ You, C.-S. (2006, April). People of Kinmen have never been Taiwanese? Global Views Monthly. Retrieved from http://www.gvm.com.tw/Boardcontent_11957_4.html Li, Z.-H. (2016, April 22) After 16 years, Kinmen Bridge is still under construction, people in fact “do not want both of the parties”. The News Lens. Retrieved from http://www.thenewslens.com/article/39093 20 Li Chin-Ghiang. (2014, Oct 02). The establishment of Taiwan China Production Party’s branch in Kinmen. Kinmen Daily News. Retrieved from http://web.kinmen.gov.tw/Layout/main_ch/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=137625&frame=17&LanguageT ype=1 21 Kiki Zhao (2016, Jun 12). DPP comes to power, where should Kinmen go between the two sides of Taiwan Strait? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://cn.nytimes.com/china/20160612/jinmen-taiwan/zh-hant/ 16

Overall, it may not be necessary for young people to consider their national, regional, and ethnic identities whether or not to migrate; however, we should never overlook the possibility that the discourses of national, regional, and ethnic identities in the mainstream society can affect youth’s decisions, especially those who are from a marginal area such as

Kinmen and whose identities are different from the majority of other areas. At the same time, the ethnic diversity within Kinmen society may also result in different life pathways among young people. The complex and contradictory nature of the political and ethnic identities of

Kinmen people provide us a unique example in the investigation of how young people’s decision-making processes about migration are influenced directly or indirectly by the issues of identity and ethnicity.

1.1.3 Traditional patriarchy and gender relations in modern Kinmen society

Kinmen society has experienced rapid development in terms of its economy, social welfare policy, and population structure. However, these developments do not necessarily translate to progress in gender equality. Take the aforementioned maternity allowance policy as an example: Kinmen is the first county to announce this practice to encourage full-time mothers to stay at home and take care of their children by themselves. When this policy was first implemented in 2006, it was meant only for unemployed mothers but excluded fathers and professional women (Chen, 2008). This policy therefore both attributed the responsibility of childcare to women only and reproduced the traditional gendered division of labor, and also can be seen as discouraging women from taking part in the public domain. It was not until 2013 that the policy was reformed and to allow full-time fathers to apply for the allowance.22

22 Chen Li-Yu (2013, June 18). Heads of government departments unveil for the inauguration of the affordable babysitting center today. Kinmen Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.kmcc.gov.tw/news/News_Info.aspx?oid=3235 17

Another example is the democratization of Kinmen which began along with the end of the WZA. In 1993, the first democratically elected mayor came into office and the first parliamentary representatives were elected through universal suffrage in 1994. The government also restored the constitution and started exercising local autonomy. However, if we look at women’s participation in public affairs, there has been no female county mayor elected by citizens since 1993. The township mayors and city mayors elected in 2009 and 2014 were all male as well. Only 26.3% of parliamentary representatives were female while 73.7% were male in 201423 . Women in Kinmen are largely excluded from public decision-making processes.

The reasons for a slower progress in gender equality compared to fast pace of economic growth, demilitarization of the government, and increased mobility for its residents remains a question and can be considered from two aspects. One the one hand, the traditional clan culture which has been sustained by the teaching of Confucianism is reinforced through the post-war democratization process in Kinmen. Meanwhile, the effects of gendered militarization during the war period and continuing in the postwar period have been repeatedly represented and extended in the development of the tourism industry. In addition, the implementation of the

“Mini-Three Links” policy has seen more human traffic between Kinmen and Xiamen, which has resulted in widely reported cases of Kinmen men engaging in extra-marital affairs in

Xiamen. This social phenomenon has created new challenges for traditional family relations.

23 The “2014 Kinmen Gender Image” report retrieved from the website of Kinmen County Government website. http://www.kinmen.gov.tw/KinmenWeb/wSite/page/1.html. Accessed May 19, 2016, 5:30 pm.

Clan culture and democratization

Kinmen belonged to the Tong-An county of Fujian Province in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Both Kinmen and Xiamen had important garrisons beginning in the fourteenth century (Tsai & Chiang, 2014). The connection between Kinmen and Xiamen not only lies in their military importance but also in their Confucian traditions. During the Southern Song

Dynasty, the leading figure of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi, lectured in the Min-nan region and had far-reaching influence on the area’s culture, including that of Kinmen. Rituals in Kinmen such as weddings, funerals, and ancestral ceremonies are all under the deep influence of

Confucianism. The gender order similarly follows the Confucian ideals. The teachings of Zhu

Xi emphasized the virtues of women and regulated women in many aspects, such as the virtues of chastity, filial piety, moral integrity, and martyrdom as well as the concept that a husband is superior to a wife (Yang, 2011; Lee, 2004). Compared to the main island of Taiwan, where

Confucianism seems to have only become influential starting in the Qing dynasty, Kinmen has a longer history of Zhi Xi’s impact. In addition, due to its geographical positioning as an isolated island with limited transportation options, and its status as a semi-closed state under the strictly imposed WZA, there were limited foreign cultural influences in Kinmen in the 20th century. Therefore, many cultural traditions of Confucianism are kept intact along with its gender relations that privilege men in general.

One of the crucial gender systems which is heavily shaped by Zhu Xi’s teaching of

Family Rituals (Jiali) is the patriarchal clan and village system. Kinmen is composed of many kinship families. According to local genealogy, the earliest Kinmen residents were immigrants from the southern region of China in the Song and Yuan dynasties. There were already 61 clan family villages in the late fourteenth century. Research points out that unlike the main island of Taiwan, where multiple-surname village are the prototype of migration society, blood

lineage has been the main element of single-surname villages with a few having multiple- surnames in Kinmen since Song Dynasty.24

The ancestral hall is an important space for a village. On average, each village has one to two ancestral halls. Some larger villages have as many as eight. Ancestral halls are places where people gather and worship their ancestors. As centers of the villages, the activities held in them demonstrate the strength of clan solidarity and usually only allow the participation of men. Women cannot enter the halls and they can only do the preparation work for worship activities at home (Lee 2004). The basis of a patrilineal clan in operation consisted of a joint venture involving a clan family and a village. Clan organization is led by the clan elders whose tasks are mainly to cope with the clan’s affairs such as mediating disputes or Spring and Fall worship rituals. Clan members are mainly male. A family with a newborn baby boy has to report the “ding”25 to the clan and pay “ding money” as requirement for a new clan membership.

As noted by Lee (2004), these clan rituals and ceremonies should be viewed as public and collective social gatherings. Normative patriarchal values and manhood are reinforced through these rituals. When women are not allowed to have access to the ancestral hall, activities carried out within the temple and decisions on the clan made within its walls become the sole domain of the men of the clan. Since the ancestral hall is the place where the “gods of ancestors” settle (Lee, 2004:219), the hall and the activities held there indicate a connection between god and human. Therefore, through the complexity of rituals and regulations deployed, the legitimacy of men’s status as the representative of god on earth is ensured. This powerful patriarchal system has lasted for several centuries in Kinmen.

24 The report of “Lineage structure and the practice of religion in Jinmen”. Information retrieved from Kinmen government website. http: digitalkinmen.kmnp.gov.tw/ezfiles/0/1000/attach/40/pta_484_987079_24555.pdf Accessed April 27, 2016, 11:32pm. 25 The word “ding” means man in Chinese. 20

The clan and clan worship ceremonies function to strengthen clan identity and clan authority dominates public affairs. Although parts of the rituals had to be restrained or negotiated during the WZA period, on the whole, clan culture was preserved in a relatively complete state under martial law. Meanwhile, the political openness after the lifting of martial law has re-consolidated the clans’ strengths. The strength of the clans has not diminished during the process of modernization in Kinmen; rather, they used the freedom to attempt to reclaim even more authority. Lee Fong-Mao (2004) points out that clan families compete with each other by building temples. This competition for prestige and authority is embodied in economic, social, and cultural resources. The need for economic transformation and the increasing number of successful men within clans have directly or indirectly affected the construction of temples and have led to more than six hundred newly built or renovated clan temples on the small island. Since the clan halls are highly gendered places, the male- dominated ceremonies that the clans continually hold in the halls to demonstrate their authority simultaneously consolidate their traditional value of patriarchal hegemony.

Furthermore, the progress of democratization in Taiwan after the lifting of martial law has seen a reinforcement of the clan culture in Kinmen. The connection between local election culture and ancestral culture is getting tighter. Although Kinmen’s clan system has always had a certain influence in society, its past influence remained firmly within the kinship family. Only after the opening up of elections after martial law was lifted did the clan system become more influential in the local government as the clans began to use clan solidarity to help candidates.

Local elections are competitions between clans. It is the goal for each candidate to obtain a clan’s support. Kinmen’s largest Chen clan even has their own election system for selecting its mayoral candidates. The widely spread anecdote is that “The largest party is the Chen Party, the second largest party is the Li Party, and then is the KMT (Kuomintang)” reflects clans’ major influence on local politics. The politician who is elected with the blessing of a clan, in 21

turn, becomes the representative of the clan who has glorified the ancestors and will always play an important role in clan ceremonies. These ceremonies strengthen the politician’s status in the clan and make subsequent elections easier. Since the clan system’s operation is based on the logic of patriarchal kinship, the interaction between democratization and the clan system has become a constant circle, which privileges some types of men while marginalizing women and other types of men.

Militarization and tourism

In addition, the gender culture embedded in the military culture in Kinmen is also explicit. Kinmen has a long history of war. What is closely tied to war is militarization, which is generally defined as a process for a state to enhance its capacity to engage in war. But in the book titled Cold War Island—Quemoy on the Front Line, Szonyi (2008) extends on this concept of militarization and broadly discusses how military interests, values, and discourses infiltrate people’s lives during the process of militarization. He notes that militarization in

Quemoy/Kinmen is a gendered phenomenon and analyzes three categories of militarized women’s lives. The first category is military prostitutes. In order to protect women from being raped by soldiers and to improve the civil-military relations, the government set up the “special assignation teahouse” (TeYue ChaShi/特約茶室)26 in 1951 and recruited sex workers from outside Kinmen. The teahouses were abolished in 1990. The second category is soldiers’ dependents. During the WZA, many families married their daughters to soldiers who had retreated from Mainland China to Kinmen after the defeat of the Nationalist army. It is believed that one in five women were married to a soldier. The military authorities repeatedly reminded

26 In operation from 1950 to 1991, a military brothel, locally known as “special assignation teahouse” or “soldiers’ paradise”, was a state brothel set up to entertain military personnel 22

Kinmen local women of important family responsibilities such as parenting, maintaining a hygienic household, and keeping up social traditions through propaganda. The third category is female soldiers. Women from 18 to 35 years old joined the civil defense force, commonly known as “women’s self-defense forces”, to support the operations of war and medical services.

Szonyi (2008) argues that, on the surface, women’s participation in the army shows that women had opportunities to escape from their traditional roles or challenge existing gender perspectives under the military’s political mobilization; but the gendered division of labor during militarization still demonstrated the dominant gender ideology and potential cultural logic behind it, an ideology that could be enhanced or transformed by the military.

Militarization is a step-by-step process of transformation (Enloe, 2000). Most of the time slow and invisible, it sometimes takes generations to produce social change. Dimensions of militarization include cultural, institutional, ideological and economic changes thus we should examine things that are considered normal under the military arrangements with a feminist curiosity (Enloe, 2000). We should ask questions from a feminist perspective to understand the reasons why militarization happens and the potential consequences it brings to both women and men. Militarization is also a gendered process. Policies, practices, government manifestos, national borders, and people's daily economic activities are all part of the militarization process. Enloe further examines the issues of demilitarization, and points out that if we don’t address the ideas about military masculinity, demilitarization will be superficial, partial, and brief. Demilitarization not only applies to the guns going silent, but the trend that khaki becomes fashionable or that war video games attract both boys and girls; demilitarization requires us to consider the cultural effects carefully. A fashion show, a trip, or a children’s book exhibition can all be the arenas of both militarization and demilitarization. Enloe’s insights contribute to my further exploration of the gender ideology embedded within militarization and demilitarization processes in Kinmen. Referring back to Szonyi’s suggestion, 23

the three categories of mobilized women’s lives may go away along with the end of the WZA, but it does not mean that the trajectory of gendered militarization has disappeared. When the government claimed to say goodbye to the military control imposed on people’s lives, we saw a series of gendered military representation through the process of tourism representation and its glorification of the past.

Tourism can also be perceived as a form of state representation closely tied to Kinmen’s image as a military state, where political ideologies permeate into media messages and made their way onto billboards, advertisements, pamphlets, and souvenirs. Young women of Kinmen have been known to dress up in tight and sexy military-style uniforms to dance to hit tunes for tourist events (Figure1-2). Cheerleaders at basketball games often don similar military-themed uniforms for their performances (Figure1-3). Moreover, gender ideologies are also embedded within these media messages, which lead one to question the selection process for the themes of such tourist propaganda.

Despite its rich cultural tradition, historical heritage, and natural scenery, Kinmen’s four decades of battlefield history have become the major focus of island tourism. Images of battlefield landscape are often used in tourist magazines, newspaper and television advertising, popular books, and films. Military facilities such as tunnels, bunkers, and dugouts, war history museums, and the Special Assignation Teahouse Exhibition Hall (Military Brothel Exhibition

Hall) are gradually being restored and open. The so-called “three treasures” of special local products are also related to military history (Figure1-4 and Figure 1-5). 27 In short, the battlefield history of Kinmen may have passed but its former battlefield identity has become its indelible mark (Zhang, 2010).

27 Kinmen peanut candy is produced in the shape of bullet. Sorghum liquor is placed in containers shaped like boots, tanks, and soldiers. Kinmen’s well-known kitchen knives are made of cannon shells that landed on the island during wartime (Zhang, 2010). 24

Family relationships and the Mini-Three-Links

Although the traditional gender culture was not loosened but strengthened after the end of the WZA and the opening of the border of Kinmen, the rapid social transformation has also brought challenges to conventional family relationships.

Upon the lifting of martial law and the implementation of the “Mini-Three-Links” policy, the lives of people in Kinmen have changed substantially. In the past, Kinmen was isolated due to its role as a military base. Despite the fact that the end of martial law has enabled the opening of traffic between Kinmen and other cities on the main island of Taiwan, the cost of air travel (the major means of transportation) from Kinmen is still high. After the commencement of direct traffic between Kinmen and Xiamen, a ferry trip only takes 30 minutes and the price of a ship ticket is just a quarter of that of a plane ticket to the main island of Taiwan. Xiamen has thus become the “backyard” of Kinmen people. They go to Xiamen on day trips for all kinds of interests, such as purchasing daily necessities, shopping for clothes, dining, foot massages, visiting dentists for cheaper false teeth, etc. At the same time, it is noted in the news that many Kinmen citizens have bought properties in Xiamen28.

In addition to the aforementioned cross-border activities, the involvement of Kinmen’s male population in sexual activities in Xiamen is also noticeable. Wu (2013) concludes that the major cross-border commercial sexual activities in Xiamen take place mainly at the following types of venues: Mo-Mo-Cha (also known as Tea Houses), clubs, nightclubs, saunas, Thai massage houses, and JiuJia (restaurants which provides sexual services). The average cost ranges from 100 to 3,500 RMB. The comprehensiveness and diversity of the entertainment industry in Xiamen fulfills different kinds of needs. However, it has caused considerable

28 Wang Xiao-Jun (2014, Jun 12). 10 years up to 10 times, the people of Kinmen invest in properties of Xiamen crazily. Apply Daily. Retrieved from http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20140712/432156/ 25

controversy in the local society. The news excerpts below, from 2006 and 2011 respectively, reflect the impact of these cross-border sexual consumption behaviors on family relationships.

After the implementation of the “Mini-Three-Links” policy, family disputes happen

repeatedly because civil servants keep ErNai (mistresses) and visit JiuJia. The Kinmen

government has constantly received complaints from crying female dependents’ and

therefore announced a new regulation about the limitation of three times for travelling

to China in one year. (Lee, 2006) 29

It is alleged that some male civil servants in Kinmen frequently sneak to Xiamen China

during the weekend to “have fun, and keep Xiao-San (mistresses)”. The Kinmen county

government issued a document last month reminding civil servants to follow rules and

apply for trips to Mainland China. It also regulated the frequency of going to China. An

employee of the government was punished a few days ago due to his failure to report

in advance about his trip to Mainland China. The staff of the government dubbed the

document as a “Xiao-San term” of the retaliation of the first wives... In the past, there

were wives of government staff, some of whom expressed their intentions to commit

suicide, who phoned the government complaining that their husbands had kept “Xiao-

Sans” in China. Thus, three years ago, the government prohibited civil servants from

going to Mainland China more than “three times in one year” … A female civil servant

noted that there was a male colleague who goes to Xiamen monthly, and he even

29 Lee Ching-Seng (2006, Nov 04). The implementation of Mini-Three Link Policy. Kinmen government sets restriction on traveling to Mainland China. China Times. Retrieved from http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/061213/4/7zms.html

secretly sold land to “keep the xiao-san”, the government should have implemented the

regulation earlier to protect the first wives. (Wang, 2011)30

From these news reports we can see the role of the government and its intervention as a form of state power in family relations in Kinmen. It is also important to understand the gender and power dynamics within families in Kinmen. Wu (2013) believes that men’s keenness for pursuing sexual satisfaction in Xiamen is because, on the one hand, Kinmen is such a small place wherein people do not dare to violate the traditional social morals and manners therefore they seek to release their suppressed emotional and physical desires in

Xiamen.

In conclusion, a discriminative gender culture results in the unequal distribution of opportunities and resources for women and men, which also affects the choices of migration for education and work. Both men and women can be victims under the oppression of patriarchal ideology. What make a young person decide to stay? Is it the responsibility of taking care of family or the expectation to continue the family business or blood lineage due to traditional gender roles? And what make a youth choose to leave? Is it the feeling of being out of place in family and society or is it the societal expectation to be adventurous and aggressive in one’s career? The deep-rooted gendered conventions in Kinmen society have been formed through the cultural tradition of Confucianism and the specific war history. Yet the development of democratization and the tourism industry has failed to loosen these gendered conventions, but rather helps to strengthen them. The specific history and social

30 Wang Zhong-Sheng (2011, April 03). Civil Servants go to China for Sexual Pleasure, Kinmen government announce a “Xiao-San term”. Apple Daily. Retrieved from http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/forum/20110413/33313944/ 27

transformations of Kinmen make the island an important place for our further investigation of young people’s decision-making process about migration.

Figure 1-5 Young women in military-themed uniforms perform to hit tunes for tourist events. (Photo retrieved from https://goo.gl/I2PLEj)

Figure 1-6 Cheerleaders don camouflage uniforms for their performances. (Photo retrieved from http://www.nownews.com/n/2010/07/17/665456) 28

Figure 1-7 Sorghum liquor containers. (Source: J.J. Zhang31)

31 See footnote3. 29

Figure 1-8 Bullet crackers (Source: J.J. Zhang32)

1.2 Research themes and questions

It has been common to see news coverage on anxieties about the emigration of youth in Kinmen. There are two significant issues emerging from this phenomenon.

32 See footnote3. 30

The first issue is reasons behind youth migration. Specifically, why do Kinmen young people leave Kinmen at their school to work stage? Where do they go? How are the decisions made? More important, what are the stories of those who do not or cannot move?

The second theme is the values of “youth migration” as an issue. In the case of young people in Kinmen, how are young people’s migration preferences taken into account? By who and for whom? The key issue here is, have the actual difficulties of young people in Kinmen been solved through these discussions about whether to stay or go?

Based on the reflections above, I look for a more comprehensive and inclusive approach in discussing young people’s migration decisions. When young people consider “leaving” as an option, whether forced or voluntary, I argue that it is urgent for us to pay attentions to the young people who are staying in Kinmen. Through connective and analytical studies, we are thus able to explore the realities young people from the marginal areas are experiencing. The challenges young people face should be considered critically with an intention of finding solutions rather than serving as tools for certain interest groups. Through the examination, we can reflect about solutions from aspects of culture, society, institutions and policies.

To achieve these goals, I address the following themes and questions

Connecting local youth with the macro world

The impact of globalization and neoliberalism on young people, outside and inside

Taiwan has become a significant issue (Furlong & Cartmel, 2007; Mills & Blossfeld, 2005;

Lin et al, 2011). Discussions have been focused on the risks and uncertainties and young people’s responses. At the same time, the increasing influence of China has also lead to strong uncertainties in Kinmen society. In addition, schooling and employment decisions affect many aspects of young people’s future lives while those decisions to some extent are affected by the social environment they live in (Snee & Devine, 2015). 31

To echo these global phenomena, the following questions are addressed:

• How do the forces of geopolitics, globalization and neoliberalism affect the

following aspects of Kinmen young people’s lives –labor market and conditions,

education channels and opportunities, collective and individual values and

ideologies, and physical and social mobilities? What are the risks and

uncertainties of young people emerging from these processes?

• How do young people in Kinmen respond to those impacts? How do they

consider the transformations resulting from these forces? What are the social,

historical, and cultural contexts affecting young people’s responses to the rapid

social transformation?

Mapping the spatial movements of Kinmen youth’s school-to-work transition

Sociologist Johanna Wyn (2015) notes that the porous nature of “political and cultural borders” allows young people to face “unprecedented mobilities of populations across national boundaries” (p.9). Kinmen used to be an emigrant society where the younger population accounted for the majority of those who moved away. People usually left Kinmen to make money or, historically, to avoid wars (Chiang, 2013; Liu, 2006). With the development of the tourism business and the opening of the “Mini-Three-Links”, the economic environment seems to be changing rapidly. Thus, we have to ask:

• What are the reasons behind Kinmen young people’s leaving or staying? What

are negative experiences which lead them to leave a place? What are the positive

reasons which make them decide to move to or return to a location? How do

they negotiate the challenges emerging in these processes? 32

• What roles do education and employment play in their decisions to migrate (or

stay)? How does the meaning of education and work affect the decision-making

process of the younger generation in Kinmen? Has the meaning of being

educated or finding work changed in Kinmen?

• How does the marginalized position of Kinmen affect a young person’s choice

of migrating to the main island of Taiwan or China in the pursuit of better

education or work opportunities? How does it also affect a young person’s

decision to stay in Kinmen?

An integrated exploration to examine young people’s “freedom of choice”

Wyn and Cahill (2015) have shown that the choices of education and employment of youth are affected by social structures and constraints. Literature on the development of young girls and boys also points out that gender identities have a great impact on future aspirations and decision-making processes among youth (McLeod, 2015; Snee & Devine, 2015). In addition, Maguire and Ball (2012) inform us that the school-to-work transition process of young people is gendered, and at the same time is subject to class and ethnicity.

At the same time, under the current global context of neoliberalism, people are convinced to believe in the “freedom of choice” but are often coerced to follow the road of competition. The questions to address these contradictions are:

• Who, among the young people, have the freedom of choice? Who are excluded

from exercising a freedom of choice? How is this kind of freedom given, shaped

and taken for granted?

• What are the life chances for young people of different backgrounds in Kinmen?

What is the impact of a young person’s social location, as in gender and class,

on their decision-making processes in the era of globalizing neoliberalism? 33

How do the wider social changes and an individual’s social location–gender and

class–interweavingly affect a young person’s future, and how can they imagine

and plan their life?

• Facing the constraints of social structures, how do young people negotiate,

compromise, and strategize to make their decisions about education,

employment, and migration?

This research is originally motivated by my suspicion of the optimistic trope of

“freedom of choice” under a globalizing form of neoliberalism. Through the stories of young people from Kinmen, I hope to enrich the increasingly noteworthy scholarship of Kinmen

(Chiang, 2008) from a sociological perspective, and more importantly, to continue contributing to the academic scholarship on young people who are in less advantaged social positions.

1.3 Organization of thesis

This thesis is organized into eight chapters. Following the introductory Chapter,

Chapter 2 provides a literature review of the political economy of youth and globalization, and neoliberalism and their relationship with youth. Empirical studies on discourses and policies regarding youth education and employment migrations are also discussed. I also review literature on the perspectives on social structures of gender and class within the context of globalization. A theoretical framework is presented at the end of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 explains the methodological approach employed in this research and my reflections as an insider researcher.

Chapter 4 explain the interweaving relationships of geopolitics and transnational capitalism in Kinmen. I reveal how politicians, political interest groups, and global capitalists cooperate in forming the uncertain economic environment and work conditions of youth. 34

From Chapter 5 to Chapter 7, I present how young people respond to the rapid social changes in Kinmen. I argue that young people’s school-to-work transition decisions in the border/remote area cannot be separated from their migration decisions. Therefore, I reveal young people’s life stories according to their migration decisions between three locations:

Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan, and Fujian, China. I analyze how national policies on education and labor, societal history and culture, and individuals’ social positions affect their decisions to move or stay, and how Kinmen young people negotiate, compromise, and strategize in the process.

According to their living situations and migration decisions between the three locations, four categories are made and discussed in these three chapters: stay-at-home observer, cosmopolitanism pursuer, great-power dreamer, and cross-border traveler.

In Chapter 5, I show the stay-at-home observer’s struggles in both the existing employment structure and the new job options in Kinmen, I reveal how the wave of transnational neoliberalism has impacted young people’s labor environment in Kinmen. I also explain how they are affected by the war history, geopolitics, traditional gender culture. The uncertainties outside and inside Kinmen in a global era have lead them to stay in a less risky position and be an observer. Nonetheless, they might still think of leaving their hometown one day.

In Chapter 6, I present the cosmopolitanism pursuers’ stories in the main island of

Taiwan. From their stories, I identify the cosmopolitan ideology as a major factor for this group of young people to leave Kinmen for the main island of Taiwan. This chapter proves that young people’s migration decisions regarding education and employment cannot be explained only through the lens of the economy. However, those who live on the main island of Taiwan still have to face challenges regarding identity and material conditions.

Chapter 7 explores the great-power dreamers and cross-border travelers’ education and employment ambitions living between Kinmen and Fujian. They strategize using the advantages of geography and policies, while at the same time they are also constrained by the uncertain geopolitics. At the same time, this chapter also tries to draw attention to some young people who are forced to wander between Kinmen and Fujian. The decisions they have made may not out of their own free wills, while because of the disadvantaged social locations of gender and class. The structural reasons may also point to an imbalanced development between

Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan.

The last chapter revisits the layers in which the force of globalization is affecting

Kinmen young people’s lives. I also reflect on how the influences of globalization and neoliberalism help to construct the ideology of cosmopolitanism. Furthermore, I readdress the realities of young people’s struggles over the social structures of gender and class. The conclusion chapter ends with some suggestions for further research directions.

Theoretical Framework

2.1 Overview

This chapter provides a literature review of theoretical issues related to my research topic and questions. I have organized this chapter beginning with a discussion of the political economy of youth. Then I proceed to discuss the different aspects of globalization and its association with neoliberalism, and how they affect young people. I also examine the literature on social structures of gender, class, and ethnicity and their interaction with the wider context of globalization. In addition, I draw upon Bourdieu’s theories of Habitus and forms of capital.

In the last part of this section, I provide an analytical framework which I use to investigate my research topic from the macro level to the micro level.

2.2 The geo/politics of youth in a global economy: An insight on Kinmen youth

Has the concept of “Young people / Youth” been given serious thought in Kinmenese society? Have Kinmen youth been included in or excluded from the mainstream society of

Taiwan?

If the answer to the first question is yes, then why, except for the emphasis on “youth unemployment” and the calls for “creating work opportunities and bringing young people home”, are there very few other discourses concerning young people in Kinmen? Why do young people still want to leave their hometown?

If the answer to the second question is yes, then why it is still common to see a footnote in numerous studies supported by the central government of Taiwan, saying that: “The scope of this study does not cover Kinmen county and Matsu county”?

Why is it significant to address such questions?

The questions above echo scholars’ calls for an approach to the political economy of youth within a context of global neoliberalism (Côté, 2014, 2016; Sukarieh & Tannock, 2014,

2016). As one of the many approaches to youth studies, the contribution of political economy is, as Côté suggests:

Its conceptualisation of the roots of the political positioning of the youth segment in

capitalist economies with respect to labour-force participation and earning power,

education-to-work transitions, and the social construction of youth in ways that

ideologically justify their exploitation as producers and consumers (p.538).

Sukarieh and Tannock also use both theorical analysis and historical evidence in order to explain how the concept of youth has long served as a means of social control in their book

“Youth Rising? The Politics of Youth in the Global Economy”. With this insight from political economy, we are thus are reminded to inquire how the issue of “youth” is constructed, represented, and used in what kind of social contexts and by whom. And in service of who’s political and economic interests? (Côté, 2014, 2016; Sukarieh &Tannock, 2014, 2016)

These concerns of the political economy approach stem from a worry about the increasingly dominant individualization theory of youth studies which tends to explain young people’s lived experiences as the result of autonomy, free-choice making, and subjective agency (Harvey, Roberts & Dillabough, 2016). Instead, the political economy approach suggests that structural analysis which locates youth in specific local or global contexts, with a historical understanding of the society, and discloses the possible ways in which young people’s status leads them to be manipulated and marginalized.

However, like most of the sociological debates between agency and structure, critiques of the politic economy approach point out the overemphasis on structure that plays down the subjectivity or the other aspects of young people’s experiences (France & Threadgold ,2016;

Harvey, Roberts & Dillabough, 2016). France and Threadgold further note that the danger of the political economy perspective is to view young people as completely unconscious and manipulated objects. Suggestions have thus been made for youth researchers to identify the political economy of youth while at the same time bringing to light the reflectivity, subjectivity, and agency of young people. (France & Threadgold; Harvey, Roberts, & Dillabough).

As for the empirical research study drawing on insights from political economy, I am inspired particularly by Shi and Liu’s (2014) detailed analysis of the young dealers’ life experiences in Macau. Although the authors do not specifically locate their research within the field of the political economy of youth, their critical analysis of how youth is mobilized in building up a “casino regime” (931) and forming a new form of post-colonial governance has been enlightening. They first illustrate the historical context of Macau society as the background of the societal yearning for developing the economy and creating job opportunities.

They then identify how the government helps the expansion of casino capitalism by making policies regarding educational training programs, the minimum legal age for working as a dealer, land provision to casinos, the government’s budget investment into the industry, etc.

All these measures help to construct young people as free subjects with choices of jobs and consuming power, controlled by the casino capitalists. In the end, the post-colonial government achieve its goal of social control through its power in policy-making and resource distribution.

Geopolitics has played an influential role in the development of Kinmen society. I borrow from the insights of the political economy of youth and apply them to the geopolitics of youth in Kinmen. The geopolitics of Kinmen have determined many of its policies, even those ostensibly implemented in the name of youth. I believe it is necessary for my research to 39

investigate how young people are influenced by the political and economic factors, and how they negotiate with state power and transnational capitalism.

2.3 Globalization, neoliberalism and youth employment

Globalization as a theory for understanding the changes of the contemporary world is crucial within the debates of sociology. It involves multiple dimensions of development that cross traditional local-global borders. Anthony Giddens (1990) defines globalization as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (p.64). He is mainly concerned about the failure of control and the awareness of “manufactured risk” in a world of advanced modernity (Ritzer, 2012). Giddens is considered as a representative of the

“transformationalist thesis” of globalization in the classification of Held and his colleagues33

(1999, p.7). According to Held et al (1999, p.7-8), transformationalist scholars recognize the exceptional development of “global interconnectedness” (p.9) and believe that globalization is

“reconstituting or re-engineering” the power of the nation state (p.8). But at the same time, they remain uncertain about the outcome of globalization. They see the process of globalization as a “dynamic and open-ended conception” (p.7), not necessarily moving in a good or bad direction.

Mills and Blossfeld (2005) identify the structural effects of globalization as follows:

First, the increased internationalization of markets and the disappearing borders between nation states. Secondly, the growing mobility of capital and labor leads to the strengthening of international economic competition. Countries are gradually turning to the neoliberal

33 In the book Global Transformations, Held and his colleagues divide the perspectives of globalization into three categories. They are “the hyperglobalist perspective”, “the skeptical perspective” and “the transformationalist perspective” (Held et al, 1999, p.2). 40

deregulation of the market and the pursuit of efficiency. Thirdly, the dependence on ICTs

(information and communication technologies) that connect knowledge, people, corporations, and markets are intensified. Lastly, the importance of the market rises with the intensification of global competition, and this leads to the increasing interdependence between nations in making policies.

Globalizing neoliberalism

As mentioned above, globalization has furthered the neoliberal deregulation of the market. Harvey (2007) also points out the tight relationship between the development of globalization and neoliberalism. Neoliberalism, according to Harvey, is originally “a theory of political economic practices” prevailing in the world since the 1970s (p.2). The core principle of the theory of neoliberalism is that “individual freedoms are guaranteed by freedom of the market and of trade” (p.7), therefore the capitalist market and trade need to be liberated. With the belief that all human beings will benefit from the outcomes of the free market, it argues that nation states should implement corresponding regulations and institutions to protect the free operation of markets while at the same time imposing minimal intervention. For example, governments give tax cuts for corporations to encourage their production and investments

(Antonio, 2007; Harvey, 2007; Lin et al, 2011). In addition, governments should reduce their social welfare spending in order to lower taxes on companies. The support for the poor from states should be lessened to make them join the labor market and enhance business workforces.

For the efficiency of companies, neoliberalism supporters oppose policies promoting workers’ rights, such as minimum wages and guaranteed collective bargaining (Antonio, 2007). With the belief that every aspect of human life can be subsumed under the market as well as the pursuit of efficiency, neoliberalism highly relies on the development of information technologies for their capacities of “time-space compression” (Harvey, 2007, p.3-4). 41

Globalization and neoliberalism have thus developed to form an interrelated and interdependent relationship.

Instead of using the term “neoliberalism”, Burawoy calls the development of market / commodification after 1970 “third-wave marketization” (2015, p.5). According to Burawoy,

“third-wave marketization” turns back progress on labor rights as seen in the decline of trade unions and lesser wages for the working class (2007, p. 362). Labor contracts are now global in scale as a result of multinational industries. Third-wave marketization points to the progression of different commodification processes, namely, from labor to money to nature

(Burawoy, 2007). The notion of scale is at issue here.

With the process of globalization, neoliberalism or marketization expands and develops into transnational capitalism. According to Sklair (2001), the major feature of transnational capitalism is the practice in which “transnational corporations” (p.5) cooperate with the

“transnational capitalist class” (p.5) to create the specific ideology of consumerism so that the capitalist mode of production can be sustained. In the development of globalizing neoliberalism, manufacturing industries in developed countries tend to move to developing countries to reduce production costs. This has had great impact on worldwide societies. On the one hand, the relocation of a large number of manufacturing industries results in the rise of unemployment among factory workers and the increase of employment in services in industrialized countries.

In addition, transnational capitalists constantly ask governments to compromise on policies such as taxation, environment protection and labor conditions in the face of the threat of the relocation of capital investment. On the other hand, developing countries also face the issues of improper land development, industrial pollution, low wages and poor working conditions.

Overall, the impacts include the increase of unemployment, the decline of labor conditions, the widening of the gap between the poor and the rich, low birth rate, aging population, environmental pollution, the reduction of social welfare spending and the over dependence of 42

countries on government bonds which leads to budget crises (Furlong & Cartmel, 2007; Harvey,

2007; Lin et al, 2011; Mills & Blossfeld, 2005; Sprague, 2015).

The impact of globalizing neoliberalism on youth in Asia and Taiwan

Lin et al. (2011) argue that a globalizing neoliberal economy has led to the effect of unequal “distribution” (p.19), that means the outcome is usually beneficial to the wealthy while disadvantageous to the poor. This can be clearly seen in advanced countries. Mills and

Blossfeld (2005) point out that people who have already built up their careers or have worked for a few years are relatively less affected by changing job markets in a global economy in comparison to young people who are new graduates. Furlong and Cartmel (2007) also argue that young people are more sensitive to the job market than adults. Unemployment has started to rise in many advanced countries since 1980, and this has strongly hit the youth job market and thus affects young people’s life experiences greatly. Furlong and Cartmel (2007) note that, in developed countries, the unemployment rate of youth is normally two to three times more than adults. The age for young people to transfer from school to work is also getting higher.

More and more young people work in the service sector instead of manufacturing, and companies in the service sector are usually of smaller scale and less secure. Workers in the service sector face poor working conditions, such as low wages, insecure working environments, instability, and weak labor unions. In addition, employers increasingly hire more part-time or short-term workers rather than long-term full-time employees to reduce costs. In this situation, young workers have less protection because firms are not regulated by traditional labor contracts. (Furlong & Cartmel, 2007; Mills & Blossfeld, 2005; Lin et al, 2011)

In Asia, discussions about the impact of China’s rise in the global on youth labor markets is also worthy of attention. One example is how Chinese international students find advantaged positions in the labor pool of Japan during the process of globalizing neoliberalism 43

and the expansion of China’s economic influence in the research of Liu-Farrer (2009). In the past, companies in Japan rarely hired foreign staff. However, due to the fact that China has become an important place of production and market, Japanese corporations now tend to employ people from China for their strengths in language, culture, and social networks in order to expand their business related to China. These Chinese students and new graduates of

Japanese universities mainly take responsibility for cross-border business. In 2004, they were two-thirds of foreign recent graduates who have obtained a work visa engaged in transnational trade or translation-related employment in Japan. Students from different disciplines play strategic roles in the cross-border economy and act as a bridge between China and Japan. Liu-

Farrer calls this phenomenon as the “new patterns of career outcomes of international students under conditions of economic globalization” (p.182). However, these situations may also result in negative impacts on Chinese students in Japan. In order to enter the formal job market of

Japan, many Chinese students work part-time to learn workplace culture and local language when they are students. These part-time jobs are generally low-paying. With the high tuition and living expenses, they have to endure long hours of work.

The most noteworthy case for my research on the influence of a globalizing economy on youth can be located within research studies on Taiwan (Chang, 2015; Lin et al, 2011; Wu

& Lan, 2011; Tseng, 2014). In Taiwan, under the impact of globalizing capitalism and the influence of China, there is an emerging trend of young people to look for job opportunities in

Mainland China. Taiwan has started to become more developed since the 1990s. However, due to the influences of globalization and neoliberalism, the crisis of capital monopoly has started to emerge as it has other developed countries around the world. The effects include: a reduction of government tax revenue from the wealthy, stagnation of the investment in social welfare, the increase of the dependence on selling government bonds, dysfunction of workers’ unions, decrease of wages and the growth of unemployment (Chang, 2015; Lin et al, 2011). The 44

unemployment rate increased from 1.5% in 1990 to 3.96% in July 201634, for example. These negative trends have led to the economic difficulties faced by the young generation: growing inequality between rich people and poor people, fewer business opportunities, more and more devotion to the service sector, depreciation of educational achievement, lower salary, and poor working conditions. Lin et al (2011) claim that the problem faced by Taiwanese young people is that the channels for class mobility are gradually closing. Furthermore, the globalizing neoliberal economy has resulted in the increasing dependence on global trade markets – especially the market related to China. After the signing of ECFA (Economic Cooperation

Framework Agreement) between the governments of Taiwan and China in 2010, the investment of Taiwan corporations in Mainland China has reached a peak and has accounted for eighty per cent of Taiwan’s capital exportation (Lin et al, 2011).

The situations mentioned above, along with Chinese government policies to encourage

Taiwanese migrants in recent years, have led to the increasing number of youth labor migration from Taiwan to China year by year. (Tseng, 2014; Wu & Lan, 2011). It was estimated that were about five hundred thousand Taiwanese working in China in 2015 (Li & Chen, 2015).

Tseng’s (2014) article further points out the phenomenon that people who migrate for work are getting younger. She notes that in the past, the Taiwanese working migrants in China were mainly middle-class professionals who moved to China in their midlife. They moved cross- border in order to pursue advancement in their careers. However, recently young people in

Taiwan without much working experience or even the newly graduated young have formed a new type of migrant. They seek work in China because of the lower salary and limited job

34The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) of Executive Yuan, Taiwan. Retrieved from http://www.dgbas.gov.tw/lp.asp?CtNode=5624&CtUnit=1818&BaseDSD=29&mp=1. Accessed July 20, 2016, 5:10 pm.

opportunities in Taiwan (Tseng, 2014). In addition, according to Wu and Lan’s (2011) study of Taiwanese young people who pursue higher education in China, there are three types of motivation behind the migration: degree-oriented, employment-oriented, and guided by family.

Among them, the main purpose of those employment-oriented student migrants is not to obtain an official education degree, but to accumulate their cultural and social capital for professional mobility in China or future involvement in transnational business.

It is worth noting that among their interviewees, eighty percent were those employment-oriented student migrants who already had bachelor’s degrees before they left for

China. This situation is changing since the governments of both Taiwan and China have relaxed restrictions on Taiwanese pursuing high education in China. It is reported by the P.R.C

Ministry of Education that the number of Taiwan students entering universities in Mainland

China is rapidly growing over the past few years. The number reached 10,870 in 201535 and the Ministry of Education says that they will put even more effort to attract Taiwan students in the future36. This situation has apparently formed a new trend of completing their higher education in Mainland China and then staying for work among Taiwanese young people.

Discussion

I have identified the impact of the globalizing neoliberal economy on labor markets and how it results in the migration of the younger generation. I believe that the connection between young people’s consideration of migration and the cross-border economy are tighter than before as the development of globalizing neoliberalism in contemporary Kinmen becomes

35 Zhao Xinying (2015. Nov.06). More Taiwan students studying in mainland universities. China Daily. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-11/06/content_22392239.htm. 36 China News Center (2015.Apr. 17). More than 10,000 students studying in the Mainland Chinese Universities. P.R.C Education of Ministry: Will put more effort in recruiting Taiwanese students. Now News. Retrieved from http://www.nownews.com/n/2016/04/17/2056423 46

more explicit. The economy in Kinmen used to rely heavily on businesses with soldiers due to its status as a semi-closed off military zone during the war. After the lifting of martial law, with a significant reduction in troops, the economy began to slump. As a result, the Kinmen government had to come up with alternatives to developing its island economy. In preparation for Taiwan’s entry into the WTO, the Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor corporation was privatized in

1998. In addition, the Mini-Three-Links policy has allowed for direct traffic between Kinmen and cities in China since 2001. Transnational corporations that target the Chinese market started to invest in Kinmen; the Kinmen government carries out various BOT (Build–operate– transfer) projects under the framework of public-private partnership—it was estimated that there were at least 15 mega BOT projects, with 40 billion NTD of investment capital, in process in 2013.37

With regard to education, the cooperation of National Quemoy University with

Foxconn Technology Group to set up the Industrial Engineering Department is one obvious example of neoliberal development 38. The faculty and curriculum of this department are supported by Foxconn Technology Group, and its students are eligible for internships at

Foxconn in Shenzhen. A variety of such cross-strait exchange-related businesses have bourgeoned.

How do Kinmen young people perceive the development of global neoliberalism in

Kinmen? Do they share the similar experiences of young people from the mainstream Taiwan society, or the wider world? In which aspects are they influenced? How do they survive during

37 Mo Wun (2013.April 24). 5% of the public land of Kinmen will become BOT. Money Bombs will damage local tourist resources. Taiwan Environmental Information Center. Retrieved from http://e- info.org.tw/node/85374. 38 Data collected from the web page of National Quemoy University. Retrieved from http://www.nqu.edu.tw/eduieem/index.php?code=list&ids=1161. Accessed Sep 21, 2016, 11:26 am. 47

this wave of development? With the insights provided in this section, we are thus able to analyze young people’s life experiences in a wider context of globalization and neoliberalism.

2.4 Controversy and policies over employment-oriented educational migration

As I mentioned in the previous section, the economy of Taiwan has been affected by global neoliberalism, and the age of Taiwanese who move to China for working opportunities is decreasing from those who are in their middle age to recent graduates and even to university students (Tseng, 2014; Wu & Lan, 2011). In this section, I will discuss the critical discourse about working and student migration to deepen and widen my research analysis. I specifically focus on the employment-oriented student migration, because most of the young people outside

Kinmen in this research are those who left their hometown for university and then stayed and worked in the destination.

Discourse of “educationally channeled labor migration”

The most common discourses about employment-oriented student migrant are “brain drain” and “side-door for unskilled labor importation” (Liu-Farrer, 2009). The concept of brain drain is usually used to indicate skilled and professional migration from developing countries to developed countries. Studying in educational institutions in the host country and then applying for a work permit after graduation is a common strategy for this type of migrants.

Some countries, like Australia, even make policies to recruit international students and attract them to stay and work in the country (Ziguras & Law, 2006; Liu-Farrer, 2009). The reason why international students do not go back to their sending countries after finishing their studies may be due to the political instability in their home countries, or better environments in the receiving countries. Many people decide to stay simply because of higher wages and better jobs. The discourse of brain drain has led to concerns about the damage to developing countries due to

their loss of talent (Liu-Farrer, 2009). However, it is challenged by scholars with the discussion of “brain circulation” (Yoon, Rha, Jongtae, & Hwang, J. K., 2013; Liu-Farrer, 2009; Saxenian,

2002). They prove that skilled migrants in some cases do go back and contribute to their home countries with knowledge and skills they have learnt from the receiving countries. However,

Liu-Farrer (2009) argues that the discussions of “brain circulation” has been limited to workers in science and engineering and has not explored the labor practices of cross-border students from other disciplines.

In comparison with the analysis of skilled and professional student migration, the discussion of “side-door” labor importation via student migration examines the phenomenon in which education becomes a channel of cheap labor for advanced countries. The representative example is the Industrial Training Program of Japan in 1981. Through this program, Japan government “imported” large numbers of “trainees” (Liu-Farrer, 2009: 180).

It has been criticized for introducing cheap un-skilled labor in the name of helping the development of developing countries (Liu-Farrer). However, Liu-Farrer argues that the discourse of “side-door” labor importation overemphasizes the input of student labor in “low- wage service sector” and ignores the fact that there are still a lot of cross-borders students who finish their higher education and then become professionals in Japan.

Liu-Farrer (2009) further explores contemporary “labor practices” of “educationally channeled labor migration” from China to Japan and examines how the migrants accumulate capital during the process. She points out that one reason students move from China to Japan, especially those who hold a language student visa, is purely to make money. This type of student works hard doing various part-time jobs during their stay abroad because they earn much more money in Japan than in China. Another type of student comes to Japan to obtain the opportunity to gain full-time employment rather than earning quick money. This group of

students is not only limited to science and engineering areas, but also includes those from the humanities and social sciences. With the expansion of the global economy and Japanese enterprises’ close cooperation with China, the social, cultural and linguistic background of students from China becomes their capital to enter the official job market in Japan after they graduate. In order to enhance their competitiveness, these students work part-time to learn local culture and language.

A similar situation can also be found in Wu and Lan’s (2011) study on Taiwanese students in China. They found that the motivation of employment-oriented students is connected closely to the potential job opportunities in the host market. The primary goal of these students is not to obtain formal academic degrees. Instead, they wish to acquire cultural and social capital while studying in preparation for finding employment in Japan or in transnational companies that do business with China. Different from Liu-Farrer’s research findings mentioned above, most of the students in Wu and Lan’s study already had a bachelor’s degree before they went to study in China. Around 80 per cent of them studied in post-graduate schools while only 20 per cent were undergraduate students.

China’s higher education and migration policies for non-local students

A joint program between the Association of Commonwealth Universities and

Universities UK, the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (2007) issued a report noting the ambition of China to recruit international students and skilled workers with their increasing investment in the establishment of a world-leading higher education system. This strategy has advanced their competitiveness in the market of cross-border students and has rapidly increased the number of international students. In China, nearly 10% of university

students were international students in 201339. In 2014, China had around 380,000 international students and it aims to host 500,000 by 202040.

In addition, it is also worth noting that the government of China has passed new policies about employment rights for student migrants in Beijing in 2016. University students will be allowed to be interns and part-time workers or to establish businesses in specific areas41. In comparison to the above discourse of advancing international competitiveness to attract non- local higher education students, Wu and Lan (2011) analyze the policies of the government of

China towards Taiwan students in Mainland China from the perspective of the political tension between the governments of Taiwan and China. They identify the tension between

“reterritorialization” (p.5) and “unification” (p.17) of the employment and education migration policies of the government of China towards Taiwanese. They argue that except for professionals in specific areas such as doctors or cross-strait trade businesses, China has no shortage of talent due to of its huge labor market. More importantly, they argue that behind the policy of migration regulating people from Taiwan is the contest of sovereignty. Therefore, the policies that open employment and education opportunities to Taiwanese are primary based on political considerations rather than economic factors. By “reterritorializing” the national borders through its education and labor migration policies, the government of China establishes the “quasi-citizenship” of Taiwanese. Wu and Lan’s interviews were conducted during August

2008 to September 2009, and 80 percent of those employment-oriented student migrants among their interviewees had obtained university degrees in Taiwan before they have left

Taiwan for Mainland China. At that time, Taiwanese people still faced the problem that their

39 Andrys Onsman (2013, October 25). Why do international students go to China? University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20131022125122189 40 China opens up work rights for foreign students; Indonesia moves to streamline visa processing. ICEF Monitor. http://monitor.icef.com/2016/02/china-opens-up-work-rights-for-foreign-students-indonesia-moves- to-streamline-visa-processing/ 41 Ibid. 51

degrees obtained in Mainland China were unrecognized by Taiwan’s government. Since 2010, the policies of both governments of Taiwan and China have been gradually reformed.

In 2011, Taiwan’s government started to recognize the diplomas of the top 41 universities in Mainland China. In 2013, the number of recognized universities was increased to 111, and 2014 to 129. In 2016, there were 155 universities recognized42. On the other hand, the government of China has amended their policies towards students from Taiwan step by step. In 2005, the government of China released a series of policy amendments aimed at

Taiwanese students. These policies include the equalization of tuition fees between Taiwanese students and local students, scholarships for Taiwanese students, and subsides for higher institutions which accept Taiwanese students (Wu & Lan, 2011).

The most influential policy change happened in 2010, when the government of China announced that Taiwanese students who have achieved test scores that place them in the top

12 percentile of Taiwan’s General Scholastic Ability Test can apply directly to 123 universities in China. Once they pass the interview, they can be admitted to those universities (Wu & Lan

2011). Before then, Taiwan students who want to attend universities in Mainland China had to take the GaoKao—the entrance examination of Mainland China43. In 2011, the government of

China further lowered the standard of recruitment for Taiwanese students from scoring in the top 12 percent to the top 25 percent in the General Scholastic Ability Test. The P.R.C Ministry of Education said that they will work even harder to recruit students from Taiwan in the next few years44 .

42 Ministry of Education recognize 26 more Mainland Chinese universities and higher education institutions. Retrieved from: http://www.edu.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=9E7AC85F1954DDA8&s=FAAF2C5FE9B356F1 Accessed Oct 20, 2016, 3:05 pm. 43 Yojana Sharma (15 August, 2010) TAIWAN: Top students head for China. University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20100813204448517 44 China News Center (2015.Apr.17). More than 10,000 students studying in the Mainland Chinese Universities. P.R.C Education of Ministry: Will put more effort in recruiting Taiwanese students. Now News. Retrieved from http://www.nownews.com/n/2016/04/17/2056423 52

Discussion

For a long time, Kinmen has been a society marked by the outflow of young people. In the past, the younger generation generally pursued higher education, looked for jobs and settled on the main island of Taiwan. Over 300 students were graduated from Kinmen High School every year. In 2015, 92% continued to university in Taiwan.45 If most of these young people leave Kinmen for the main island of Taiwan for their career development, that means that there are around 300 youths who emigrate from the former to the latter every year. The number does not include students who graduate from National Kinmen Advanced Agriculture and Industry

Occupation School. Nowadays, due to the development of the regional economy in addition to its specific geographic, cultural, and political positions, Kinmen seems to start to redraw its historical status from being on the edge to being a bridge positioned between Taiwan and China.

The current frequent cross-strait economic exchanges have made mainland China a new destination of migration of young people from Kinmen. People who choose to stay in Kinmen seem to have more options too.

Studies such as Li and Chen (2015), Lin et al (2015) and Tseng (2014) all point to the economic distress faced by Taiwanese youth and the trend that some of them started to look for job opportunities in China. Lin and Chen (2015) and Lin et al (2011) explicitly point out the impact of globalizing neoliberalism on the phenomenon. In addition, research studies of

Tseng (2014) and Wu and Lan (2011) demonstrate that the age of young people leaving for

Mainland China has been decreasing. Those young people may be newly graduated university students or they study in mainland Chinese universities to prepare for their future career in

45 Data collected from the website of Kinmen County Government. Retrieved from http://web.kinmen.gov.tw/Layout/main_ch/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=153869&frame=&DepartmentI D=13&LanguageType=1. Accessed Oct 11, 2016, 02:35 am. 53

China. However, all of the aforementioned research failed to analyze the differences among young people. Taiwan is a place with rural-urban differences, various ethnicities, and diverse gender cultures. Young people from Taiwan come from a diversity of social, cultural, and class backgrounds. The development and impact of globalization and neoliberalism are not the same from county to county.

On the other hand, in Hsu’s (2013) preliminary research study, she presents the cultural aspects of the motivations of young people who left Kinmen for the main island of Taiwan.

Hsu notes that the reasons are more about the generational differences and value conflicts, as well as the overly-tight interrelationships within clan society which make young people feel that there is a lack of freedom and privacy living in Kinmen (Hsu, 2013).

However, Hsu’s study does not identify the wider social context in which Kinmen people are in. In other words, she fails to examine how Kinmen young people are affected by the globe trend of neoliberalism; how young people’s sense of uncertainties are increased by the cross-straits dynamics; how the institutional changes regarding education, employment, and migration shape young people’s life paths; and how youth’s social location of gender and class interact with the other structural constraints.

In order to understand the migration decisions of youth in Kinmen, we have to, on the one hand, take into account the influence of economic development or globalization as experienced in other parts of the world; at the same time we have to consider the unique socio- political situation in Kinmen, including its influence on Kinmen’s education and economic policies.

2.5 Gender and class in a global world

Feminist sociologist Joan Acker believes that “globalization is about class, race/ ethnicity, and gender relations: it is political and cultural, as well as economic” (2004, p.18). 54

In the following part I will discuss the multiple factors of gender, class, and ethnicity in relation to globalization and migration. Meanwhile, I use Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to investigate the interactions between the young individuals’ social positions and their agency. Drawing on

Acker’s note, I also aim to expand the key factors of one’s social position to include not only social class, but also gender as a factor.

2.5.1 Gender ideology and the gendered impact of globalization

Acker (2004) first points out that gender ideology is embedded within the process of globalization. Acker argues that the gender division of production and reproduction implied in capitalism has caused lower wages and poorer working conditions for women in transnational labor markets, which has meant women have to take up unpaid domestic housework and reproduction. In addition, in the context of neoliberalism, the reduction of social welfare budgets and the loosening of business regulations have lead unprivileged women to occupy a more disadvantaged position. At the same time, women in the lower socio-economic strata have limited access to services in the reproductive industry due to the commodification of these services. (Acker, 2004, p.18)

Secondly, Acker analyzes the form of masculinity that is embedded in globalization.

Acker adopts R.W. Connell’s definition of masculinity-- “configurations of practice within gender relations” and the concept of “hegemonic masculinity,” which refers to a kind of dominant masculinity. She believes that many male leaders of market-oriented transnational corporations share common features of being “aggressive, ruthless, competitive and adversarial”

(p.29) and this has resulted in a new form of globalizing hegemonic masculinity. Even the few female leaders have to act in a masculine manner. Due to the significant positions of those leaders in transnational businesses, hegemonic masculinity has become an important economic

force of globalization, which further defines the gender expectation for leaders in transnational corporations.

Thirdly, she asserts that gender can be seen “as a resource for globalizing capital” (p.23).

On the one hand, transnational corporations constantly look for lower working wages for production. As a result, women have thus become a significant part of the labor force and a cheap labor source for global companies. On the other hand, many female migrant workers from Third World countries provide services in cleaning and caring, either for the workplace or the family in advanced countries, so that global elites can devote themselves to their transnational professions. This also exemplifies how gender intertwines with the discussion of race and ethnicity.

In the last section of the article, Acker proceeds to discuss the gendered effects of globalization on people’s life. In the labor market, women’s participation has increased while that of men has decreased. However, despite the fact that educated women are getting opportunities to become professionals or leaders, many female workers are still facing precarious working situations—low wages and insecure and poor working conditions. While it seems that women are in a more independent and autonomous position due to the improved working opportunities for them, men’s masculinities are threatened because they are not the necessary breadwinner anymore. Furthermore, the development of globalizing neoliberalism has led to governments’ reduction of support for women, and those in disadvantaged positions thus are forced to enter the labor market to earn money.

Gendered influences on female global mobility

Most low-paid domestic female migrant workers are from developing countries and they work abroad mainly because of economic and political reasons (Scheibellhofer, 2008).

Although there is an increasing number of professional women or female global business 56

leaders, it does not mean that the transnational mobility of women from developed countries or for skilled migration is not affected by the gender factor. González Ramos and Bosch (2013) claim that global mobility contributes to individuals’ professional competitiveness. However, in Scheibellhofer’s investigation (2008) of 21 Austrian scientists who worked in the U.S., transnational “mobility aspirations” are affected by their gender (p.115). Female scientists in the study were more affected by their family, such as the need for taking care of other family members in comparison to their male counterparts. Those female professional migrants might have left the U.S. and returned to their hometown if their families needed them. Compared to female domestic migrant workers from developing countries, these female scientists were considered to have higher mobility. In other words, it was easier for them to obtain work visas and financial assistance while facing less discrimination. Nonetheless, their determination to have an independent life is still deeply influenced by the gender ideology of care work.

In the same way, González Ramos and Bosch’s study (2013) of 50 male and female professionals who worked in science and technology industries in Spain had a similar finding.

In comparison to men, women were more concerned about family in addition to personal issues when they made decisions about working abroad. González Ramos and Bosch (2013) further point out that sufficient support for women in care work would improve women’s mobility.

Yet the stereotype of women as uncommitted to work or having less career ambition still prevailed. Besides, women who were more ambitious in cross-border career development were usually subjected to criticism from others and could have difficulties in finding a partner.

Discussion

The literature above not only provides us with a gender perspective to understand women’s transnational migration and how it is influenced by globalization, it also sheds light on the intertwining processes of gender, class, and ethnicity and their impact on women’s life. 57

In my current research, it is significant to present voices of young women from different class background. Through interviews and observations of these different women, it is necessary to understand if the gendered culture in Kinmen has an impact on their decisions about migration.

It is also important to study if the resources and support they have received are different due to the existing gender expectations and division of labor. What positions and work conditions do they obtain in the job market? Will they consider the factor of family more than men, as the cases mentioned above? And, will they be affected by how people perceive them if they are ambitious in their careers or if they work in areas which are traditionally occupied by men? At the same time, it is always critical to examine the differences between Western and Eastern cultures, and to understand the more recent debates on global north-south relations. Feminist theories have provided me with an important referential framework, but one that cannot be directly applied to women’s experiences in Kinmen.

2.5.2 A Bourdieusian approach to the youth migration decision-making process

Bourdieu’s concept of habitus helps us understand the process of human socialization and how individuals are affected and constrained by internalized social constructions.

According to Bourdieu’s (1990) definition of habitus:

The conditionings associated with a particular class of conditions of existence produce

habitus, systems of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed

to function as structuring structures, that is, as principles which generate and organize

practices and representations that can be objectively adapted to their outcomes without

presupposing a conscious aiming at ends or an express mastery of the operations

necessary in order to attain them (p.53).

Based on the above, “habitus” can be considered as the production of social class.

Bourdieu asserts that sociologists should investigate “the way people, on the basis of their position in social space, perceive and construct the social world” (Ritzer, 2011, p.530).

Bourdieu’s intention to connect an individual’s agency and “position in social space” is obvious. That is, an individual has agency in constructing one’s own view of the world, within the constraints of social structures and the capital that one possesses. In addition, an individual’s social class is decided by the amount and forms of capital that that individual possesses (2011).

Bourdieu divides capital into four categories. They are economic capital, culture capital, social capital and symbolic capital. Economic capital denotes “visible and material forms” of capital (Rye, 2006:52). Cultural capital is “invisible and non-material capital” (p.52) usually involving one’s knowledge, taste, skills, and qualifications. It is further divided into three types:

“embodied”, “objectified”, and “institutionalized” cultural capital. (Bourdieu, 1986, p.47).

Social capital is the possession of social connections or networks. Symbolic capital refers to

“the form that the various species of capital assume when they are perceived and recognized as legitimate” (Bourdieu, 1989, p. 17). Overall, the theory of habitus and social class seems to be more comprehensive with regards to both agency and structure and helps us to have a better understanding of young people’s migration decision-making process (Ritzer, 2011).

In the discussion of rural young people’s migration decision-making processes and practices, Rye (2011) suggests that Bourdieu’s theory of social class, especially the concept of cultural capital and habitus, provides a theoretical framework that reconciles the analyses of both agency and structure. On the one hand, in the discussion of rural migration from the perspective of social construction, Rye (2011) notes that young people in the Western world now seem to have higher mobility than before because they receive more support and resources.

In addition, the youth population in rural areas and the moving experiences among youth are 59

more diverse. Young people’s decisions about moving are affected by their imaginations of urban and rural areas. The analysis of youth mobility is strongly affected by the perspective of

“individualization” and young people are considered to have more freedom of choice (p. 172).

On the whole, migration behaviors and processes are believed to be “less predictable” and it is thus believed to be harder to theorize the impact of structure on the individual.

On the other hand, in view of social structure, Rye (2011) uses the example of a large- scale empirical research study on Norway’s young population to explain how young people’s social class background still affects their migration patterns. The economic and cultural capital of young people’s parents were used as indicators of their social class background. The study shows that youth mobility, migration destinations, and the success or failure of migration are affected by the young people’s social class position. He points out that rural young people who come from a higher social class have more possibilities of migration than those who are from a lower social class. Furthermore, their father’s level of education plays a significant role. The possibility of relocation to an urban area is doubled for those with a father with a higher degree and income in comparison to those with a father possessing lower educational credentials and job status.

Base on the arguments above, Rye (2011) asserts that although class analysis cannot fully explain the migration practices of rural young people, class does form an influential factor in their relocation plans. Young people’s different migration plans and decisions imply a sense of agency. If we adopt a Bourdieusian approach to analyze young people’s responses to their situations, there seems to be an interaction between agency and the “position in social space”.

Young people’s freedom of choice can be seen as a kind of “structured freedom” (Rye, 2011, p.178).

Discussion

Inspired by the literature discussed in this section, I believe that it is crucial to explore how the factor of social class affects the migration decision-making processes of youth in

Kinmen, and to what extent an individual youth’s decision to move or stay is affected by the different forms of capital they possess in an increasingly affluent Kinmen society. It is also essential to have a dialogue with Bourdieu’s discussion of four categories of capital and to understand which category of capital may have a more significant impact on contemporary

Kinmen youth’s migration practices. Meanwhile, the agency of young people should not be overlooked when I put an emphasis on the impact of social structure. Furthermore, an analysis of the impact of social structure in this thesis demonstrates that a youth’s social position of which one’s habitus is shaped, stretches beyond one’s class background. It is the result of the intersectionality between one’s class and gender locations within the social structure which interweavingly affects an individual’s decision-making process.

Encouraged by Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, I hope my research can contribute to the sociological debate of whether an individual’s agency can go beyond the influence of social structure in their decisions about migration or if it is just an embodiment of “structured freedom”.

2.6 Towards an integrated analysis of young people’s decision-making process

The social world young people are situated in is complicated and challenging. At the same time, their strength is beyond imagination and worth our appreciation. In order to investigate the entangled factors and relationships which influence the decision-making processes of young people during their school-to-work transitions, I adopt the integrated paradigm proposed by sociologist George Ritzer (2011).

Ritzer (2011) uses the concept of “levels” to analyze social phenomena. A social phenomenon can range from small to large in scale, and they are distributed in the

“microscopic-macroscopic continuum”(p.A-13, emphasis in original). The two ends of this continuum are macro level social phenomena —such as capitalism, cultures, and societies; and micro level like individuals and their ideas or behavioral phenomena. Meanwhile, a broad variety of phenomena on the meso level, such as organizations or social classes, are distributed in between the macro level and the micro level. It is worth noting that, there is no clear-cut divisions between different levels. Ritzer reminds us that “social reality is best viewed as an enormous variety of social phenomena that are involved in continuing interaction and change

(p. A-12-A-13)”. Sociologists should seriously consider the “interrelationship among levels” and “the totality of a theory” (p. A-16). One can say that any phenomenon which falls in between the smallest and the largest scale of phenomena could be designated as being on the meso level. More importantly, the meso level on the one hand plays the role of integrating two ends of the continuum. On the other hand, itself serves as a conceptual tool for researchers who are interested in explore the complicated phenomena in addition to the two extremes of the analytical framework. Ritzer’s integrated paradigm provides us with a schema to understand the social world which consists of a bewildering array of social phenomena.

Drawing on Ritzer’s insight of an integrated paradigm, I hereby propose an analytical framework which investigates research questions from different levels—macro, meso, and micro levels. At the macro level, I aim to analyze the geo/political economy of young people in Kinmen. At the same time, I examine influences of globalization and neoliberalism regarding different aspects of the lives of young people from Kinmen, including education, employment, migration, and the value system. For the meso level, I look at the local context and explore how the specific culture and history of Kinmen society shape young people’s current life situations. I also put emphasis on the significance of individual’s location within 62

the social structures of gender, class, and ethnicity. I believe that despite the potential weakening of the predictive power of social structures in a global era, while their influence on young people’s life trajectories remain substantial. For the last part, I turn my analysis to young individuals’ responses of the outside world, especially their attitudes, resources, strategies, and plans towards education, employment, and migration. Through comparison between Kinmen youth located in Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan, and Fujian, China, I wish to outline a more comprehensive understanding of young people’s lives in the borderland. Figure 2.1 below illustrates the analytical framework which comprises the macro, meso, and micro aspects of my research.

Macro Geo/politics of youth Globalization and its effects level

Meso Social structures of Localized young people: level gender, class and the history and culture of Kinmen

ethnicity

Micro Youth decision-making processes—The free subject within a social space: level Youth compromises, strategies, and interactions with challenges and

constraints.

Figure 2-1 Analytic framework of the decision-making process of young people from the borderland 63

Research Methodology

It’s just a matter of time. Relationships in the field.

Feb 21, 2017

This afternoon, I went to the Kinmen branch of a social welfare agency to ask some questions. When I was parking my motorbike at the door, a woman at the door said “xxxx, you have turned on the headlight during the day” to me in Kinmen dialect. I hadn’t taken off my helmet and couldn't hear the first few words, so I asked her to repeat it.

Then the woman entered the office.

I took a big and deep breath at the entrance and walked into the office too. There were three women in the office, including the woman. They called her aunt. I showed my intention and said that I was also a Kinmenese. Then, as a researcher, I handed her my business card and enquired with politeness.

At that time, the aunt said to her colleagues in Kinmen dialect: “Even if she is a

Kinmenese, she must have been away for a long time. She cannot even understand Kinmen dialect”. I immediately tried to save the situation with my Kinmen dialect, although I knew it was broken since I was a child: “Just now, it was just because I was still wearing my helmet, so I did not hear what you said. ”

After the explanation of my purpose, one of the staff members asked their director to come down and talk to me. The director was a woman assigned from the main island of Taiwan.

She said politely that I have to apply online to use any materials from their center. I would have to upload my research proposal and a recommendation letter from my supervisor, etc.

At the same time, the aunt began to try to help me. She said that my needs seem to be relatively simple, so I should not have to go through those complicated procedures [It looks like my Kinmen dialect has passed]. The director continued to explain their rules. I also said that I would respect them and I would try.

Just when I was still talking to the director, suddenly, the aunt started asking me where

I was from in Kinmen? I said “Jincheng” ..... As usual, when this topic starts, I started to stand by and know what would happen next ...

Aunt: Where in Jincheng?

Me: Dongmen .... Near the Dongmen traditional market [To avoid further inquiry, I

immediately added].

I hoped the combination of people there was too complicated, it could make her give up asking.. This is how I successfully changed the topic in the same situation last time. But, who knew that the aunt wouldn’t give up!

Aunt: Your surname is Yang, It is very rare in Dongmen. Most of the Yang live in

HuXia.

I smiled awkwardly and continued to try to stop this topic: Some of my family members

and my sisters are not living in Kinmen anymore ...

Aunt: Ah Dongmen ... don't you know that xxx ...

I [with no hesitation but a little embarrassment] : It's my dad [I have been prepared for

this, but I just didn’t like to face this situation.].

The aunt immediately talked to the director and colleagues: Ah, we all know each other.

[Turns her head to me] Ah, you should have said that earlier.

At this moment, I saw the director looked like a little stunned, and murmured to herself:

Thank goodness that you did not.

[Did that mean that the director would discredit my application if I did that? I wondered.] 65

On the other hand, the aunt was still trying to help me to say a few words, to see if the procedure could be simplified.

It looked like I was intentionally hiding something, I felt embarrassed.

But at the same time, I was glad that I did the right thing, to show that I was professional.

I kept saying: I’m sorry to bother you.

When I felt that it was time to leave, the aunt enthusiastically suggested that the director introduce me to a few young colleagues in the next room who she thought might be helpful to me. After the director and I moved to the next room and introduced each other for a while, I felt that I really had to retreat. The director sent me to the door, and then the aunt came to the door too.

Aunt: Are you married?

I: No, I am not.

Director: Would you like to introduce someone to her? [Turned to me] Aunt has a lot

of people to introduce.

Aunt: Oh, people have their own thoughts at this age, so there is no need for

introduction. Just like you.

[Ah, it seemed that the two have already fought over the topic of “introducing partner for marriage”, so I could escape this time.]

Aunt [continuedly]: Did you graduate from Kinmen High School? Who was your

mentor?

Me: xxx

Aunt: Ah, he walks dogs here frequently... director, have you ever seen him? ... He is

very xxxx ... (turned to me again) You must have known that the teacher XXX had… .

You must know …

What she mentioned was a rumor which started spreading twenty years ago. I didn't say

anything. I just tilted my head.

I don’t remember how I got on my motorbike and left. I heard that she told to the director that she was very good at guessing. She also said that she would tell my mom that I came here next time when they met each other. Also, I remember that she enthusiastically asked me to visit their office frequently.

Remark

Before entering the field, I had always struggled with how to deal with the issue of my identity as an insider. I had been practicing dialogues that I might encounter and how to respond.

Each time when I was questioned about: “ To what extent should a researcher disclose him or herself?”, I started to question myself: “The interviewees have told you about their stories, and what about you?!”

Even after major social changes, Kinmen is still a place that attaches great importance to blood and geography. Once I tell my surname and the town where I live, I have to be prepared to be exposed. Another thing that is more surprising is that things that happened two or three decades ago may still be dug out and spread” repeatedly. People have particularly good memories about certain things. Today I really encountered the situation that I had to be so open.

The feeling is really like the whole person was posted on the bulletin board.

I felt a little bit scared this afternoon. But in fact, I have learned a lot from these experiences. My questions reflect the fact that I am lacking a sense of security and trust at my research site. It also shows my uncomfortableness in making use of “relationships” in my fieldwork. But, where does these feelings come from? Does it only appear because that I have left Kinmen for so long? The feeling of being like a “deserter” appeared again this afternoon.

I have to ask myself again why am I here? What am I trying to achieve from this research? 67

“Relationships (Connections)” in the field makes it easy for people to identify you, to locate you. The net of relationships could be used to gain various privileges, but it can also become a net of constraints and surveillance. Because of this research, I now own a new identity in Kinmen—a researcher. I thought that I can connect / reconnect myself to this place in a different way and do something for people in this marginalized place, through this new identity. While today, this new identity is [forced to] connect with my other identities. A

Kinmenese, a friend’s daughter [this “someone” could also bear different identities], and a single / unmarried woman.

“Relationships” are such a complex and important part of fieldwork; what is the real distance between me and the young Kinmenese?

3.1 Overview

This research aims to understand the “contextual conditions” young people live in and in which they make decisions in migrating to other places for education and work (Yin, 2010, p.8). Therefore, I adopt a qualitative research method by conducting multi-site fieldwork in

Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan, and Mainland China. From October 2016 to June 2018, I conducted in-depth interviews with 34 research participants from diverse backgrounds in these three research sites. In this section, I also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of my role as both an “insider” and “outsider” in the research process.

3.2 Qualitative research approach

My research study aims to explore the “complexity” of society, especially in the rapidly changing society of Kinmen—the border area of Taiwan, where traditional culture and history are encountering globalizing neoliberalism, and where personal subjectivity and mobility are constructed under the social structure and thus shape different types of “border” movements. 68

Therefore, I choose to employ a non-deductive qualitative approach. I aim to follow what Flick suggests:

Rapid social change and the resulting diversification of life worlds are increasingly confronting social researchers with new social contexts and perspectives. These are so new for them that their traditional deductive methodologies—deriving research questions and hypotheses from theoretical models and testing them against empirical evidence—are failing due to the differentiation of objects. Thus, research is increasingly forced to make use of inductive strategies (Flick, 2009, p.12).

Adopting a qualitative research methodology allows me to present the diversity and profoundness of people’s lives in Kinmen instead of generalizing research outcomes. In addition, as a researcher, I believe that the research process is a persistent learning process for me. Through the exercise of locating myself in the research field and during social interactions with participants, I keep thinking and rethinking my present and past understandings of the outside world as well as my connection with it. As Lincoln (2011) notes，“qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world” (p.3). Lincoln also stresses that

“qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them.” I believe that it is also significant to reflect on and learn how knowledge is constructed in addition to knowledge itself.

This reflection also connects to how a researcher examines his or her own values and prejudices. In comparison to quantitative research methods that tends to emphasize a “value- free framework”, I am certain of the “value-laden nature of inquiry” (Lincoln, 2011, p.8). I am also inspired by feminist qualitative approaches and their attention to marginalized groups.

Their critical inquiry on issues such as “whose knowledge? where and how was it obtained, by whom, from whom, and for what purposes?” constantly remind me to examine the social

location which I occupy and not to take what I have come to believe in for granted (Olesen,

2011, p.129).

3.3 Swinging between insider and outsider: Connected but distant

I am inspired by feminist methodology in relation to my understanding of standpoint theory in qualitative research methods. Standpoint theory highlights the importance of positioning oneself in the research process (Haraway, 1988; Harding, 1991).

As a person who grew up in Kinmen and a situated knower, I have an insider’s knowledge of Kinmen’s society and its traditions (Collins, 1986). As a woman who grew up in Kinmen, I understand the gender roles and labor division between women and men.

However, a lot of times, I also feel that I am like an outsider. I left Kinmen for university in 1995, when there was not yet the Mini-Three-Links. Since then I struggled with the decision of whether to return home or not a few times. In the end, I have never moved back to Kinmen, despite the fact that I fly back home for different occasions every year. Things are clearly changing. For example, the education system has gone through several waves of reforms. New economic forces have intervened in the existing labor market during the last two decades.

These changes mean that the accessibility of education and employment have changed.

Meanwhile, technology has been advancing and the high school teachers are from different generations, and all these developments mean that the sources of value and knowledge for young people are different from youth in my generation. New strategies, or new forms of capital are required for young people to survive in the new world.

The awareness of being (or being like) an insider or outsider also come from the interactions with my research participants. For example, compared to the smooth process in recruiting interviewees or discussing certain topics in Taipei, the difficulties I faced in Kinmen in the early stage of my fieldwork reminded me to be sensitive to the issue of distance between 70

me and the participants. I thus carefully created safe environments and comfortable distance for our conversations. Before each interview, I worked hard to find a venue where the young people would not feel they were being monitored. I understand that my sensibility about distance comes from the connection between me and my research participants. We are connected, but we have to be distant sometimes.

Where and how to locate myself in the fieldwork as a researcher and as a Kinmenese is a learning process. My identity as a person who was born and grew up in Kinmen does not necessarily help to create trust between me and the participants. I tried to emphasize my experiences of living in Taipei for almost twenty years and my current residency in Hong Kong to help to create distance and reduce their concerns towards me sometimes.

A lot of times, I wondered, if I were not from Kinmen, would the fieldwork be easier?

The interviewees did not have to worry that I would leak their secrets to someone we know in common, intentionally or unintentionally. They did not have to speculate if I hold opinions similar to those of the majority of Kinmenese. These queries confirm my insider’s position to the interviewees. It made me feel stuck between a rock and a hard place sometimes during the fieldwork. However, if it were not for the similar anxiety of being identified unexpectedly, the same fear of becoming the object of discussion, the concealed irritation of being judged with normative gender expectations, by some acquaintances or strangers, I would not be able to open my senses to the unspoken experiences of my research participants. I would not be able to consider their situations in a wider social context.

Feminist standpoint theorists emphasize the importance of claiming one’s position within research and therefore laying open one’s bias during the research process. I have learnt that the research field is not a fixed reality. Interpersonal distance could not be measured and preset. Only with an open mind, could I learn to identify my every struggle, emotion, and fear during the field work, and I believe that they could become keys to new doors in the field. The 71

reflective works not only help me to overcome challenges in the field, but also make me more sensitive to the world my research participants are situated in. In this context, my knowledge of the field helps to enrich my understandings of the social world rather than block my eyes from seeing things.

3.4 Data collection

In-depth interviews and observations are the primary methods of data collection in this research study. I also adopt documentary data including government publications, statistics reports, news reports, and personal notes as major or complementary data to provide rich contexts regarding the institutions, history, politics, and culture where my research participants are located.

3.4.1 Conducting an insider’s incomplete participant observation

As Flick (2009) notes, the position we adopt as researchers will determine the methods we choose and the accessibility / inaccessibility of the field. Given my insider position in the research field, I chose not to conduct complete participant observations for my enquiry process.

The reason, however, is not because I worry my observation would lead to the effect of

“intervention” and I intend to pretend to be objective. Participant observation, as Schensul,

Schensul, and Licompte (1999) define, it is “the process of learning through exposure to or involvement in the day-to-day or routine activities of participants in the researcher setting”

(p.91). I choose an incomplete participant observation approach because I am aware of the anxiety a close inter-personal relationship creates for research participants. Therefore, I avoided observing the participants directly in their routine activities. But it does not mean that

I overlook the importance of the process of immersing myself in the research settings.

Through the “exposure” and “involvement” of myself in a variety of research settings and activities, I increase my understanding of the social and cultural context where participants are situated. I conducted observations at the counters of the Mini-Three-Links ports, duty-free shops, chain drug stores, airports, and a variety of events. I looked at the combinations of workers and customers and the interactions between them. I observed the different attitudes of employees towards different groups of customers. I checked the expressions of the clerks after a long period of time when there were not any customers. I observed the interactions between different generations in Kinmen. I listened to how people discussed the casino referendum. I also engaged in informal conversations which were also opportunities to recruit potential research participants. All these observations help to construct my interview guides and shape my data analysis.

I did spent time with the research participants. I went to workshops held by local governments in Kinmen with my participants. I visited the coffee shop where the participants were working. I went to a concert where my participant was the major performer. I participated in a march in Taipei with my participants. During my participant’s visit to Hong Kong, I spent time guiding her. I made use of all these “natural” situations to not only build up the trust between us, but also to increase my understandings of the research participants as human beings living in a real, dynamic, and culture-laden world.

3.4.2 In-depth interviews

As Liamputtong (2009) states in her discussion of in-depth interviews as a methodological instrument, “if we wish to learn how people see their world, we need to talk with people” (p.42). As a researcher, I realize the importance of hearing the voices of my research participants personally. Hence I chose to conduct in-depth interviews as a primary method for data collection. Through this “special conversation” (p.42) between me-the 73

researcher, and the participant, we build up a kind of “partnership” (p.43). The aim of this special conversation—in-depth interviews—is to “explore the “insider perspective”, to capture, in the participants’ own words, their thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and experiences’ (Taylor,

2005: 39).

Areas of interview questions and data analysis

In order to explore the complex and multilayered dimensions of young people’s decision-making processes when considering whether to move or stay, I developed an interview guide with an analytical mode that comprises issues related to young people’s moving/staying processes, such as social transformations in Kinmen, social background, decision to leave or stay, current living situation, and future plans. The table below presents the dimensions and the areas of interview questions.

Table 3-1 Dimensions and the Areas of Interview Questions. Dimensions Areas of Interview Questions

Social transformations in Kinmen Individuals’ perceptions of the economic,

political, and social changes in the society of

Kinmen

Gender perspective in Kinmen

Impact of social change on young people’s

lives

Education pathway Individual’s education experiences regarding

high schools and university, and the reasons

behind their education decisions.

Work experience Individual’s work experiences in terms of

objective conditions and subjective feelings.

Individual’s social background An individual’s gender, class, and ethnic

identity

Personal experience in terms of gender, class

and ethnicity in mainstream Kinmen society

Decision to leave or stay Previous reasons for leaving or staying

Surrounding conditions for making decisions

Future planning

Current living situation Positive experiences of staying in Kinmen,

or leaving for the main island of Taiwan or

Mainland China.

Negative experiences of staying in Kinmen,

or leaving for the main island of Taiwan or

Mainland China.

Differences between expectations and reality

Future Plan and reason for next step: to leave

hometown or to go back to hometown.

Career planning

Surrounding conditions for making future

plans

The special geographical and political position, history, and culture, as well as rapid societal transformation of Kinmen help us to understand how social changes and an individual’s social identities interweavingly affect pathways to the future of the youth, and how 75

they imagine and plan their future. In particular, under the current global context of neoliberalism, people are persuaded to believe in the freedom of choice and hence are encouraged to be competitive in choosing their life paths.

Sampling and recruitment

“Qualitative researchers sample for meaning, rather than frequency.” (Morse, 2006, p.530, original emphasis.). My approach to recruiting research interviewees is, like Warren

(2002) suggests, “theoretical sampling” which is “carried out through a ‘snowball’ process”

(p.87). Warren further explains that a researcher who adopts theoretical sampling “seeks out respondents who seem likely to epitomize the analytic criteria” (p.87). With regard to the

“criteria” of sampling, the aim is to advance the understanding of young people’s decision- making processes when considering migration for education and employment, and the meanings young people ascribe to these decisions as well as the multifold social contexts in which they are made. In-depth interviews have been conducted with 34 young people aged from 20 to 35 years old. As Maguire and Ball (2012) note, the age of school-to-work transition varies according to the development of the society. In a society with abundant work opportunities, the transition from school to work is usually smoother than that in a society with a high unemployment rate. Youth may have to be “‘warehoused’ in courses and colleges or on training schemes” when it is difficult for them to find a secure job (Maguire & Ball, 2012, p.50, emphasis in the original). While environmental factors might affect the school-to-work transition, the social location of a young person can also be an influence. Besides, those who have already graduated from the universities and entered the job market may still be situated in an unsettled employment environment.

The recruited young people were studying or had studied in universities in three locales:

Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan, and Mainland China. Tables 3-3 to 3-7 show the 76

distribution of research participants in the three sites. For a young person who has grown up in

Kinmen, studying at a university in Kinmen after graduating from the local senior high school means he or she will pursue higher education in the hometown. Pursuing further studies in the main island of Taiwan means leaving the hometown and going to another city within the same nation. As for studying in China, it means leaving one’s hometown and being a transnational student in the country nearest to his or her hometown.

Meanwhile, feminist theories of globalization and Bourdieu’s concept of social class and habitus also inform my approach to methodology. I also take into account the increasingly complex situation of Kinmen’s population by ensuring the heterogeneity of research participants in terms of gender and social class. In regard to gender, the variable of biological sex is the main element to be included along with recognition of diverse sexualities in my sample. Therefore, we can understand more about how the mainstream gender culture and gender expectations of Kinmen society affect the younger generation in making decisions about moving. In terms of social class, although it was difficult to determine participants’ class backgrounds during the initial selection process, class as a social factor is still part of my analysis.

In order to recruit potential informants, I first utilized my social networks, as in familial ties and peer groups. I also contacted the Office of Student Career Development and alumni associations of National Kinmen Senior High School from which I graduated. There are two senior high schools in Kinmen. One is the National Kinmen Senior High School, which is academically-oriented and generally encourages students to pursue university degrees. The other one is the National Agricultural and Industrial Vocational Senior High School where students mostly receive job-specific training; most of their students aim to enter the workforce and only a few students will study at vocational colleges after graduation. I also asked for the 77

recommended interviewees’ assistance to recruit others, as is commonly done in snowball sampling. In-depth interviews have been tape recorded and transcribed with consent. As I am fluent in both Mandarin and the Taiwanese dialect, I conducted interviews in both languages.

Participants currently in Kinmen (Number: 22)

Table 3-2 Female participants currently in Kinmen (Number: 10) Name (Pseudonym) Age Place of University Occupation The main island of 1 Ann 31 Taiwan B&B administrator 2 Bee 25 Kinmen B&B administrator The main island of 3 Gigi 25 Taiwan Substitute teacher 4 Jojo 24 None Duty free shop clerk

The main island of Temporary government 5 Joy 26 Taiwan contract employee 6 Liling 22 Kinmen Car rental company staff The main island of 7 Ruby 29 Taiwan Securities broker The main island of 8 Sisley 29 Taiwan Airline company staff 9 Vivian 27 Fujian In transition 10 Xiaoling 21 Kinmen Travel agency staff

Table 3-3 Male participants currently in Kinmen (Number: 12) Name (Pseudonym) Age Place of University Occupation 11 A-Ben 21 Kinmen Laundry staff The main island of 12 A-Jia 24 Taiwan Substitute teacher 13 A-Wei 23 Kinmen Ferry company The main island of 14 A-Yuan 34 Taiwan In transition The main island of Temporary government 15 Benny 29 Taiwan contract employee / Café owner 16 Eason 30 Kinmen In transition

The main island of 17 Gary 34 Taiwan Doctor 18 Guo-Wei 21 Kinmen Duty free shop clerk Freelance music teacher/ Café 19 Hyman 27 Fujian owner The main island of 20 Lee 29 Taiwan Travel agency staff The main island of Telecommunication service 21 Sun 29 Taiwan provider engineer The main island of 22 Yi-ming 25 Taiwan Souvenir shop clerk

Participants currently in Taipei (Number: 11)

Table 3-4 Female participants currently in Taipei (Number: 6) Name (Pseudonym) Age Place of University Occupation The main island of 23 Lilly 25 Taiwan Marketing personnel The main island of 24 Olivia 34 Taiwan Pharmacist The main island of 25 Shinpei 24 Taiwan Insurance agent Fujian & The main island 26 Yating 29 of Taiwan Marketing personnel The main island of 27 Ying 24 Taiwan Film company staff The main island of Freelance lecturer / make-up 28 YuRou 30 Taiwan artist

Table 3-5 Male participants currently in Taipei (Number: 5) Name (Pseudonym) Age Occupation The main island of 29 Fei-fan 30 Taiwan Accountant The main island of 30 Owen 25 Taiwan Police officer The main island of 31 Peng 30 Taiwan Artist The main island of 32 Russell 25 Taiwan Marketing company staff The main island of 33 Wen 24 Taiwan Counsellor

Participant currently in Fujian, China

Table 3-6 Male participant currently in Fujian, China-Male (1) Name Place of University (Pseudonym) Age studied Occupation 34 Ren 26 Fujian Chinese medicine intern doctor

3.4.3 Documentary data

Documents, as Wolff (2004) defines, are:

Standardized artifacts, in so far as they typically occur in particular formats, as notes,

case reports, contracts, drafts, death certificates, remarks, diaries, statistics, annual

reports, certificates, judgements, letters or expert opinions (p.284).

A variety of documents are used in this research. Most are public data, like government statistical reports, news articles, non-governmental surveys, or academic data. I also adopt private documents, like non-public Facebook articles or originally anonymous articles provided by the research participants who are the authors.

These data serve as both major materials and complementary information. For example, in Chapter 4, in order to contextualize the complicated geopolitical situation of Kinmen, I adopt a lot of media reports about politicians’ speeches and entrepreneurs’ press releasees and qualitatively analyze the ideologies behind them. Besides, in addition to the major data collecting method—interviews—I was fortunate to obtain a few unpublished theses or non- public personal notes after trust has been built between me and research participants. These materials advance my understandings of the participants’ perspectives. All these examples serve as key information for this thesis. Meanwhile, I also use quantitative statistical materials,

or organizational policies regarding education, migration, labor, Duty-Free management, etc. to build dialogues with data collected through interviews and observations. With this documentary data, I am thus able to present as richly as possible the geopolitical, institutional, historical, and societal contexts young people are situated in.

There are also limitations in applying documentary data in the research. As Flick (2009) reminds us, we should not view all documentary data as neutral. We have to take into account the questions of who, why, and how the documents are produced and presented. Therefore, in the process of collecting documents, I did my best to find firsthand or official data. However, the sources of certain online original data were removed in the later stage of my research, and

I was therefore forced to replace that data with secondary data instead. Nonetheless, for this kind of situation, I try to find at least more than one alternative sources of the same data to ensure the credibility of the data as much as possible.

3.5 Data analysis

I started the preliminary coding and data analysis at the same time the work of data collection started. I tried to categorize data based on initial themes generated.

During the process of data collection work, including interviews, documentary data collection, and observations, I also revisited academic literature to examine and revise my theoretical framework.

At the same time, I continued informal conversations with the research participants through online media, such as Facebook messenger, Line, and WeChat. Through these conversations I clarified their thoughts and narratives.

After the final coding and data analysis, the constructs and themes of the research were finalized.

3.6 Research limitations

In this research, I was not able to recruit research participants from a varied class composition. This is a research limitation not because I hope to achieve a result which is generalizable as quantitative researchers do. Instead, as a qualitative researcher, I hope that this study can document the diversity and profoundness of people’s lives in Kinmen.

I understand that my personal experiences regarding Kinmen could be an obstacle to my exploratory journey. As Asselin (2003) reminds us, I have to admit the fact that being a member of the “big Kinmen community” does not mean that I have the knowledge of the “sub- group within Kinmen”. Meanwhile, even though I have gone through the stage of school-to- work transition and struggled with the decision to leave or return to my hometown several times in my own life, a generation gap exists as the time and space have changed for the current younger generation.

Therefore, I am aware of and am examining the presumptions I made before or during the research process. With this reflection, I am thus able to create a space for dialogue between my own lived experience and of the experiences of the participants in this study.

Land of opportunity, for whom?

Youth employment, geopolitics, and transnational capitalism

Two Kinmen young people who have just graduated from Quemoy University

applied for jobs together today. They said that they had just fulfilled their military

service and noticed Ever Rich Duty Free Shop Company is recruiting. There are quite

a number of industries or resorts which will be opening in Kinmen. There are great

opportunities for them to stay in their hometown and have careers.

(14. Feb.2014 Taiwan News)46

4.1 Overview

“In order to revitalize Kinmen’s economy and open up the future of Kinmen, do you agree to the establishment of an international resort with five percent of the area developed into casinos? ” This is the question of a referendum held in Kinmen on Oct 28, 2017.

Supporters of the project argued that in order to improve the local tourism industry, bring more income, and create job opportunities for young people, Kinmen should learn from the experience of Macau, China and attract more tourists from China. Opponents emphasized the

46Central News Agency (2014, Feb 14) Ever Rich is recruiting, Kinmen youth stay at hometown to develop career. Taiwan News. Retrieved from https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/ch/news/2413137 83

negative impact on society, such as the introduction of pornography, firearms, and drugs. They also worried that young people would not able to afford a house in the future because of the soaring real estate prices after the introduction of casinos. In the end, according to the result of the vote, the proposal to build casinos in Kinmen was rejected. It is wildly believed that the key to the result was China government’s attitude. Just a few days before the referendum, a scholar from Xiamen University stated in an interview that “if the ‘referendum’ for setting up casinos in Kinmen passes, the Mainland China government will have to strictly restrict the number of tourists who can visit Kinmen.”47 A bit earlier, it was widely reported in the media that the director of Taiwan Affairs Office of China government expressed “once the casino is opened in Kinmen, they would shut down the Mini-Three-Links”48.

Young people’s economic life marks the transformation of society, and the rise and fall of industries in Kinmen. It also reveals the uncertainties created by the geo-political position of Kinmen between Taiwan and China, as shown in the case of the casino referendum.

Without doubt “youth unemployment” and “youth outflow” have been realities faced by remote or rural societies, such as Kinmen. While at the same time, “the spread of fear and uncertainty can be a useful technique for governing society”, as Shi and Liu (2014, p.938) remind us in their research about young casino dealer’s lives in postcolonial Macau. Shi and Liu further point out that a young person’s decision to become a dealer is never simply a personal choice or the choice of the family. It is strongly related to the governance of the postcolonial government and its cooperation with transnational casino capitalists.

47 Li, Hui-Ping (2017, July 24). Zhang Wensheng: Don't bet on the tomorrow of Kinmen. Xiamen Daily. Retrieved Oct 01, 2019 from the website of Xiamen university : https://twri.xmu.edu.cn/2017/1129/c16680a318864/page.htm 48 Abby Huang (2107, Oct 28). 4 key points of the “ Referendum for casinos in Kinmen” that China has opposed. Most votes against in history. The News Lens. Retrieved from https://www.thenewslens.com/article/82101 84

In this chapter, I focus on the interrelations between geopolitics and transnational capitalism. The former normally contains the concept of territorial control (Teschke, 2011) while the latter refers to a cross-border/de-border process of capitalism (Sklair, 2001). Based on the observation of Kinmen society, I believe that they are not entirely opposite and binary concepts. On the contrary, I argue that the two factors mutually affect each other and capitalize on the fears of youth unemployment and outflow. I identify how these forces construct uncertainties for young people living in the border area while bringing forth opportunities and risks.

4.2 The transformation and combination of geopolitics and transnational capitalism

As stated by Szonyi (2008), people’s life in Kinmen during the Cold War depended greatly on conducting business with military personnel and this reliance on the “A’bingge49 business” indicated how “local life was geopoliticized” (p.141).

Szonyi also claims that the tension that resulted from geopolitics led to a great “paradox”

(p.141) in Kinmen society because people’s economic life got worse when there were less troops stationed in Kinmen during the process of demilitarization. From the figure below, it shows that there was a period of time when the number of soldiers in Kinmen was two times higher than the population of local residents, and that number started to decrease in 1990.

49 In the local dialect of Kinmen, A’bingge means soldier. Can also see footnote 7. 85

Figure 4-1 Civilian population and garrison size in Kinsmen (Szonyi, p. 257)

Szonyi’s analysis seems to be applicable to the older generation in Kinmen, while it does not explain the younger generation’s experiences in the post-Cold War era. Especially, after the implementation of the Mini-Three-Links. Nonetheless, geopolitics remains an important factor in shaping young people’s life in Kinmen.

4.2.1 The geopolitical shift: From A’bingge to LuKe

Sisley’s parents have witnessed the change in industries in Kinmen. Since her childhood, both of Sisley’s parents have worked as taxi drivers. Before the massive withdrawal of soldiers from Kinmen, “you earned more money by driving taxi”, Sisley told me. She also told me: “We operated by phone, so as long as they have issued business cards, at that time there were still a lot of A’bingge, a lot of troops, and many soldiers called for taxi services.”

However, after the continuous reduction of soldiers in Kinmen, their work pattern has changed although driving a taxi is still the main source of their income.

In recent years, the proportion of troops has dropped as a whole. So the old pattern was

to wait for the call, and the current pattern is that they have to go to a specific location

to line up. Yes, so the current patterns are different. Of course they still drive taxies,

but their working hours are extended. In the past, they could go home or run some

errands once there were no phone calls. Now they have to spend a long time

outside...because…taxi drivers are usually waiting at the airport or at the ports, …for

some business travelers.

After the decline of A’bingge business and the transformation of the industrial development in Kinmen, Sisley felt that tourists do not bring much business to traditional taxi drivers like her parents. “Because there are a lot of individual travelers. They rent cars or scooters by themselves.”. There are tourists who take taxis occasionally, but they are relatively few. More passengers are “business travelers who transfer from the channel of Mini-Three-

Links to Xiamen or Taiwan [the main island of Taiwan]”. Sisley’s parents’ incomes decreased while their working hours were longer. “Now, they may leave home at 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning, and then work outside until 5 or 6 o’clock in the afternoon,” Sisley told me.

With the rapid social transformation in the society, the older generation faces a difficult situation in both working conditions and income if they are unable to catch up with the development of society. However, for young people who were born at around the time of the lifting of martial law, like Sisley, it seems that they are experiencing the booming tourism industry. It is worth noting that a great majority of customers for tourist businesses are LuKe

[tourists from Mainland China] who come to Kinmen through the Mini-Three-Links. The table below clearly shows the growth of Mainland Chinese tourists in Kinmen from 2009 to 2017.

Visitor Arrivals+Departures via Mini-Three Links in Kinmen

4,000,000

3,500,000

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0 Period 2001-2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Taiwanese (including Kinmenese) 3,182,672 1,070,696 1,018,178 1,050,355 1,019,467 990,159 1,011,660 1,028,211 1,003,219 1,004,534 Mainland Chinese 293,611 191,315 341,406 394,622 406,961 333,047 462,705 698,871 702,324 707,200 People from other countries 4,542 20,061 24,102 29,959 31,717 33,548 39,775 35,993 36,673 39,303 Sub-Total 3,480,825 1,282,072 1,383,686 1,474,936 1,458,145 1,356,754 1,514,140 1,763,075 1,742,216 1,751,037

Table 4-1 Visitor (Arrivals and Departures) via Mini-Three Links in Kinmen Source: National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior of Taiwan

The prosperity brought by tourism is highly related to the Taiwan government’s policies towards the cross-strait relationship. The following inaugural speech made by the former mayor of Kinmen county in 2005 presents distinctly how geopolitical ideology is embedded in the transformation of the Kinmen economy:

In the next four years, with unparalleled confidence and determination, we will make

the best use of our advantageous geographical position. We will keep striving to make

Kinmen become a dynamic platform for economic development on the west side of the

Taiwan Strait. A platform for the promotion of peace and mutual prosperity, as well as

shared benefits between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The results of the Kinmen

experiment will serve as a mirror for the new China in the future.

The mission of the county in the future will be dedicated to: …..

2. To play the role of a bridge across the Strait and to implement the Special Zone for

Peace: Fight for authorization from the central government to establish local legislation,

to promote the normalization of the traffic of passengers and goods through the Mini-

Three-Links, to become a tax-free zone and a free trade port, to achieve the goal of

becoming a demilitarized zone, and to lead Kinmen forward to be international and

peaceful. 50

The speech above reveals that the impact of geopolitics has continued since the militarized era during the Cold War. In the following sections, I will further elaborate on how geopolitical forces combine with global capitalism in shaping the lives of young people in

Kinmen.

4.2.2 The bridge of peace and its connection to global capitalism

Sisley graduated from university on the main island of Taiwan in June 2010. Without too much hesitation, and without sending any job application letters to companies on the main island of Taiwan, she returned to Kinmen during that summer. A few months later, she began to send her resumes out and look for jobs in Kinmen. At that time, Ever Rich Duty Free Shop

Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Ever Rich), which had already been operating a duty-

50 Chen, Rong Chong (2005.Dec 2). Mayor Lee’s Inaugural Address. Kinmen Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.kmdn.gov.tw/1117/1271/1272/130628/?cprint=pt 89

free shop in the Mini-Three-Links port, was recruiting staff for its upcoming duty-free shop in downtown Kinmen. Sisley was hired after a job interview. As a recent graduate, Sisley recalled her feelings at that time and said: “After all, it was my first job. So, I was very cautious, I would try my best to…fulfill all kinds of requirement. I was quite energetic at that time..”

Working in the duty-free shop allows Sisley, who had just graduated from university and returned to Kinmen, to be full of expectations for herself and for her own future. Sisley’s smooth process in finding the job came with the loosening of legal restrictions on the development of the offshore islands of Taiwan.

Table 4-2 Transformations of regulations relating to duty-free businesses in Kinmen

Year Content Effect

2008 “Regulations Governing the -The duty-free allowance for

Establishment and visitors to Kinmen is higher

Management of Offshore than those to most of the

Island Duty-free Shops Act” other areas in Taiwan

was passed.

-One can shop in these duty-

free shops without an

international boarding pass

or any intention of travelling

abroad unlike general duty-

free shops on the main

island of Taiwan

2014 “Visa on Arrival” allows Makes it faster and easier

Mainland Chinese tourists to for Mainland Chinese

enter Kinmen, Matsu, and tourists to travel to Kinmen.

Penghu.

2015 Further amendment of the -The duty-free allowance for

“Regulations Governing the visitors who leave from

Establishment and offshore islands for China or

Management of Offshore other international

Island Duty-free Shops Act” destinations was raised from

60,000 NTD to 1 million

NTD, except for alcohol and

tobacco.

Generally, the operation of duty-free shops in the general areas of Taiwan is under the supervision of Customs Act in Taiwan. The duty-free shop of Ever Rich was opened in Kinmen

Mini-Three-Links port in 2005, thus becoming the first duty-free shop there. In 2008, the

Taiwan government passed the “Regulations Governing the Establishment and Management of Offshore Island Duty-free Shops Act”51 in accordance with the amendment of “Offshore

Islands Development Act”. With this legal act, the duty-free allowance for visitors to Kinmen is higher than those to most of the other areas in Taiwan. In addition, one can also shop in these

51 Data retrieved from Laws and Regulations Database of The Republic of China. https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawOldVerList.aspx?pcode=G0350066

duty-free shops without an international boarding pass or any intention of travelling abroad, unlike general duty-free shops on the main island of Taiwan.

The duty-free shop where Sisley was working is “the first downtown duty-free shop” after the aforementioned “Regulations Governing the Establishment and Management of

Offshore Island Duty-free Shops Act” was passed. Therefore, business was booming. Sisley described:

They…are willing to give employees [benefits], anyway, whether it is overtime, or

bonus, …At that time, [the business] was very good, because it is the first downtown

duty-free shop”, and then many…travel agents brought [tourist groups] to it…Because

at the beginning, duty-free was only allowed in Kinmen international port, yes, it was

only for the international line, so the shop was in the port. And then, the regulations

about duty-free shop in downtown offshore island was passed, so the first downtown

shop opened. Yes...business was really good at that time, so the revenue was relatively

high (Sisley, December, 2017).

There were no large-scale development and investment projects in Kinmen before its opening up. Therefore, the opening of branches of major duty-free store consortia seems to have become the panacea for local economic development. The following news reported right before the election of the county mayor in November 2014 reflects the complex relationship between duty-free shops, local political elections, economic development, and youth employment.

It is alleged that the “Wind Lion Plaza” has laid off a large number of employees cause

the loss of face for county mayor Li Wo-Shi, who has advertised that “young people

have jobs”. The Taiwan Land Development Corporation made an emergency statement

on the (6th) day: “It is not a fact”. They stressed that only 9 people have left due to the

work environment and seasonal adjustment of human resources. After the stores are

gradually located in the Plaza, they will recruit a large number of staff again.

The manifesto of Li Wo-Shi was to create 3,000 job opportunities during his first term.

After the recruitment of employees for the two great BOT projects, “Wind Lion Plaza”

and “Ever Rich Duty Free Shop”, it had brought hopes to local people… The Taiwan

Land Development Corporation stressed that it is normal for employees to leave in the

service industry, it has nothing to do with the election. They hoped the rumors can be

stopped.52

It is evident that the opening of duty-free shops has become an important indicator of politicians’ success in creating youth employment, and it is also strongly reflected in how the fear of youth unemployment has been used by politicians and capitalists. Later, the amendments on border control and regional development of outlying islands further facilitated the expansion process of duty-free shops in Kinmen.

In December 2014, the Taiwan Ministry of the Interior announced that Mainland

Chinese tourists would be allowed to enter Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu via the channel of

52 Li, Jin-Sheng (2014, Nov 06) Layoffs at the Wind Lion? Taiwan Land Development Corporation: It is not true. China Times. Retrieved from http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20141106005037-260405

Mini-Three-Links with a “Visa on Arrival” from 2015 on53. Since then, it has been faster and easier for Mainland Chinese tourists to travel to Kinmen.

In April 2015, the Ministry of Finance of Taiwan has further amended the “Regulations

Governing the Establishment and Management of Offshore Island Duty-free Shops Act”.

According to this amendment, the duty-free allowance for visitors who leave from offshore islands for China or other international destinations was raised from 60,000 NTD to 1 million

NTD, except for alcohol and tobacco.54

This series of policies has attracted a number of duty-free corporations to actively foster the market in Kinmen. The following table shows the establishment of the current large-scale duty-free shops in Kinmen.

Table 4-3 Duty-free shops in Kinmen55

Date of opening Duty-Free shop Note

November, 2005 Ever Rich Duty Free Shop

in the Mini-Three-Links port

2010 Ever Rich’s subsidiary

company, KingFond Duty

Free Shop, in downtown

Kinmen

September, 2011 Xi-Zhuang Duty Free Shop

in downtown Kinmen

53 Data retrieved from the website of Ministry of interior, National immigration agency, R.O.C (Taiwan) https://www.immigration.gov.tw/5385/7229/7232/33993/ 54 See footnote 52. 55 Data collected from the website of Data.Gov.Tw. Retrieved 2019. Nov 10. 06:03 pm from https://data.gov.tw/dataset/8275 94

August, 2011 Fu-Wei Company’s Duty *Opened in August 2011,

shop in downtown Kinmen closed in March 2014.

December, 2011 Ho Tung Duty Free Shop in

downtown Kinmen

April, 2012 Golden Palais Duty Free *Run by Hong Kong-based

Shop Symphony Holdings

Limited.

August, 2012 Ever Rich’s subsidiary *The first duty-free shop in

company, KingFond Duty Kinmen domestic airport.56

Free Shop in Kinmen airport

January, 2014 Wind Lion Plaza in *A joint venture between

downtown Kinmen Taiwan Land Development

Corporation (TLDC) and

and Swiss-based travel

retailer Dufry Group.

*The first duty free store in

Taiwan of Dufry Group.57

*“ CEO of Dufry Diaz

expressed that “the new

project in Kinmen is a first

step to develop the duty free

56 Yang Shui-Yong (2012.Aug 11) The first duty-free shop opened in Kinmen airport. Kinmen Daily News. https://www.kmdn.gov.tw/1117/1271/1272/213108/ 57 Inside Retail Asia (2013, Sep 17). Dufry enters Taiwan. Inside Retail. https://insideretail.asia/2013/09/17/dufry-enters-taiwan/ 95

activities in Greater China

and perfectly complements

our existing duty-paid

operations in the region” 58

March, 2015 Ever Rich Duty Free Shop

in downtown Kinmen

July, 2016 Laox in Wind Lion Plaza in *One of the largest duty-free

downtown Kinmen. chain store in Japan.

*The first branch of Laox in

Taiwan.

The arrival of large-scale duty-free corporations brings potential job opportunities for young people and the development of duty-free business is closely related to border governance and tourism development. Slogans such as “Integration of Kinmen and Xiamen”(金廈融合) or

“A Kin-Xia cross-strait family” (金廈兩岸一家親) can be seen all around the island.

58 Same as footnote 58 96

Figure 4-2 Spring couplet endorsed by Kinmen mayor Chen Fu-Hai with slogan “Cross-strait integration. Happiness in Kinmen (兩岸融合, 幸福金門)” on a public bus in Kinmen (Dec.2017, researcher’s photograph)

Figure 4-3 The homepage of the Kinmen government with the slogan “Kinmen-Xiamen join hands and walk together. Co-build a new future for both sides of the strait. (金廈攜手齊步走，共築兩岸新未來)” (Apr. 2017, https://www.kinmen.gov.tw/)

In 2016, Tsai Ing-Wen was elected as the president of Taiwan. It is alleged that Tsai’s political standpoint has led to a depression of tourism business on the main island of Taiwan

due to the Beijing government’s strong discouragement of LuKe visiting Taiwan59. Contrarily, my research participants told me that “there is no decrease but increase” and “the number of

LuKe traveling individually in Kinmen has been growing”. They speculate that “it may be because we are closer to Xiamen! It is more convenient to come here”. Also, “maybe it is more difficult to get approval for group travel, and it is easier to get permission for individual travel”.

As Yi-Ming told me:

Actually, we should be friendly to DaLu (means “mainland”) so that the economy will

not collapse. So, in fact… Kinmen is very fortunate because it is geographically close

to Xiamen, and Taiwan (the main island of Taiwan) is not. The travel agencies, hotel

industry… ah, several owners I know have failed businesses and are now on the run.

Yi-Ming’s narrative shows how he tries to rationalize the widespread political attitude in Kinmen which deviates from the much more wary view of China in mainstream Taiwanese society by pointing out the economic crisis faced by tourism on the main island of Taiwan.

After all, for people who live in Kinmen, the improvement of material life has always been a priority.

However, the causal relationship between economic development and political attitudes is reversed sometimes. For example, in the speech made by county mayor Chen Fu-Hai in the

2016 Cross-Strait CEO Summit, we can observe a different way of addressing the significance of the development in Kinmen.

59Javier C. Hernández (2016, June 25) China Suspends Diplomatic Contact With Taiwan. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/world/asia/china-suspends-diplomatic-contact-with- taiwan.html 98

Chen Fu-Hai said that the meaning of the cross-strait CEO summit in Kinmen and

Xiamen is extraordinary given the increasingly tense cross-strait relations. It also points

to “the cross-border cooperation between Kinmen and Xiamen, the stabilization of

cross-strait relations.” For Kinmen, this is a very important historical mission, and

Kinmen is willing to undertake this mission….

Chen Fu-Hai said that this is the political foundation for maintaining peace across the

Taiwan Strait. He also introduced the Ever Rich Golden Lake Hotel where the summit

dinner and other important cross-strait meetings were held. He said that we can be

confident in the development of Kinmen with the efforts of entrepreneurs…

In order to achieve that goal, Chen Fu-Hai stated that Kinmen is working on the

cooperation with Xiamen to carry out sub-regional economic cooperation, aiming at the

construction of a Kinmen-Xiamen cable car, an easier way to issue tourist visas, …to

create a better home for the people on both sides of Taiwan Strait to live together.60

In summary, economic development justifies the political stance and vice versa. The complex dynamic between politics and the economy has increased ambiguities for the labor market and thus resulted in stronger uncertainties for young people in Kinmen. In other words, the closer economic connection to China brings hopes to young people, but at the same time creates new forms of insecurities in employment.

60 Central News Agency (2016. Nov 05) Chen Fu-Hai: Support Kinmen to Become a New Highlights in the Cross-Strait Negotiations. Chinatimes. Retrieved from http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20161105004258-260407 99

4.3 Taking the sightseeing bus: Young people who work in businesses related to tourism

As Sisley said, “Many newly graduated people now go to [work at] duty-free shops”

“Duty-free shop” is indeed the most mentioned workplace among my research participants.

This is partly because of the large scale of the industry and the huge workforce it requires. Take

Ever Rich as an example. For a single branch that opened in 2015, there were already around

1,000 job openings. At the same time, quite a few young people told me their experiences working in souvenir stores: XiaoLing worked in a shop selling luxury coral and jewelry.

YiMing was a lecturer of an herbal medicine shop but he is also responsible for promoting herbal medicine from the shop during his lectures. A-Wei worked in a Gong Candy (peanut candy) souvenir shop selling a specialty candy specific to Kinmen. Some of these souvenir shops have targeted LuKe [tourists form Mainland China] as their main customers from the beginning; while the others were originally opened for Taiwanese tourists but later the customer base gradually extended to include both LuKe and Taiwanese tourists. Meanwhile, some young people also joined car rental companies when they first graduated from university.

Liling, A-Ben, and Eason all mentioned their experiences working in a car rental agency.

Most of them have worked for more than one company within the past few years. Some switched jobs between different companies while still staying in tourism-related businesses.

To them, the job search is almost like taking a sightseeing bus to visit different tourist attractions. For example, Sisley was a docent after she left the duty-free shop; she also applied for a job as a clerk at a Mini-Three-Links ferry company at the port. Xiaoling once stayed in a coral shop and later turned to work at a travel agency. A-Ben once worked in a car company; the day I met him, he was collecting bed sheets at a bed and breakfast to take back to the laundry he worked for. A-Wei used to work in two different duty-free shops; he also found a

100

job in a Gong Candy shop and then was a staff member of a ferry company at the time I interviewed him.

Even when staying in the same company, they might have witnessed the transformation and expansion of the company’s service. Their job duties then changed accordingly. Like

XiaoLing and Lee, they worked at the same travel agency where there were originally very few staff when the company first opened their branch in Kinmen. XiaoLing said:

It’s just like a kind of service counter. If someone comes to Kinmen, they may buy

products from our company, and they pick them up at the counter. They buy things like

Wifi packages, book rooms, reserve flight tickets…The company has three counters: at

the port, in downtown, and at the airport. I have worked at all three sites.

She further told me:

Our company later moved a department to here. It was mainly dealing with the

application of RuTaiZheng (入台證)61, it is a document for Mainland Chinese to enter

Taiwan. It was originally set up in Beijing. But then the company thought that the wages

in Beijing are too high and they can’t afford it, so that department was moved to Kinmen.

The division in Kinmen of XiaoLing’s company reduced the personnel costs by hiring a large number of “mama,” or middle-aged women. These women “need to drop off and pick up their children. They go to the office at 9 o’clock [in the morning]and then they can get off at 4 o’clock [in the afternoon]. 4 o’clock is just good for picking up their children from school,

61 A travel Permit issued by China government for Mainland Chinese to Enter and Exit Taiwan.. 101

and they send them to school before 9.” My other research participant, Lee, who was also

XiaoLing’s colleague was one of the very few full-time staff in that division at that time when

I interviewed him.

4.4 Other business activities facilitated by the Mini-Three-Links

The implementation of the Mini-Three-Links has not only promoted tourism, but it also contributed to the development of other industries and brought hopes to young people. One such industry is chain retailers which mainly sell daily necessities instead of tourism-related products. Another significant growth area is the financial industry. Because of the convenience of the Mini-Three-Links, these growing industries also target the LuKe market. Liling told me her observations:

Actually, I have found that, they... they don't seem to trust the quality of products on

their side [Mainland China]. Yes, and the purchase brokers (parallel traders) are very

popular. During the week, usually it’s these purchase brokers coming to buy things,

they buy facial masks, and Ponpon shower gels, and some cosmetics, etc. While on the

weekends or public holidays, it might be parents and children. They ride electric

scooters and shop around… Because now it is so fast if you take a ferry, 30 minutes,

then here you are! Either they rent scooters or cars, they come here to purchase and then

go back.

In December 2017, during my trip back to Kinmen, I witnessed a similar situation one day when I went shopping at a chain drugstore. Outside the drugstore, the parking lot was full of parked electric scooters and tourists. Some tourists were parking, some were packing their purchases into suitcases on the ground, while some were leaving for the next shop. In addition 102

to the scooters, there were also cars picking up people who seemed to be part of a big family on a shopping trip together. I saw various facial masks and daily necessities in the opened suitcases on the floor. After I went into the store, I was shocked by the repeated loud command of the clerk: “Please follow the line, keep order, line up to check out.” I also heard a cosmetic counter clerk enthusiastically telling a customer who seemed to be a regular where to buy milk powder. It seemed to be essential for the sales staff to maintain good relationships with the customers.

From left to right:

Figure 4-4 Rented electric scooters in front of one drugstore (Dec.2017, researcher’s photograph) Figure 4-5 Tourists packing on the ground outside one drugstore . (Dec.2017, researcher’s photograph) Figure 4-6 Suitcases were placed outside of one drugstore. (Dec.2017, researcher’s photograph)

As a Ph.D. student studying in Hong Kong, the suitcases lying on the ground or moving on the road, the crowded and busy shops, and the clerks’ reminder in unfamiliar dialects from time to time are not unusual to me. It is part of the daily life in a cosmopolitan border city like

103

Hong Kong. However, I did not expect this image to happen in Kinmen. The previous day, the street was still empty and quiet as it used to be. Just a day later, I felt just like I was in another city. Then I was reminded that although it was not an extended weekend or long holiday, a

Saturday often guaranteed crowds from Mainland China rushing into Kinmen through the

Mini-Three-Links nowadays.

Prior to the lifting of martial law and the opening up of Kinmen for tourists, there were no large- scale enterprises or chain stores. However, just before the passage of “Regulations

Governing the Trial Operation of Transportation Links Between Kinmen/Matsu/Penghu and the Mainland Area” in 2000, and the official beginning of the implementation of the Mini-

Three-Links in 2001, the first chain convenience store opened in 1999. Since then, in an area of only 150 square kilometers with a current registered population of 130,000 people, and a permanent population of only about 60,000 people, convenient stores and chain drugstores have opened branches in Kinmen one after another. In 2011, the supermarket corporation PX

Mart opened its first branch in Kinmen.

PX Mart’s branch in Kinmen soon became the top performer in sales among all of the company’s branches including those in the main cities of Taiwan.62 When I went to PX Mart’s branch in January 2018, I saw many empty shelves which were originally allocated for milk powder and other daily necessities. It was not a holiday nor a weekend so there were no shopping crowds in the shop. This reminded me of how Guo-Wei described LuKe: “They bought milk in boxes and boxes”, “LuKe are really crazy, they can really spend a lot!” These shelves were emptied by tourists from Mainland China and have not been replenished. After the opening of two PX Mart branches, it has been rumored for more than a year that the

62 Dai Meng-zhang (2016.Apr 25) Worried about the decrease of LuKe, Japanese drugstore opened branch in Kinmen. Chinatimes. Retrieved from http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20160425000748-260301 104

French multinational retailer Carrefour was going to debut its new hypermarket in Kinmen.

Eason was one of those who were waiting for its coming. As he said:

There are more and more [companies] now…. I am still observing, like PX Mart…In

the very beginning it was the 7-11 who came over first, and then there was PX Mart

next. I couldn’t name them, anyway, there are more and more. In the past, there were

no large-scale companies from Taiwan that opened in Kinmen. I heard that Carrefour

may come, then I might try Carrefour…

Eason's job hunting in Kinmen was not smooth when he first graduated from Quemoy

University. He told me that there were not so many companies stationed in Kinmen at that time.

In the end, he had to go to the main island of Taiwan to work. When he returned five years later, his initial employment experience was not good. He felt that local companies “do not abide by the Labor Standards Act” and he had to work “overtime”. While he was about to give up and return to Taipei, the news of Carrefour’s arrival to Kinmen has brought him hope again.

These retail chains generally do not have a high barrier to entry for work. Furthermore, they are more likely to comply with labor laws in comparison with local businesses and therefore give young people more confidence to work there. This topic will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.

While we were having the conversation above, the news about Carrefour opening a store in Kinmen was still a rumor. Around one year later in March 2018, it was finally confirmed that Carrefour would open its branch in Kinmen in June 2018. The first stage of hiring has begun and the company planned to hire 150 people for the branch.

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Possibilities for professionals?

Like the emergence of the chain retail industry, the financial industry is also a new growth area in Kinmen which is not related to tourism but is also stimulated by the development of the Mini-Three-Links. The two news clips below present this trend.

Mega Financial Holding Company chose Kinmen as one of its strongholds. It is not

only because of the development of the local financial market, but also because of the

future relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait… For the establishment

of any institution, Kinmen county mayor Li hopes they can provide enough

employment opportunities in the region, and increase the welfare of employees in the

region year by year (Kinmen Daily News).63

Taiwan Business Bank’s branch in Kinmen opened yesterday… Kinmen is located in

the Western Taiwan Strait Economic Zone, adjacent to Xiamen, has the advantage of

being “the door of southern Fujian”. There are at least a million Taiwanese businessmen

and LuKe who choose to go to Mainland China through Kinmen. Therefore, it has

attracted financial corporations to open branches, such as Mega Financial Holding

Company, SinoPac Holdings, JihSun Securities… Their chairperson Huang Tienchang

stated that Kinmen’s geographic location is an important transit port for both sides of

the Taiwan Strait. With the increased frequency of cross-strait exchanges and the flow

of individuals for travel, Kinmen has favorable geographical conditions and its physical

63 Li, Jin -Qiang (2008.07.09) County Mayor Li welcome the opening of the branch of Mega Financial Holding Company. Kinmen Daily News. Retrieved from https://www.kmdn.gov.tw/1117/1271/1272/148332/

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position faces the Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone (2014.11.11 Kinmen Daily

News).64

Ruby majored in finance when she was studying at university on the main island of

Taiwan. After she graduated, she applied for a job in a securities brokerage. During the interview, the supervisor asked her “Hey, you are from Kinmen, do you want to go back to

Kinmen since the branch there is recruiting staff? ” Ruby agreed since she herself was considering returning to Kinmen. However, the financial industry has professional requirements, so when I asked Ruby if there were many Kinmenese young people among her colleagues, she answered:

There are two Kinmen XiFu [daughters-in-law of Kinmenese], the others are all

Kinmenese. But like the other banks, I know that a lot of their staff are deployed from

[the main island of] Taiwan. Like, the Taiwan Business Bank, they just established their

Kinmen branch last year, so they cannot recruit so many people from local communities.

Therefore, some of the supervisors and staff are redeployed from [the main island of]

Taiwan.”

This situation is not unexpected. There were no large-scale private banks and brokerage firms on the island prior to the year 2000. Therefore, financial professionals or managers must be recruited or transferred from branches on the main island of Taiwan. This also highlights the difficulty of training professionals in Kinmen. Staff recruited from Kinmen are generally

64 Li, Jin -Qiang (2014.11.11) Taiwan Business Bank opened yesterday. Kinmen Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.kmdn.gov.tw/1117/1271/1272/246123/ 107

entry-level employees, such as salespeople. Except for those Kinmenese on the main island of

Taiwan, who possess relevant qualifications and are willing to return to Kinmen as in the case of Ruby.

4.4 Conclusion: Uncertainties of employment co-created by government and entrepreneurs

When I asked Sun about his main concern for the future, he told me that he felt

“uncertain”. He thought that the government is dedicated to fully develop tourism which put much emphasis on LuKe, but this has made Kinmen vulnerable to political influence.

The development of tourism was originally intended to bring about social reforms and economic progress for post-war Kinmen society. However, previous examples in this chapter show that politicians introduced large duty-free shops and chain stores to quickly increase the apparent numbers of job openings to boost their political careers while ignoring existing labor conditions. This has led young people to change their jobs constantly in search of a better work environment. They may end up leaving their hometown for work if they fail.

Another related problem is that the government cooperates with mega-corporations to quickly create low-tier jobs instead of investing in resources that systematically cultivate local youth for supervisory, middle-management, or professional positions. This short-term thinking can be seen in the underinvestment in Quemoy University; many of the respondents who were studying there or had graduated from there expressed their disappointment with the shortage of good teachers and learning resources. They ended up working while they were studying at the university. They thought that “at least I can make money”. A lot of jobs in the tourism industry have low barriers to entry and this had led to the increase of students who work their way through university. Similar to the experience of young casino dealers in Macau in Shi and

Liu’s study (2014), these low-skill job opportunities have brought many risks to young people, 108

such as health or safety concerns, skipping class or dropping out of school. On the day of my research interview, I met an exhausted Liling with red eyes after she completed working and studying for the whole day. I understand why her boyfriend kept reminding her to ride her motorbike carefully and to have sufficient sleep. The physical and mental fatigue resulting from a strenuous routine of studying and working at the same time, along with an unattractive school curriculum led both A-Wei and A-Ben to skip classes. A-Wei later dropped out of school in his second year of university.

In addition, capitalists who seemingly brought a lot of work opportunities to Kinmen, tend to hire cheap part-time workers to save costs. They also adopt a neo-liberal performance and competition system which has led to young people’s blaming themselves if they do not achieve good performance. On the other hand, the presence of large-scale shopping malls put emphasis on the economic benefits brought by the LuKe market. Once the LuKe market is retrenched, they will withdraw from Kinmen. This has made the employment market increasingly vulnerable to the politics of both China and Taiwan.

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The stay-at-home observer

—Living with growing risk and uncertainty

Actually, I didn’t plan to study here in the beginning. But then I listened to my parents’

opinion and decided to stay here. Maybe it is also because I myself was afraid of living

outside [Kinmen], so I thought that maybe it is not a bad idea to stay here. And the

prices here…although the capacity to consume is gradually rising……but the (living)

cost actually is not high if you live with your family. It is good if I can save some money.

(Tsai Chih-Chia, female, Kinmenese.

Student of Department of Food Science, Quemoy University

“Is it ready? The establishment of Kinmen as a University Island) 65

The changes we have described have consequences which extend beyond the

material to the ways we engage subjectively with the world. For some young

people, the importance of employment and work-based identities will be

downgraded as they seek to find alternative sources of fulfilment; others will be

consumed by anxieties and will suffer psychologically as they link their

circumstances to their own actions rather than to external forces that are beyond

65 Wang Po-Wen (2015, September 17). 打造金門大學島，準備好了嗎？[Is it ready? The establishment of Kinmen as a University Island]. Department of Journalism, Taiwan Shih Hsin University. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auiF5DdZIrg on November 20, 2016. 110

their control.

(Goodwin et al. 2017, p.97)

5.1 Overview

Home is usually viewed as a safer place for youth when facing various types of risk in the outside world. Despite the fact that it may also be a space of surveillance and restriction, there are some young people in Kinmen who choose, either voluntarily or reluctantly, to stay in a safe position and observe. Especially since the main island of Taiwan has been facing a slower economic growth accompanied by rising youth unemployment and living costs. They are the “stay-at-home observers”. For the “stay-at-home observers”, the idea of leaving their hometown may appear occasionally or constantly, but they have to calculate the costs and benefits before they make a decision. On the one hand, the price of taking their chances away from home may not be bearable for some youth who come from disadvantaged families. On the other hand, for those who are in privileged positions in Kinmen because of their gender or class, they have to consider the consequences of losing their higher status. Nonetheless, it does not mean that these young people’s decisions to stay or return home will not change. They may leave their hometown (once more) one day when they feel that they could secure a stable life.

However, despite the fact that Kinmen has been experiencing an economic transformation, the opening up of tourism and the Mini-Three-Links, and the emergence of new enterprises, there are still a number of factors which continue to make returning or staying home a difficult path for young people. Education policies, the structure of labor market, and traditional culture all affect their young lives and shape their transition experiences.

Regarding the current predicament of Taiwanese youth’s school-to-work transitions, it is generally explained by the economic slowdown. However, this perspective could not represent the situation of Kinmen youth. On the one hand, similar to most places in the world, 111

the overall industrial structure of Taiwan went through a transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial society. Later it experienced the decline of the manufacturing industry and the rise of the service industry. On the other hand, Kinmen society did not undergo the rapid industrialization as the main island of Taiwan did because of the lack of natural resources and the implementation of the War Zone Administration. For that reason, people here did not enjoy the fruits of Taiwan’s economic miracle which started in the 1960s. While the tourism industry has been mushrooming after the lifting of martial law and the enactment of the Mini-

Three-Links in Kinmen, Taiwan’s economy as a whole is facing a recession. That is to say, the pattern of economic development in Kinmen is different from the mainstream society of

Taiwan. We should thus understand the process of youth transition in Kinmen with a more comprehensive perspective.

In addition, despite the fact that the life experiences of young people in Kinmen are influenced largely by the structure of the local labor market, employment is not merely affected by economic development but by traditional values, culture, and institutions. All these factors shape the local working conditions and young people’s expectations of work. It may further have an effect on their notions of building a family, leaving their parents’ homes, pursuing a career, and participating in civil society. Consequently, this may impact their vision of the future.

Among my research participants staying in Kinmen, around half of them work in the tourism industry. The others’ occupations are irrelevant to the tourism industry on the surface, such as being a teacher, a government contract employee, a beverage seller, and an owner of a coffee shop.

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The hierarchical structure of occupations

In the previous chapter, I described the current rapid social transformation process in

Kinmen, and how the geopolitics and transnational capitalism interweave with each other and advance the new emerging business. Specifically speaking, the LuKe–related business. I also highlighted the phenomenon that young people keep changing jobs within tourism-related businesses. In order to understand the context in which young workers are situated, the following section will present the hierarchical structure of occupations and how the new emerging employment opportunities are subject to it.

A number of my interviewees told me that one would be miserable if one were not a civil servant in Kinmen, based on their friends’ or their own experiences. Like Yatin said:

I think the good thing for the duty-free shop is that it does create more possibilities.

Many of my classmates work in the [duty-free] mall. Before Ever Rich entered Kinmen,

You either enter the civil service or become a teacher if you have good education

performance, or you run a family business. Otherwise, it seems like you can only have

odd jobs. Very few choices. But because Ever Rich entered Kinmen, it provides a

middle choice, it is not too bad!

This kind of narrative reflects a widespread perspective about the hierarchical structure of occupations in Kinmen. Under this stratification, jobs such as civil servant, teacher or self- employed owner of a family business belong to the upper level. In contrast, people who do odd jobs are at the lower level. Meanwhile, jobs in a trans/national (transnational or national) company such as a duty-free shop are assumed to have brought change to the stratified structure, that is, the emergence of the “middle choice”.

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Firstly, to understand the reasons why being employed by the trans/national companies has become a new middle choice for the younger generation, it is necessary to discuss the influences of the most privileged jobs—working for the state, also known as Jun-Gong-Jiao. I present the context of the high value placed on this type of job by Kinmen society and the expectations which are put on young people. It even defines if a young person has the

“qualification” for establishing a family or not. I also explore how young people themselves comply with or resist the social expectations placed on them.

Secondly, the discussion of working for the state will be followed by the experiences of being hired by local enterprises. Most of these experiences are centered on “lower tier services” (Krahn, Hughes, & Lowe, 2014). Young workers in this sector have encountered various forms of oppression and exploitation, even though it is the main source of jobs in addition to the jobs in the public sector. I investigate the experiences of oppression of young workers and the institutional and cultural factors behind the phenomenon. These factors create an exploitative labor environment for young people and make them feel that it is difficult to leave their current positions. It is worth noting that this situation may result in young people’s low expectations for work. More importantly, in the long run, it is more likely to affect their self-identity and life expectations.

In the last section I focus on the young employees in trans/national companies. Most of the jobs they are involved in are low-tier entry-level jobs in the service sector as well.

Compared to the similar jobs in the local companies, what are the new hopes and new dreams these new jobs may bring to young workers? As Yatin noted, jobs in duty-free shops imply

“more possibilities”. It is based on these possibilities that they might become a new “middle choice” for local youth. Do these “possibilities” refer to a new model of management, more opportunities for promotion, better working conditions, and more stability and security? In addition to the encouraging aspects, what are the struggles which young employers have to go 114

through? Why do some young employees choose to stay whereas others decide to leave? Are there any longstanding negative impacts on young people even when they have already left an unpleasant job? All of these questions will be discussed in the third section of this chapter.

It is necessary to clarify here what is meant by the new “middle choice” in this chapter.

Borrowing from interviewee Yatin’s account that I have mentioned previously in this chapter,

I further extend the scope of the “middle choice” to jobs in the transnational/national enterprises that have been opened in Kinmen after the economic transformation, openings of tourism, and the Mini-Three-Links. This categorization helps us to analyze and understand the transformation of the labor market and its impact on younger generations.

The table below shows a general distribution of occupations in the hierarchical structure

I refer to.

Table 5-1 The transforming hierarchical structure of employment in Kinmen Level Area Content

Upper Civil servants / Jun- Government

Gong-Jiao (military departments, military,

personnel, government public schools; private

workers, and public enterprises

school teachers); running

a (family) business

Middle National / transnational Branches of duty-free

(new company retailers, chain emerging) supermarkets, national

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specialty stores, travel

agencies in Kinmen, etc.

Lower Local company Local specialty store, car

rental company, local

laundry, etc.

5.2 Squeezed into the upper level: Working for the state (Jun-Gong-Jiao)

“I feel that the whole Kinmen is the TianXia [world] of Jun-Gong-Jiao”, interviewee

Ren sighed. Jun-Gong-Jiao is an umbrella term which covers military staff (Jun), government employees (Gong), public school teachers (Jiao). Although there are differences in social prestige, entry requirements, and even required levels of physical fitness, these three types of careers are frequently mentioned together due to the fact that the salaries are all from the government and they all receive various job benefits from the country. As Ren stated, Jun-

Gong-Jiao occupy a dominant position in the labor market in Kinmen.

According to the labor force statistics of Kinmen county (Figure 5-1), among a total of

22,362 employed persons in 2017, 8,610 people were hired by the government, representing the largest proportion of 38.5%. This was followed by private sector employees with the proportion of 33.8% (7,560). This is in contrast to the situation of the main island of Taiwan where public sector workers accounted for only 9 to 10 percent of all workers between 2007 and 2017, while people who were employed by private companies accounted for 66% to 70%

(Figure 5-2). The difference might result from a lack of job opportunities in private companies while there are more positions in the public sector in Kinmen. As interviewee Ren said: “Why

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do they say that Kinmen cannot keep people? It is because the industry “chain” has not been developed. Except for Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Inc., and Jun-Gong-Jiao, there is nothing else!”

On the other hand, however, it may also imply the undesirable working conditions in the private sector which have been pushing away young people constantly. The working situation in the private sector will be discussed in detail later in this chapter.

Figure 5-1 Employed persons by class of worker in Kinmen 201766.

66 Data of Report of Manpower Statistic, Kinmen, 2017 collected from the website of Accounting and Statistics Department, Kinmen County. https://kmasd.kinmen.gov.tw/News.aspx?n=569D75AA367055A8&sms=4FEFD09995C4BB81 Accessed August, 01, 2019 01:10 pm 117

Table 5-2 Employed persons by class of worker in Taiwan (Not including Kinmen and

Lienchiang /Matsu Counties)67

It is worth noting that the importance of Jun-Gong-Jiao is not limited to Kinmen; however, it may not be at the highest level of the occupational hierarchy in other areas in

Taiwan. This is because in comparison with Kinmen, the career choices are more diverse and there are more professional job opportunities in other areas. In contrast, the occupational types in Kinmen are limited, and there is a lack of supervisory positions. This situation has led to the outflow of talented people. Therefore, positions at the highest level of private companies in

Taiwan are relatively scarce in Kinmen.

67 Yearbook of manpower survey statistics (Not including Kinmen and Lienchiang /Matsu Counties) 2017. The statistical data retrieved from the website of Directorate -general of budget, accounting and statistics, Executive Yuan, Republic of China. https://www.dgbas.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=42616&ctNode=3102 Accessed August, 01, 2019 03:03 pm

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As for my interviewees, Gigi and A-Jia have been temporary substitute teachers for years in Kinmen and have been repeatedly taking the official teacher recruitment tests. Owen in Taipei is already a civil servant and Sun in Kinmen is a semi-civil servant.68

Although Ruby does not have a strong desire to become a civil servant at the moment, she has taken civil service examinations more than once because of her father’s continuous insistence. As for Yi-Ming, he has to promise to find another “better” job situation to resist the pressure from his mother: “I just told her that, anyway, I will earn more than a civil servant’s salary in the future. Don’t worry about this!”

This section will present the background and phenomenon whereby Jun-Gong-Jiao occupies the upper position in the labor market. It reflects the mainstream value system in

Kinmen. Most importantly, it highlights the opportunity structure constraints and social expectation faced by young people. It also leads us to consider the possibilities for young people to internalize or resist this system.

5.2.1 Complementary regional allowance against general economic depression

Why does the Jun-Gong-Jiao have such a high status in Kinmen? As Lan Pei-Chai

(2006) notes, it is the exploration of how a certain element is “relationally defined and context- dependent” (p.78) that makes its nature as a product of social construction evident. Jun-Gong-

Jiao was once the most desired career all over Taiwan, and the diverse social contexts of different areas of Taiwan have led to variations in the current popularity of Jun-Gong-Jiao.

Take teachers as an example. From the late 1940s to the early 1990s, under the governance of the Kuomintang, the government used education as an important means of

68 Sun had completed the teacher education program when he was a graduate student, but later passed the examination for a position in a former state enterprise and got admitted. Generally, this kind of job in a state enterprise or former state enterprise is considered to be a semi-civil servant. 119

national development and implemented a centralized educational system. Students who were able to enter normal universities (i.e. teacher-training universities) at that time were those with the best academic performance. These normal university students enjoyed free tuition fees and various subsidies. After graduation, their employment was guaranteed by the government. In addition, teachers were paid more than regular college graduates and enjoyed benefits such as tax exemptions and excellent pensions. Moreover, their right to work was guaranteed. In the absence of bad behavior, teachers could work until they retired. Therefore, overall teachers enjoyed relatively high prestige in Taiwan society (Fwu & Wang, 2002).

In Kinmen, I remember that in the late 1980s, my eldest sister was recommended for admission to a normal university in Taipei before she graduated from high school. Parents of students on the waiting list came to my home every day to check if my sister would give up the opportunity. At that time, most families could only rely on small businesses catering to soldiers and their life was difficult. In that case, they could hardly afford the expenses if their children went to university. Conversely, if their children got admitted to normal universities, it did not only mean that “going to college” was possible because of the tuition subsidy, but also guaranteed their child would become a future teacher and this guarantee class mobility for the family.

In 1994, under the influence of the democratic movement and the push to reform the education system, the Teacher Education Act was promulgated. Under that act, regular universities can also provide teacher education programs. Although it is still competitive to be admitted to these programs, the opportunity to train to be a teacher is much higher than it was in the past. At the same time, however, people who receive teacher education are no longer entitled to tuition reductions and living allowances. There is also no guarantee that graduates can get a jobs. Furthermore, the curriculum reform has made the workload of teachers heavier than before, and the popularity of teachers has begun to be affected. (Fwu & Wang, 2002). 120

However, the development in Kinmen is varied from that on the main island of Taiwan.

Due to the isolated location, teachers are generally reluctant to teach in Kinmen, even though civil servants who serve in remote areas enjoy different levels of regional allowance. Therefore,

Jun-Gong-Jiao who work in Kinmen can get an extra monthly allowance of 9,790 NTD, because Kinmen belongs to the highest level of the allowance system69. In addition, the seniority-based pay raises are also higher.70 Take a lowest grade civil servant as an example.

The starting salary including the allowance is almost 40 percent higher than the average monthly income (28,446 NTD) of a recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Taiwan in

201771. The wage of a novice teacher is even better at around 50 thousand NTD, which is around 75 percent higher than that of an entry-level position in the general labor market. Even a temporary substitute teacher like my interviewee Gigi enjoyed the same rate. This is one of the reasons that Jun-Gong-Jiao remains highly-valued in Kinmen.

5.2.2 Unbroken belief in the iron rice bowl under societal uncertainty

The material incentive is one of the major concerns, while the war history, rapidly changing society, and various political uncertainties in tourism development have made parents in Kinmen value the Jun-Gong-Jiao more. In other words, they are longing for a sense of stability and security. Therefore, although running a (family) business was frequently mentioned together with Jun-Gong-Jiao by my young respondents and there is a potential for the development of business under the economic transformation, normally it is not encouraged

69 “Table of Regional Allowance for Personnel Served in All organizations and Schools” . Data retrieved from the website of Examination Yuen of R.O.C. https://weblaw.exam.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?LawID=J060156008 Accessed October, 10, 2019 05:03 pm 70 “Regulations Governing the Payment of Remuneration to Military, Public and Teaching Personnel”. Data retrieved from the website of Examination Yuen of R.O.C. https://weblaw.exam.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?LawID=J060041012 Accessed October, 10, 2019 06:10 pm 71 Data collected from the statistics result of “Survey on Wage by Occupation” in July 2017, conducted by The Ministry of Labor, Taiwan. Resource: http://statdb.mol.gov.tw/html/svy06/0635all.pdf Accessed November, 15, 2019 06:10 pm 121

by the elders. The problem is that the level of family capital determines the scale of the business; more crucially, running a business implies “uncertainties” to most people. As Gigi observed:

Gigi: I feel the older people care more about if you are stable or not. I think that they

assume that…if you are running your own business, compared to if you are a

teacher, there is a big difference. Everyone still thinks that it is good job to be a

stable teacher or staff in the government department.

Me: They think it is much better than having your own business?

Gigi: Yes. But I think it is not bad to open a shop.

Me: So does it matter how much you make, to the elders?

Gigi: I think it doesn’t matter. It’s about being stable. Because opening a shop may earn

more [than doing Jun-Gong-Jiao]. They simply think that it [Jun-Gong-Jiao] is an “iron

rice bowl”, and believe that you are really good [if you are a Jun-Gong-Jiao].

Ding and Warner (2000) describe jobs in state-owned enterprises in China before its economic reform as “jobs for life” and “cradle to grave”. Jun-Gong-Jiao in Taiwan has similar characteristics and is therefore called the “iron rice bowl”. The status of iron rice bowl appears to be unbreakable to the older generation. Today, after experiencing major social changes such as the lifting of martial law and the opening of the tourism industry, people in Kinmen have bid farewell to the era when most of them could only rely on business with the military (Szonyi,

2008), while the status of Jun-Gong-Jiao seems to remain unchanged.

5.2.3 Young people’s path to Jun-Gong-Jiao

A lot of young people in Kinmen are facing the pressure and expectation of being a

Jun-Gong-Jiao. As Yatin said, a person needs to “have good education performance and take 122

the civil service examinations” to get the chance of becoming a Jun-Gong-Jiao. Without a doubt, the chances are few. From the admission rates released by the Ministry of Examination of Taiwan (MOEX), the highest admission rate of the Senior[GaoDeng] Civil Service

Examinations between 2007 to 2016 was 10.30%, while the lowest was 5.08%. For the Junior

[PuTong] Civil Service Examinations of the same period of time, the highest admission rate was 8.54% while the lowest was 4.06%72. Regarding the Elementary [ChuDeng] Civil Service

Examination, which has the least academic qualification requirements, its admission rate in

2017 was 2.41％73.

Endless cram schools and examinations

Among my interviewees, whether they live on the main island of Taiwan, like Russell,

Fei-Fan and Lily, or they stayed in Kinmen such as Yi-Ming, Ruby, Benny and Sun; their parents all expect them to be Jun-Gong-Jiao. Those who are more proactive, like Ruby’s father, constantly provides information on the examinations of Jun-Gong-Jiao and tries to influence his daughter’s decision gradually. As Ruby noted:

Actually, I took the civil service examinations because of my dad. My dad would

irregularly…he would tell me once he saw news about Jun-Gong-Jiao, and he would

say “Do you want to try?”. When I was in university, he also asked me if I would like

to study in a teacher education program. Like my sister, my father also told her: “You

go to study in a teacher education program.” …He told me: “The civil service exam

72 Data collected from the statistics report of Ministry of Examination R.O.C. https://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/main/news/wfrmNews.aspx?kind=3&menu_id=42&news_id=2830 Accessed November, 16, 2019 6:20 pm 73 Data collected from the statistics report of Ministry of Examination R.O.C. https://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/main/news/wfrmNews.aspx?kind=3&menu_id=42&news_id=2803 Accessed November, 16, 2019 07:22 pm 123

registration has started again, it’s in July, do you want to register? Or let me help you?”

From his point of view, like many older people, they simply think that it is a pretty good

job to be a civil servant.

After Ruby graduated from university on the main island of Taiwan, she came back to

Kinmen and worked as a temporary substitute teacher. One year later, she left Kinmen again and went to Taipei to prepare for the civil service examination. Ruby worked while studying in a test prep center for one year, but she still failed the examination in the end.

Yi-Ming’s mother’s aggressive action even made Yi-Ming feel forced to do what he did not want to and this upset him.

My mother always said that, and I didn’t want to take the civil service examination, but

she still insisted… She registered me at a cram school and said that I had to go to the

school, to become a civil servant. She bought a lot of books. A while ago, I told her

that I would throw those books away when I was cleaning out my room, while my mom

said, “Those books cost money!” Has she ever thought, then, this is not what I want?

She has been asking me to go to the cram school, but I attended very few classes in the

end.

At the same time, both Gigi and A-Jai had been temporary substitute teachers for two years when I interviewed them respectively. Compared to the other interviewees, it seems to be their personal decisions to become teachers. Although they both failed the formal teacher recruitment examinations for two years, they had not given up yet. Nonetheless, since the positions for formal teacher are extremely limited, A-Jai also told me that he might try to take

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the job recruitment examination held by the government-owned Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Inc.

As A-Jia stated:

What I am thinking is, I will continue down the path. So far it is ok. But if I can’t go on

anymore, I prefer to find a stable job in Kinmen, like working in the Kinmen Kaoliang

Liquor Inc. I am fine with it. Once there is a job vacancy. It is more stable after all.

Because the path of being a teacher is still uncertain, I have to take the examination

every year, every year! Even for a substitute teacher. I feel that my situation is not stable

for now. It is not necessary for me to be a teacher. If I cannot make it, then I just change

a route. (Have you ever thought of giving yourself a few years’ time?) Yes, Maybe just

three to five years. If not, I will try to apply for the job in the Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor

Inc. Although I might have to work on the production line and there will be more

physical work.

Guanxi matters

In addition to recruitments through formal examinations, sometimes the government can also recruit temporary contract employees by means of non-formal channels. The salaries of this group of staff are lower than general official staff, and there is no long-term guarantee for them. However, a lot of young people believe that the payment and benefit will still be better than the employees of private companies. Especially for those with lower academic achievements. Therefore, once they get a chance to work as a government contract worker, they are not willing to leave. Like Joy, who has worked in the government for more than five years, she expressed:

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After all, my education background [is not good]. In fact, what I am worried about is

not being unemployed, but just, it is very difficult to find a job with so much money.

Besides, there is a year-end bonus.

However, there are not fixed criteria for the hiring of government temporary contract employees. Most of the time, “connections” are the deciding factor in getting the job. In Joy’s case, her mother was the key person for her to get the current position.

Joy: There are different types of workers among us contract employees. Some workers

are paid by the day, and some are paid by the month. People like me are paid monthly.

For those paid by the day, the salaries are also various. Some get eight hundred dollars

a day, while some get nine hundred dollars. I am luckier, because my mom fought for

a monthly salary for me.

Me: So you have to sign a contract every year. Do you think it is stable so far?

Joy: In fact, if you have a good Guanxi [connection], in a small place, this is basically

no problem.

Me: Do you think you can keep doing it?

Joy: In reality, it’s really hard to say. If the people in power change, like the next town

mayor, or the one after next. If that person is not good with you… And of course, that

person will have his or her own people to use. So in this situation, it is difficult to say.

Based on the Guanxi nature of the government contract employment, the politicians in power have been criticized for making use of it to consolidate their own positions. It is

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considered to be a means of vote-buying for elections as well74. It is important to note that the phenomenon of government contract employees is particularly widespread in Kinmen. In fact, in 2016 the Control Yuan of Taiwan government (a government department which is responsible for monitoring the other governmental branches) issued a corrective suggestion to the Kinmen county government concerning this phenomenon. According to the Control

Yuan’s investigation, among all the local governments who had continuously employed temporary contract employees, Kinmen was the one whose contract workers increased the most between 2006 and 2014. The rate of contract employees had increased by 185.4%, followed by

Yilan county’s 58.2% and Chiayi City’s 55%. The rate of Kinmen county is more than three times higher than the second highest one75. The number continued to grow between 2014 and

2017 76 . The growth of government contract workers is a cause for concern because the government decision makers should devote state resources to creating a well-functioning labor market that can provide jobs for all young people instead of creating unnecessary government positions to help politicians’ political careers.

Furthermore, while Guanxi has become a major shortcut for finding a government job for certain young people, it may affect their attitudes towards public affairs and their political views. Value conflicts also arise, when most of the young people realize that it is an unfair game to find a government job through Guanxi but at the same time they do not see many other choices. In addition, when the process of job seeking for young people becomes an exchange of personal social capital, it also leads to their anxiety to live in Kinmen, as Lee noted:

74 Jiang, H. (2017, Nov 18) Special Annuity of Kinmen-Behind the High Redemption Rate of “Political Red Packets”. The Reporter. Retrieved from https://www.twreporter.org/a/kinmen-pension 75 Investigation Report “Improvement of fiscal revenue and expenditure of governments at all levels” [2016.07.06] Conducted by The Control Yuen, Republic of China, Taiwan. Data retrieved from https://www.cy.gov.tw/CyBsBoxContent.aspx?n=133&s=4803 76 Data collected from the website of National Audit Office R.O.C. (Taiwan). https://www.audit.gov.tw/p/405- 1000-4659,c346.php?Lang=zh-tw Accessed November, 01, 2019 07:02 pm

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My friend is an assistant of a county councilor. I might be able to find a job in the

government if I ask him, to be a contract employee or something. But then I will owe

him a favor. Next time if he asks me to do something, I have to do it even if I must take

a day off…. I hate this culture in Kinmen. … My family also told me that “I can ask

this person or that person to introduce you for a job.” I said “I am sorry, but no.” I

always rejected. Because it is too stressful for me. I don’t want people to use it to

threaten me in the future. It becomes my pressure. They will ask you to do a lot of things

later if they help you to get a job. If you don’t give them a favor, they will judge you

and say that you don’t have good manners.

5.2.4 Who has the qualifications to start a family?

Based on the material conditions and social reputation which Jun-Gong-Jiao are entitled to, being a Jun-Gong-Jiao or not thus implies whether this young person is “qualified” to “start a family” or not.

A-Yuan once told me that one of his friends who lived with his parents was considering buying a house and moving away from his parents’ home after he got married and had two children. Then A-Yuan shook his head and said: “If you are not …a Jun-Gong-Jiao now it is quite difficult to buy a house in Kinmen. It’s not easy.”

Sun, an interviewee who has attended a teacher education program when he was a graduate student in Taipei, also told me that, his brother who has married and is the father of two children aimed to move back from Taipei to Kinmen to raise his family. His brother therefore changed his job from the technology industry to a government department and waited for a chance to transfer back to Kinmen. The material environment appears to make it increasingly difficult for young people to start a family, and the perceived poor labor conditions 128

furthermore reinforce the idea that Jun-Gong-Jiao is a better or only solution for young people to support a family. Jun-Gong-Jiao thus seems to be equal to the qualification for forming a family. As Lily told me how her mother changed the attitude towards her sister’s boyfriend:

At that time, my mother did not welcome my sister’s boyfriend when he went to my

home. But after he was admitted to be a civil servant, she then thought that he was a

“stable-salary-person”. Generally, she feels that “this is more guaranteed for my

daughter”. There was an obvious difference of her attitude towards him.

In addition, most of the time, young men face more pressure to “be qualified” regarding starting a family then women. A-Jia had thus internalized this standard and had been working hard to obtain a stable government job.

I had a girlfriend at that time, so I thought that I should enroll in a better university.

Because I would need a stable job if I wanted to Cheng-Jia-Li-Yee [成家立業/to start

a family and have a career]. So I thought, then, I really needed to Pin [拼/to work

extremely hard], to fight for the opportunity to enter universities of physical education.

They have teacher education programs. I would get trained so that I could get a chance

to be a teacher after graduation.

The younger generation has to face parental pressure and expectations on their choices of work, and they also have to deal with the judgments about how “qualified” they are.

I illustrate the above analysis in Figure 5.1 as follows:

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The qualification to start a family

Life Stability

Jun-Gong-Jiao

Youth working in Income Youth working in transnational/ national enterprises local companies Youth who are running family-owned businesses

Figure 5-2 Working status regarding stability and income in Kinmen

In the above picture, the gray block area Jun-Gong-Jiao represents the most desirable conditions regarding income and life stability, and people in this section are considered to be the most “qualified” to start a family. However, as mentioned above, it takes great effort and the mobilization of capital for young people to squeeze into that area.

As for those who are not able to or willing to occupy a position in the upper level, what are their prospects? Can they look forward to the future while standing in the lowest position?

And for those who are engaged in the middle choice of career, are there truly more possibilities for their lives?

5.3 “Voluntarily” staying in the lower level? Working for a local business

In recent years, Taiwanese society has faced the problem of widespread low wages among young people as a whole. At the same time, due to a series of debates over the amendment of the Labor Standards Act, labor issues have successfully drawn the attention of

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the general public, and people are generally more conscious of workers’ rights than in the past.

At the end of 2016, there was a large-scale hunger strike to protest against the drafting of the amendment. 77 Later in December of the same year, the amendment about “one fixed and one flexible day off per week” [一例一休] was passed and came into effect in January 2017. It was at the peak of Taiwan’s labor movement when I was conducting my fieldwork. Therefore, a number of my interviewees raised the issues regarding the Labor Standards Act. However, for those young people from Kinmen, they also felt that what was happening in the mainstream

Taiwan society was not followed by reform in their hometown, especially in the locally-owned enterprises.

“There is no other way out!”, was his response when I asked Eason about his experience of working in Kinmen. What he said demonstrates the frustration behind the supposedly

“voluntary” job choices of Kinmen youth. An employee’s remuneration package plays a major role in the decision to take up a job or not, but the amount of money young people get paid monthly is not their only consideration. They also desire fair treatment. Nevertheless, young workers have very little power in the labor market. The major frustrations of local young people might be connected with the unjust working conditions they face, while most importantly, it is the despair of changing the status quo which led to the young people’s lament that there is “no way out!”

In the following section, I will firstly describe why young people have a strong sense of being exploited by local business owners. How do the employers take advantage of young workers? Meanwhile I will present the difficulties young people experience in trying to

77 Zhu, Z.-Y. & Gun, J.-L. (2016, Nov 5). Labor groups on hunger strike over labor law amendment. PTS Taiwan. Retrieved from https://news.pts.org.tw/article/339839 131

improve the situations. Most importantly, I will analyze how the institutional and cultural factors shape their experiences of the school-to-work transition.

5.3.1 Young people’s profound distrust of local enterprises: “The bosses make the rules!

When I asked Yatin, who had been working in Taipei city since graduating from the university, if she had once considered returning to Kinmen, she replied: “I have thought of it.

But I will get bad DaiYu [待遇/treatment]. The salary should be ok, I think. But employers there do not care about the Labor Standards Act. It is like the bosses make the rules according to whatever they want!”. This kind of profound distrust of local enterprises is one of the reasons that has led young people like Yatin to stay in a bigger city rather than return to her hometown.

Another case, like Eason, who has experience working both on the main island of

Taiwan and in Kinmen, also expressed his disappointment of local employers for “not following the Labor Standards Act.”

After graduating from Quemoy university in Kinmen, Eason, who could not find a job there, was forced to work on the main island of Taiwan. He had been working in the same company for five years with a high degree of stability. Later, he quit his job and went back to his hometown because his family was planning to run a Bed and Breakfast (B&B). When the plan was delayed Eason began to look for a job again in Kinmen. He told me about his brief experience working in a car rental company during that period.

Eason: I only worked there for a few days. Very short. Because most of the jobs

[employers] here do not comply with the Labor Standards Act. There were less holidays

and more working hours, so I thought it was really a bad deal, and I quit the job.

Me: What did you mean by saying that they don’t comply with the Labor Standards

Act? 132

Eason: For example, I had to work nine hours every day when it was supposed to be

eight hours. In addition, I didn’t get paid for overtime. And then, regarding holidays,

according to the Labor Standards Act, everyone can enjoy days off like civil servants

do, during the weekend and national holidays. So I was supposed to have at least eight

to nine days off every month. However, I had only 6 days off when I worked in that

company.

Me: Just now you said it is common in Kinmen, then how is your impression of

employment on the main island of Taiwan when you worked there?

Eason: Yes, yes. In Taipei, they just follow the regulations and things like exploitation

of labor are less.

In his description, Eason expressed no doubts about whether he was supposed to enjoy basic rights as a worker. His affirmation came from his awareness of regulations concerning labor rights as well as his experience of working in Taipei.

A strong sense of being exploited

Although those local employers tended to not obey the Labor Standards Act, and “make the rules according to whatever they want!”, it does not mean that they are casual or they do not have any management systems. On the contrary, they might implement a series of techniques of exploitation which are embellished by promises which never materialized. For instance, a young worker might be offered an acceptable monthly wage at the beginning of a job, but the employer may adopt various means to reduce the benefits. This has resulted in a strong sense of being exploited among the youth.

A-Ben’s narrative below presents distinctly the technique of exploitation of him by his former local employer: 133

I worked at the car rental company at that time. Originally, the basic salary I was offered was 23,000 NTD, and there would be an additional bonus depending on the tasks I had accomplished afterward. Like, performance bonus. But it was not like that in the end.

For the bonus, the boss was just saying that [說說而已]! I think so [smile bitterly]. I was paid 23,000 for a long time. I had to cope with enormous workload alone which was supposed to be finished by 2 or 3 persons [一個人把你當兩、三個人在用], and

I really felt exhausted over time, extremely exhausted! Afterward, the boss asked me to clock in at 7:30 am while I was supposed to clock in at 8:00 initially. But I had to drive all the way down from Town A to town B. I had to wake up so early but the salary was not increased. And then sometimes I was too tired so that I woke up a few minutes late, and this made me late for work frequently. Subsequently, the boss said: “If you are not late for the whole month, you can get a full attendance allowance of two thousand dollars.” That meant that my salary could be 25,0000 NTD. But once I was late for work, just once, the whole allowance would be gone. Without the allowance, my salary turned back to 23,000 NTD. Besides, if I was late for the second time within the same month, my salary would be deducted, ten dollars for one minute. In the end, more than one hundred dollars …was deducted from my basic salary every day because I was always late by more than ten minutes.

(Ten dollars for one minute? There was no flexibility, like for 5 minutes?)No. There was no flexibility. Because they were all calculating [計較] bosses. My salary was deducted so much that in the end I was only paid around 20,000 to 21,000 NTD. So I endured for another two or three months and then left the company. Because it turned out that I worked 24 days and had only six days off per month, but I got paid around 134

21,000. That means I earned less than one thousand dollars per day. (Six days off per

month? )Yes, and there was no food allowance for lunch. That means I earned less than

20,000 NTD every month. (You went to work at 7:30 every morning, then when did

you get off work?) He [the boss] said 5:30pm. But sometimes I had to work overtime

for reasons such as the last customer’s flight delay, or the customer postponed the time

for returning the car. The company’s policy for overtime allowance was two hundred

dollars for one hour. But if you worked overtime for less than one hour, for example,

50 minutes, then that would not be counted as overtime. That means that I had to get

off work late without any payment. Even the regular working-hours were very long,

from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, ten hours. (How long was the lunch break?) There was no

lunch break. You just had to finish all the work, like washing the cars. After you finish

those parts of the work, maybe it’s around 11:30 AM, then you went to buy lunch. But

when you were having your lunch, the boss might ask you to go to the airport to help

some customers to return cars because there were not enough colleagues. So you

stopped eating. Then you rushed to finish your lunch after you came back from the

airport and then started to be busy with work again.

When I first met A-Ben in a B&B, he was collecting dirty sheets to bring back to the laundry where he was working. My impression of him was that he was a very quiet and shy person. Even when I was interviewing him afterward, he still spoke slowly with a deep voice.

Therefore, I was surprised when he talked without stopping about his working experiences. A strong repression of frustration was embedded in his expression. In the “technique of exploitation”, A-Ben’s boss promised encouraging or complementary measures such as performance-based bonus, full-attendance rewards and overtime allowances. However, on the one hand, these benefits were never put into effect or were difficult for employees to obtain; 135

on the other hand, they became excuses for the employer to pay an even lower salary or to abuse and penalize employees.

5.3.2 Being left behind by institutional labor rights protections

In spite of the fact that the rights of labor in Taiwan are regulated by the Labor

Standards Act, and the Taiwan Ministry of Labor has been emphasizing the enforcement of labor laws to secure the rights of labor; however, the administration of inspections and penalties at the county level are delegated to county governments. Therefore, the implementation of labor inspections varies from county to county within Taiwan. The tables below show that the penalty rates for infractions of labor laws in Kinmen in 2016 and 2017 were much lower than most of the counties and cities in Taiwan. What the figures suggest is absolutely not that there are very few cases of violation of the Labor Standards Act in Kinmen. Instead, they indicate that, on the one hand, the local government did not actively and truly implement labor inspections; on the other hand, people seldom made complaints to the government.

Consequently, people in Kinmen are left behind by institutional labor rights protections.

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2017 Status of Labor Conditions Inspection by Counties Penalty Rate (%)

Hsinchu City 0.81 Kinmen County 2.06 Penghu County 2.23 Hualien County 2.73 Chiayi County 3.19 Chiayi City 3.52 Yunlin County 4.52 Miaoli County 4.82 Lienchiang County 5.11 Hsinchu County 5.75 Yilan County 8.01 Pingtung County 13.05 Taitung County 13.37 Nantou County 14.62 Tainan City 15.67 Keelung City 19.78 Taichung City 20.64 New Taipei City 22.68 Taoyuan City 25.47 Kaohsiung City 27.84 Taipei City 35.82 Changhua County 41.21 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Figure 5-3 Status of labor conditions inspections by penalty rate of counties in Taiwan, 2017 (Table made by the author) 78

78 Data collected from the website of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ministry of Labor, Taiwan. https://www.osha.gov.tw/1106/1164/1165/1168/22591/ Accessed November, 01, 2019 05:02 pm

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2016 Status of Labor Conditions Inspection by Counties Penalty Rate (%)

Penghu County 1.48 1.5 Chiayi City 2.11 2.19 Yunlin County 2.24 4 Hsinchu County 5.05 5.71 Keelung City 8.41 10.06 Changhua County 10.97 11.11 Taitung County 11.33 12.73 Pingtung County 13.98 14.22 Taoyuan City 19.93 20.43 Tainan City 21.23 21.31 Taipei City 24.64 32.04

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Figure 5-4 Status of labor conditions inspections by penalty rate of counties in Taiwan, 2016 (Table made by the author) 79

Will the bosses know?

In addition to regularly scheduled inspections, most labor inspections are carried out according to reports from employees. The Labor Inspection Act regulates that “Upon accepting a complaint from worker(s), the labor inspection agency shall initiate, according to the nature of the complaint, an inspection by labor inspector(s) as soon as possible, and shall notify the complainant(s) the results of the inspection within fourteen days.” and “ :“Upon receiving a complaint from worker(s) the labor union shall review and verify the worker’s complaint and, shall suggest improvement to the complainant’s employer and send a copy to the labor inspection agency and the complainant(s).”

79 Data collected from the website of Occupational Safety and Health Administration Ministry of Labor, Taiwan. https://www.osha.gov.tw/1106/1164/1165/1168/18292/ Accessed November, 01, 2019 06:12 pm

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However, when I asked A-Ben if he had ever considered reporting his employer to the government or to any union, he expressed his worry: “Will the company know who made the complaint if the union [government] penalizes the company?”; “If they know that, won’t it be very stressful to go to work later?” Despite the fact that the sources of complaints are confidential, young people are afraid of reporting their companies due to the close interpersonal relationships in Kinmen. In addition, if it is a small-scale enterprise, it is not difficult for the employer to find out who made complaints. For those who are employed, to report their companies means the possibility of conflicts and the risk of losing their jobs. They have to be prepared for being unemployed if they decide to report. As A-Ben told me: “I won’t say it plainly. If I do so, that means I plan to quit the job already. My personality is like, if I turn against someone directly, that’s it! I will not change my mind.”

5.3.3 The pressure and repression in culture

Young people have to not only worry about stress in the workplace, but also face the tension among their personal networks if they report their employers. Concerns such as “they will tell the elders in my family through the other elders, and then the elders will tell me” or

“they will call us through relatives’ relatives, and then tell my mom to remind me” are common among my interviewees. Even if they do not care about these kinds of pressure themselves, they still worry that pressure will fall onto their families. It is a burden to them because “People will gossip about your family”; “they will criticize your family and say you don’t know how to conduct yourself properly”; “people will say behind your back, say that ‘we were so kind to introduce him such a good job, how could he…’”

Internalized militarization: We cannot make changes

In Bourdieu’s theory of “habitus”, he notes that “the habitus, the product of history, 139

produces individual and collective practices, and hence history, in accordance with the schemes engendered by history” (Bourdieu, 1977, p.82). Habitus is “the product of internalization of the structures” (1989, p.18). In Kinmen society, the history of being militarized interweaving with the dense interpersonal relationship has made it even more difficult to voice concerns when people experience improper working conditions. From Bourdieu’s perspective, the history of militarization forms the “habitus” of people in Kinmen. The older generations who grew up during the Cold War period in Kinmen, lived under the military governance for a long time. Being severely monitored and disciplined, militarization has become internalized as a part of their lives (Szonyi, 2008, p.4-7). They are not used to conflicts with authorities.

Although Kinmen is no longer under the regulation of martial law nowadays, as Cynthia Enloe

(2000) notes, “militarization is a step-by-step process” of transformation. Most of the time it is slow and invisible, and it sometimes takes generations to see social change. Children who were born during the post-Cold War period, before or after the lifting of martial law, have been brought up and educated by the previous generations. Their values and beliefs are directly under the impact of them.

As I mentioned previously, the awareness of labor rights is getting higher and higher in

Taiwan in recent years. There have been a number of protests fighting for labor rights. This growing labor movement exemplifies the level of democracy and civic participation of the society. Nevertheless, in Kinmen, the process of democratization is relatively slow and the level of civic participation is comparatively low. Besides the fact that the lifting of martial law in Kinmen was later than the main island of Taiwan, moreover, people are still under the influence of internalized militarization. This explains people’s attitudes towards the government. Having experience working in both the main island of Taiwan and Kinmen, Eason compared the people in these two places:

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“The major problem now, compared to Taiwan, is that people don’t know how to fight.

Because for a long time, everyone Ping-Ping-Jing-Jing [peacefully and quietly] lived

their lives. Unlike in Taiwan—there people go to Nao [鬧/make noises or troubles] in

the Legislative Yuan almost every day. People from Kinmen did not Nao like that in

the past, and they do not have this habit nowadays either. So people just think that,

anyway, we cannot make changes to the decisions made by the government. That’s it!”

To Eason, it is a “habit” that people do not take actions against the government. On the other hand, to Sisley, she thinks that it is more a matter of being Wu-Shi [務實/practical] to keep silent as a worker. The company Sisley was working for when I interviewed her for the first time was a transnational transportation company. In the same year, a series of labor disputes among the staff and her company happened on the main island of Taiwan. Strikes were initiated and a union was founded. However, when I asked her if those incidents had made any effect on her working environment in Kinmen, she said:

“Basically, everyone is Ming-Zhe-Bao-Shen [明哲保身/ worldly, wise, and playing it

safe]. Most people’s thoughts are just to live day by day with no thought of tomorrow.

There will be nothing like ‘I have to fight because I see something unjust today’. Very

few people can handle things such as ‘speaking out for other people or for yourself’.

We tend to be more practical, we are more quiet...The company might have done

something, like paid you less for overtime, or did not give you something which they

should have given you. But the point is, would the company change because of your

complaint? The point is, is it really useful if you speak out?”

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Another interviewee, Sun, expressed more personal opinions and dissatisfaction with politics and the polices of the government during the interview, but he nevertheless still showed great hesitation about putting his thoughts into action. “I’ve just started working, I might have to handle my job well first. I have to be stable in work first and see if I have extra time and energy. Doing things for the public…it’s too noble.”

In Sisley’s case, the scale of the transportation company where she was working was relatively larger than many local businesses, and there was a labor union working together with workers to fight for employees’ rights. She and her colleagues in the Kinmen branch preferred to be quiet and “play it safe” even if they had faced unreasonable treatment, unlike their colleagues in the branch on the main island of Taiwan. As regards Sun, his working status as a staff member of the former state enterprise is generally considered to make him a semi-civil servant. He had comparatively higher stability and security than most of his peers. He showed less indifference to public affairs in private conversations than most of my other interviewees.

However, by saying that taking action for public affairs is too “noble”, he tended to rationalize himself for being a “normal” person in Kinmen. A normal person, borrowing from Eason and

Sisley’s words, is a person who lives peacefully, who does not “Nao”, who keeps silent and plays safe, even when he or she confronts injustice in the workplace. These rules seem to apply even more to young people who are hired by local, small scale, and private businesses. The disadvantaged and vulnerable positions they are situated in make them even more discouraged and fearful of taking measures against their employers or the government.

As Sisley said: “Those who cannot stand it will just leave the company in the end, this is normal”.

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5.3.4 The lost bargaining power of young people

Most of the time, “quitting the job” is the only way for a worker to resist the unreasonable treatment in certain workplace. Sometimes, threatening to quit is a means to ask for the improvement of working conditions as well. Especially when there is neither institutional protection from being exploited nor an encouraging environment for individuals to speak out. Nonetheless, some of my young interviewees had been stuck in the current position over a certain period of time and could not leave.

A-Ben had been working at the car rental company for nine months, despite the unreasonable working conditions. He told me that during the nine months, there were ten colleagues who left his company. “There was on average one person quitting the job per month.”

A-Ben said. I asked him if the boss ever worried that he would quit the job because of the poor working conditions, and he added, “I think the boss did not worry at all. So many staff kept leaving the company. Do you think that the boss worried about that? I don’t think so. The boss would just hire other new person. That’s it!” Apparently, for A-Ben, “quitting the job” would not be a useful method to negotiate a better treatment as the labor market has been becoming increasingly competitive.

Many scholars have already pointed out that the over-expansion of higher education is responsible for the imbalance of the labor market, and for young people’s unemployment or underemployment in Taiwan (Chang & Shaw, 2016; Chang & Lin, 2015; Chou, 2014). In this section I will investigate how this phenomenon affects young people’s life in the context of

Kinmen’s special location. I claim that in the short term, it has affected young people’s school- to-work transition processes and made them lower their expectations for their careers (Chang

& Shaw, 2016). It is worth considering whether, in the long term, this will lead to a negative impact on their self-identity and life expectation.

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Being “overeducated” and “crowded-out” in the labor market

Kinmen has been a society long marked by the outflow of young people. However, the establishment of National Quemoy University in Kinmen under the expansion of higher education in Taiwan since the mid-1990s has started to introduce more young people into

Kinmen in recent years. These young people have become a source of labor, especially in the lower tiers of the service sector.

Under the impact of neo-liberalism and globalization, as well as in response to the intense social transformation within Taiwan society, higher education in Taiwan had gone through a stage of over-expansion since the mid-1990s (Chou, 2014; Chang & Lin, 2015). The number of universities grew from 16 in 1984 to 124 by 2014, and the number of students enrolled in higher education institutions increased from 412,381 to 1,339,848 (Chang & Shaw

2016). By 2006, the university admission rate had risen to over 90 percent (Chou, 2014).

National Quemoy University was upgraded from National Kinmen Institute of Technology in

2010 under this background.

General speaking, “national / public” universities are more appealing than private ones in Taiwan because their students receive more resources, pay much less in tuition fees, and have a higher academic reputation than those in the private universities (Chang & Lin, 2015).

These factors have successfully led some local young people to stay in Kinmen to attend the local public university, whereas in the past, most Kinmen high-school students had to leave their hometown to pursue a university degree.

However, being located on the remote offshore island is still an obstacle to attract students from the other places of Taiwan. In addition, although it is a public university National

Quemoy University is an institute of technology, a type of university that generally has a lower academic reputation than non-technology ones in the higher education system (Chang & Lin,

2015), which has also made National Quemoy University less appealing to students. Therefore, 144

the Kinmen government provides generous scholarships and subsidies to recruit young people from the main island of Taiwan. From 2010 to 2017, the number of students enrolled every year has gradually increased from 3,700 to 4,500, including students from both Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan80.

As university degree have gradually become a basic requirement for the younger generation, at the same time, it imposes financial burdens on them and their families. More students are obliged to earn money to help pay for tuition and living expenses to ease the financial burden of their family.

In addition, students gradually turn their attention from their studies to work for various reasons. In Kinmen, my interviewees like Eason and Guo-Wei, both told me that they ended up putting more energy into their jobs after they found that the university courses were not as useful and good as they expected in the beginning. As the average resources spent on each university student become lower (Chou, 2014), the higher education quality has declined as a result. In another case, A-Wei felt that he was attending university against his will. After graduating from the vocational high school, A-Wei wanted to work without continuing to study.

However, his parents believed that it was necessary for him to obtain a bachelor’s degree. “I don’t like to study. I was forced by my parents at that time!” he said. Due to his poor academic performance in high school, he was only able to get admitted to the continuing education program which generally has classes in the evening. He thus chose to work during the day and

80 Data collected from the website of National Quemoy University. https://www.nqu.edu.tw/teach/index.php?code=list&ids=1628. Accessed October, 29, 2019 04:12 pm. Ming Chuan University and National Tsing Hua University have branches in Kinmen as well. However, they are mainly comprised of postgraduate programs and continuing education programs which primarily target adult students. Although Ming Chuan University has begun to recruit normal university students, the number of students who have registered is rather limited. There was one student in the Department of Journalism and one in the Department of Tourism in 2017. Data collected from the website of Kinmen County Government. https://www.kinmen.gov.tw/News_Content2.aspx?n=98E3CA7358C89100&sms=BF7D6D478B935644&s=29 1120787D80357A. Accessed November, 11, 2019 06:10 pm.

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attend classes at night. During that period of time, compared to his colleagues, he thought that

“a lot of them could enjoy their own time after work, but I had to go to school at six thirty every evening, until ten.” After a while, he started to “ride the motorcycle to the school entrance and then turn back immediately, to find friends, maybe to sing, to drink alcohol not even go into the campus.” In the end, he dropped out of school before he could be expelled by the university.

According to the surveys and statistics collected by the Executive Yuan of the Taiwan government in 2015, among the 2.981 million young people aged 15 to 24, 39.9% had work experience while studying; and the percentage among the 4.498 million young people aged 15 to 29 is 44.39% 81. However, this survey does not include young people from Kinmen County and Matsu County. Although that there is no formal investigation about how many Quemoy

University students have entered the job market before graduation, all the students I have spoken with worked while studying. With little work experience and unattractive educational backgrounds, most of those who enter the job market before graduating from university could only take jobs with low entry requirements. These include the positions in the industries which have mushroomed since the opening of tourism in Kinmen, e.g. retail, restaurants, and hospitality. Workers in these jobs generally featured have low skills, low wages, no bargaining power over their working conditions (Fagan, O’Reilly, & Halpin, 2005; Furlong & Cartmel

2007).

Meanwhile, the situation of most of the local university graduates is not much better than those who join the labor market before getting a bachelor’s degree. They face the problems of “overeducation” and “crowding-out” (Chang & Shaw, 2016). On the one hand, as their

81 Data collected from the website of Directorate-General of Budge, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuen R.O.C.(Taiwan). Based on the background information of the survey. https://www.stat.gov.tw/np.asp?ctNode=1842 Accessed November, 11, 2019 03:10 pm.

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university certificates are devalued in the job market and the job options are limited, they do not have many jobs opportunities except for doing lower tier service work. On the other hand, when they enter the service sector and become a full-time worker, they have little bargaining power to negotiate better work conditions because those part-time university-student workers provide cheap and easy labor for the employers. As a result, as the labor market has become increasingly competitive, local university students in the low-end service sectors might be trapped in a poor working environment all the way through their school-to-work transition processes.

5.3.5 Multiply marginalized youth

The increasing significance of the service sector has been a global trend for decades

(Furlong & Cartmel, 2007; Fagan et al.,2005), and the contexts and developments are varied across different countries or even different areas within countries. Due to the lack of natural resources and the factor of geopolitics and militarization, Kinmen society did not experience the rapid industrialization and world-renowned economic growth experienced by the main island of Taiwan during the post-war period. In addition to working for government or state- owned enterprises, the major income of people was gained from the operation of small business providing various services to the military (Szonyi, 2008). After the lifting of the martial law and the opening of tourism, the major target market of businesses changed; however, from the perspective of the labor market, the industrial structure has not experienced great transformation.

The table below shows that from 2006 to 2017, the number of employed individuals increased gradually from 18,100 to 22,360. The population employed in the service sector rose from 12,800 to 15,770 as well, while the percentage of workers in the service sector remained

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almost constant (70.5% and 70.6%, respectively) 82 . Service sector employees obviously represented the largest group among all the industries by far.

Employed Persons by Industry in Kinmen

2006 2017

25000 22360

20000 18100 15800 (70.6%) 15000 12800 (70.5%)

PERSONS 10000 5641 4300 5000 1100 944 0 Total Employed persons Service Industries Agriculture, Forestry, Goods-Producing Fishing & Animal Industries Husbandry INDUSTRY

Figure 5-5 Employed persons by industry in Kinmen83 (Table made by the author).

The over-expansion of higher education is experienced by most counties and cities of

Taiwan, and the concentration of youth employment in the service sector is also not unique to

Kinmen. However, one of the primary difficulties faced by the young population in Kinmen is the lack of a variety of choices in education and employment.

82Data collected from the website of Accounting and Statistics Department, Kinmen County Government. https://kmasd.kinmen.gov.tw/News.aspx?n=569D75AA367055A8&sms=4FEFD09995C4BB81 Accessed November, 10, 2019 01:10 pm. 83 Data collected from the website of Accounting and Statistics Department, Kinmen County https://kmasd.kinmen.gov.tw/News.aspx?n=569D75AA367055A8&sms=4FEFD09995C4BB81 Accessed November, 10, 2019 02:10 pm.

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Besides, according to the office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration under the Taiwan Ministry of Labor, more than half of the companies reported for violations of the Labor Standards Act are those companies where the total number of personnel is below

3084. By contrast, big companies with more staff usually have relatively complete personnel systems. Scholars also state that workers in small enterprises in the service sector tend to be less unionized (Lash and Urry, 1987; Furlong & Cartmel, 2007). From the table below (Figure

5-9) we can see that among the 7,566 paid employees who were hired by private enterprises in

Kinmen in 2017, 6,896 (91%) were working in companies with less than 30 staff. It implies that most of the private sector employees in Kinmen have a high chance of being exposed to an poor working environment.

84 Ye, Yujuan (2017, April 30) Why does the government still not gaining the workers’ trust when the completion rate of labor inspection is 100% . The Reporter. Retrieved from https://www.twreporter.org/a/labor- inspection

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Table 5-3 Employed persons by number of employees in establishment and class of workers in Kinmen85

Furthermore, due to the aforementioned pressure and repression in culture, young people in Kinmen have more motivation to keep silent when facing unreasonable working conditions, compared to their counterparts on the main island of Taiwan.

Among my interviewees, some have changed jobs several times in the past few years.

Most of the time they left the positions because they were disappointed with the working condition, but they knew the next job might not be better. Gradually, they started to think

“alright, let it go! Just stand and stay for a little longer, temporarily. Wait for another good job to appear” or “I have done so much work, I don’t know what else I can do if I keep changing jobs”. Otherwise, they have to leave Kinmen for Taiwan each time when they are frustrated, like Eason. The questions about who is able and willing to leave their hometown for work opportunities and what challenges they face when they are far away from home will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.

5.4 The new middle choice: Working in trans/national companies

It seems that more and more young people work in duty-free. My interviewees, such as

YuRou, told me: “A lot of my classmates go back [to Kinmen] and work at duty-free shops. A lot! [emphasis]” Fei-Fan also said: “So when you meet classmates and ask where they are now, in Kinmen... Ahhh, duty-free shops. Yes, almost all of them return to Kinmen because of the job opportunities created by duty-free shops...” These interviewees were also willing introduce

85The statistical data retrieved from the website of Accounting and Statistics Department, Kinmen County Government. https://kmasd.kinmen.gov.tw/News.aspx?n=569D75AA367055A8&sms=4FEFD09995C4BB81 Accessed April, 15, 2019, 7:05 pm

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young respondents who were working in duty-free shops to me. It was only because of the need to include a variety of professions in the study that I had to reject their kindness.

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, trans/national groups usually have more job opportunities for young people in Kinmen. For example, in 2015, a single duty-free shop opened 1,000 job positions for their opening in Kinmen. Although these companies also hire employees from the main island of Taiwan, most of these employees will not stay in Kinmen for a long time. After all, working on the outlying island is “too far away from home”, as interviewee JoJo observed. The transportation fees to and from the main island of Taiwan and the cost of renting a house in Kinmen mean they “cannot save money here”. Take JoJo’s company as an example. JoJo estimated that the proportions of staff from Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan are close, as both account for around 50%. In the experience of Sisley, who previously worked in the duty-free shop, she said “We were all Kinmenese, those of us who entered the company at the same period of time.”

Given that the management system of those large trans/national companies is relatively less affected by local culture and institutions, could they bring different employment prospects and life expectations to young people?

5.4.1 The imagination of mobility

At a time when college students are underemployed and education is no longer a guarantee of an individual’s upward mobility, the arrival of those new emerging large enterprises seems to give a hope to Kinmen youth. These large-scale companies generally have a set of personnel systems that are implemented in various branches across the country, so young people are be less worried about the difference between urban and rural areas regarding salary and benefits. More importantly, working for global corporations and with clear hierarchical structures bring an expectation of upward mobility to many young people. 151

After working on the main island of Taiwan for five years, Eason went back to Kinmen in the summer of 2016. He articulated his anticipation about the future job market during our conversation in April 2017:

The next step... Yes, I’m waiting for a job now. Maybe wait for some of the large-scale

enterprises in [the main island of] Taiwan to come to Kinmen, and then I will join them

earlier to be…like a veteran founding hero [元老級的開國功臣], then it will be easier

for me to be promoted to be a supervisor there. The salary will be better after getting

the promotion… I heard that Carrefour may come, then I might try Carrefour… [You

want to apply for their supervisor position?] Start from the ground-level staff.

The job positions in the retail chains which Eason referred to generally do not have a high barrier to entry. At the same time, as stated previously, there is a lack of management personnel in Kinmen due to the outflow of talent. Therefore, Eason, who returned to Kinmen after many years’ experience as a salesman in Taipei, was confident that he could work from the grassroots level in anticipation of future preference in promotions.

However, in addition to the possible improvement in material conditions, does the

(unproved) vertical labor mobility also lead to career mobility or even upward class mobility for young people? In the two following cases of JoJo and Sisley, I present their different encounters in the same duty-free shop company, to discuss young people’s work experiences under the neoliberal performance system.

5.4.2 Individual’s effort is acknowledged by a distinct performance system: JoJo’s story

JoJo is the only young person among my respondents who did not have a college degree.

However, the untypical education background does not lead her to suffer from low self-esteem 152

in the workplace, given that the gaining entrance to university is no longer very difficult given that over 90% of students are now admitted to university in Taiwan. She had studied in her favorite Department of Food and Beverage and been passionately learning to make her beloved

Western-style desserts while she was a higher vocational school student. In the second year of her study, she left Kinmen and transferred to a higher level vocational night school on the main island of Taiwan. During that period of time, JoJo was working in the restaurant during the day and studying at night so that she did not have to depend on her parents financially. This made her exhausted. So after graduating from high school, JoJo returned to Kinmen. Looking for a job while taking a break at the same time, she did not find a job for three months. Finally, through a connection of her mother’s, she found her first job back in Kinmen. This job had nothing to do with her favorite Western dessert baking, but was a sales position in a large local specialty shop. However, after 6 months, JoJo resigned. When I asked her the reason, she told me: “The salary was low, the vacation days were very few. In addition, I didn’t like it there. I felt that I have learnt nothing!”

During the job interview, the boss did not talk about the salary, and JoJo felt embarrassed to inquire about it. She did not know how much she would be paid until she got the first month’s payment. Every month, she had only six days off. In addition, lots of companies in Taiwan give employees year-end and holiday bonuses at the end of the year and the major Taiwanese holidays, but this was not the case at this company. Moreover, JoJo told me angrily:

Because the boss’s family were living in the same building of the company, they would

ask an “aunt” among us staff to clean their house. We asked her if they paid her for that

extra work, and she said not at all. She even had to wash their clothes. I felt… why do

you treat the employee as a [servant]…She went to do the housework when 153

there were no customers in the shop. Washing clothes, cleaning their home, mopping

the floor, and also tidying up their kitchen. I bumped into her once when I was going

up to fill the water, so I asked her.

Once again, a typical story about an exploitative Kinmen employer. With all these situations, JoJo decided to resign and leave the company without knowing where her next job was.

No pain no gain

JoJo had been working in the duty-free shop for almost five years at the time when I first interviewed her, after she left the aforementioned local specialty shop. I was surprised by how long she had been working in this company compared to her previous job. She told me, “I wanted to leave since the second year working in this company. I felt a little tired.”

Actually, these big corporations are often stricter than small local companies. In JoJo’s company, for example, salespersons like JoJo are strictly forbidden to bring mobile phones to the workplace during work; they have to stand for nine hours every day with only an occasional five minutes’ break (usually still standing on their feet); and they also need to do a lot of physical work, like replenishing the stock when there are no customers, including heavy goods such as wine. Female staff are required to wear black high heels unless “you have a doctor’s note”, and the height of the heels should be three to six centimeters. No pants are allowed, since they wear pencil skirts all year long with skin colored tights in winter. They also have to put on a full face of makeup, including the blush, eyebrows, and eyelashes. For those who have long hair, they need to tie up their hair.

“But there is no way to find a good job elsewhere in Kinmen” Jojo reasoned, so she decided to stay. For her, the income level was a major consideration because she had to repay 154

the debts of her family. She applied for the position of “salesperson” in this company in the beginning, but the company thought that her mathematics was not good enough and put her in a lower position first. Although the starting monthly salary was the same as her previous job,

“there are many days off every month” she told me. After one year, JoJo was promoted smoothly to salesperson due to her good performance. She described her new employment package as “a big difference!” compared to her old job. For example, on top of the basic salary, there was a performance bonus every month:

I have achieved the goal every month this year. When I was promoted to salesperson in

the beginning, I thought it was good enough if I’d achieved eighty or ninety percent of

the goal. I didn’t care about the performance outcome that much. But later I heard that

the money you got would be quite different, and I felt a sense of loss. Moreover, because

of the debt of my family, I started to force myself to achieve the goal every month. I

feel happy when I receive money at the end of each month. (How do you force yourself

to achieve the goal?) I just keep on serving and serving the customers. Don't chat with

colleagues. Besides, I also have to learn professional knowledge, so that I can introduce

products to the customers.

Occasionally she got “a double amount of salary for good performance”. Additionally, the company gives “an extra two-month salary” as the year-end bonus and bonuses for the major three Taiwanese holidays according to the company’s regulation.

Carrot or stick?

Similar to Eason, the hierarchical structure and the relatively clear and complete human resource management of these trans/national companies make JoJo feel that she could advance 155

herself step by step. In the branch where JoJo worked, there were shop managers, vice group directors, group directors, and managers. In her group, the tobacco and alcohol group, there was a vice group director who was in charge of supervising the group members, and the store manager’s job was to assist the vice group director.

Like every new staff member, JoJo had to be trained in professional knowledge, procedures of sale, and techniques of selling and persuasion when she started working at the duty-free shop. After one month, she had passed a test for new employees smoothly. “If a newcomer fails the test three times, then he or she would be considered to be unsuitable for the job.” JoJo said.

Every six months, there are also evaluation exercises for every staff member. When I met JoJo for the second time, she was very excited to tell me her latest evaluation results:

I just finished my evaluation two days ago. I had been worried a lot that I couldn’t get

a B+ this time, because I had several “problematic bills” in the last six months. (What

is problematic bill?) For example, if you don’t give back correct change to the

customers, or if you type in the wrong information about the flights of customers, these

deals will be counted as problematic bills. Auditors are in charge of checking these bills.

If you make a mistake today, you will know it the next day right away… In the end, I

got a B+ again. I was so delighted.

A salesperson who has achieved one hundred and ten percent of the performance goal every month, and who is able to get a B+ for the whole year will be praised and receive an award at the annual staff party. JoJo had fulfilled both criteria that year, which meant she would be one of the people standing on the stage at the annual party. That is why she could not hide the excitement on her face when she told me the result. 156

The cost of failing to achieve the goal set by the company is not only a lower salary or a poor evaluation result, but also the pressure from the supervisors or peers. For example, for those who do not attain eighty percent of the monthly performance goal, JoJo’s directors will say harshly: “Look, why can the other people achieve the sales goal, but you can’t?” or “Your bad performance will drag down the whole group’s performance.”

Nevertheless, this situation had never happened to JoJo, because she had successfully maintained good performance and became the salesperson with the third highest sales and performance in her department. Besides, in addition to being acknowledged at the annual staff party, the abovementioned “B+” evaluation score is also a basic requirement for her to get promoted. However, for JoJo, this goal is even more challenging:

I need to get a B+, and I also have to pass the annual assessment. There will be an

assessment in September. But my English is too bad, I haven’t passed once. There is

also a Japanese test this year. We have to take both of the tests. Being here for five

years, this would be the first time for me to take the Japanese test. There is also a test

on knowledge of tobacco and alcohol. (What can you do after you pass the tests?) Then

you get the opportunity to be shop manager. (Do you want to be promoted?) I really

want to. But I think I am not capable enough. I feel that I have to know a lot of things

and have to learn from the group director. But you can challenge yourself.

Obviously, there is no shortcut to move up in the company. The human resource policies in JoJo’s workplace are rigid. However, for JoJo, through attaining the performance goals and meeting the company's criteria, she felt that she could not only accumulate money and prestige but also learn knowledge and skills to become stronger.

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It’s about your effort, not your educational background.

To JoJo, the neoliberal logic behind her company’s human resource policies is fair. As long as you work hard enough, you will get what you are worth. Accordingly, she also applied the same criteria to her co-workers. As she said when I asked her if she and her colleagues would help each other when someone did not achieve the performance goal:

For those who have achieved the goal and don’t want to attain better performance, they

will help the others. But it also depends. For those who chat every day, we won’t help

them. If you work very hard but still do not achieve the goal, then we will help you.

In addition, JoJo’s efforts were recognized despite the fact that she did not possess a university degree. As she stressed, “I feel that work ability and academic qualifications are two different things. Some employees of my age have graduated from the universities and work here. But they are not capable in their jobs. I think it has nothing to do with your educational background.”

In a word, the differences between the two jobs JoJo experienced reflect the situations faced by many Kinmen young people. They also help to explain why trans/national corporations such as duty-free shops attract young workers: the relatively better employment package, clear hierarchy, and work incentives.

5.4.3 The weak die: Sisley’s story

Now let’s talk about Sisley. What were her experiences in the same duty-free company where JoJo worked? Why did she decide to leave after one year?

After graduating from a university on the main island of Taiwan, Sisley returned to

Kinmen and looked for a job unhurriedly. That summer she successfully entered the duty-free 158

shop company. As she said, most of the colleagues who entered the company at the same period of time were Kinmenese because the new branch in the downtown was opening soon. In the beginning, Sisley was full of hope and pushed herself to strive for performance. Similar to JoJo, she thought that the company provided a good employment package, including payments for overtime, staff benefits, and performance bonuses.

What am I pursuing? Chasing after the sales performance every month.

A performance system is as a double-edged sword. Although she felt that the company was generous regarding the reward system for staff, it was also this carefully designed system which led her start to ask herself, “Although it gives you a sense of accomplishment sometimes, but what are you chasing for after the sense of accomplishment fades?” Afterwards, she started to feel the stress of performance, and she had to “chase after the goal of performance every month”. In the end, she left the company sadly. As she described:

When they ask you to achieve the goal, it is relatively strict. (Individual’s or collective

performance?) Both. There are many detailed regulations. Individual’s, the whole

department’s, and the whole store’s performance. In the beginning, I pushed myself to

work hard and perform well. But after one year, I felt unhappy to work here. (Why?)

Because I couldn’t achieve the performance goal. I was usually on the edge of the goal.

I was at the bottom of my group. (How did you cope with that stress?) I was joyful

in the beginning every month and I tried to tell myself “All right, don’t think too much,

just sell things naturally.” But when it came the middle or the end of the month, my

mood went down gradually. My supervisor would breath down my neck. I would

be scolded. Because every ten days or twenty days, we got a report on the amount of

sales. Then you would see your own performance and feel extremely stressed. The 159

supervisor would look at you. I didn’t want to fight with others, but then at the end of

the month, the sales records were printed out. How much had you sold? How much had

the others sold? You would see everyone’s records.

Competing with your colleagues

For Sisley, the performance regulations did not only affect the amount of bonuses she got. It also had an influence on her relationships with colleagues:

You and your colleagues, you were partners, but you also had to compete with each

other. It’s a bit of ...[stop]…it was more that I was rebellious, I didn’t want to cater to

the others, or to surrender to numbers. So It was very very tough for me, for the

numbers, every month. Some smarter colleagues would [about to say, but then

paused]… Anyway we tried not to pick a fight with each other. We just discussed a few

situations sometimes. Like, my customers bought from her/him later, then who could

take the credit? There was no rule of taking turns at that time. Who had served the

customers or who took the credit.

The argument about how to count credit did not happen to JoJo. Because she entered the company later than Sisley and the company had already set up a method to solve the problem. In Sisley’s narratives, she stopped talking a few times when she mentioned her colleagues. It seemed that she could not express her negative feelings directly even though she had already left the company a few years ago. Instead, she described her more successful colleagues as smarter, and she blamed her sad experiences on her own personality by saying that she was rebellious.

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Conflicts between moral values and personal benefits, personal values and collective values

Under the pressure of performance requirements, like the other salespeople, Sisley had to enhance her competitive power to survive. She joined classes held by the company and learned sales skills and HuaShu [話術/techniques of selling and persuasion]. The first thing she learned was how to tell if a customer had spending power or not, because it is more worthwhile to invest time and energy on those who would buy more products, i.e. the LuKe.

She seemed to be embarrassed when I asked her to explain more to me:

Sisley: You had spent time on the Taiwanese, but they might only buy a lipstick. If I

used the same time on DaLuTuan, I could earn much more money. … So we were more

aggressive [towards them]. Actually it changed a person’s attitude towards money. I

felt that situation was quite serious.

Me: For example?

Sisley: It seems to be very snobbish [showed discomfort and embarrassment on her

face] … (It’s Ok) You saw how they used HuaShu in the classes. They taught us what

to say, to make the customers believe that “these products can change my outlook”, this

is HuaShu. You also learned how to know if a customer would buy things or not through

the conduction of a conversation. And then you got the feeling of “Ah! No wonder.

That is how it works.”

From the embarrassment and shame revealed in her narratives, it seems that Sisley had been facing the conflict between moral values and personal benefits. However, she also admitted that “I felt depressed if I spent a lot of time on a customer, and she or he just said ‘ok,

I will come and buy next time’”. After all, she had to face a struggle of survival in the workplace

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at the same time, so she had to make a choice between personal values and collective values

(the company’s values).

Fear of becoming a rotten apple

Because an individual’s poor performance would drag down the group’s performance, gradually, Sisley began to worry about becoming a troublemaker among the colleagues. Every month she was calculated how much more revenue she had to earn for her group. “I calculated how much volume of sales I had to generate for the last ten days of the month. So that I knew

I would be safe if I had successfully sold a certain amount of products. But sometimes, I just could not make it. In this kind of situation, she had to face the stress from the colleagues.

Sometimes you felt [bad] about being helped… I thought this was not the solution.

Those who helped you all the time, they might say “she didn’t achieve the goal again,

I had to give her my credit again”. Not everyone would think of this from a positive

perspective. To say it nicely, it was like you were helping each other. But if you thought

it in a negative way, that was because they had to do it for their own good. Because

there were also rewards for group performance.

Even after so many years, when Sisley was talking about the stress from the job in the duty-free shop, she could not help crying and stopped talking. Moreover, her anxiety of being a rotten apple at the workplace continued to her current job.

I would have many different kinds of thoughts. I would keep thinking of…myself

[sniffling slightly], I just let my thoughts run wild [wiping tears with a tissue]. Now I

still, I still think…first, don’t hold the others back. Then I have an expectation for 162

myself, to complete certain things without making mistakes. To manage certain

situations properly, to cope with risks appropriately.

Self-blaming

Apparently, Sisley’s sorrow and pain were not over yet. However, under the neoliberal competitive system, which seems to be fair on the surface, she had blamed herself in the end.

As she described how she felt:

It’s my own personality, I was stubborn. It’s OK, I have left there and should let it

go. I don’t know, if I could bear it at that time, I don’t know what it will be now. Ha ha

[smiling bitterly], I just don’t want to let those things affect me. It’s all over. Well, ...I

felt it’s all over after all. I was too young at that time, so I couldn’t cope with things

properly then. (Do you feel hurt?) It’s ok, it’s just too young. Like our younger

brothers or sisters in the workplace now, maybe they feel hurt by us too, it is

possible. (If your friends want to work in the same duty-free shop, will you still suggest

he or she to go?) They can try, it’s not a big deal. (So what do you think about the

performance system, from your experience?) I think it is inevitable. If not, there

must be someone who does not work hard to fulfill the duty. Although it depends

on yourself, depends on how much you want to achieve… But you will give the other

people an impression that you don’t care about the job. So I think the pressure is

necessary. I might be able to bear it now, but I couldn’t tolerate it in the past.

Embracing neo-liberalism and internalizing individualization

Trans/national corporations such as duty-free shops provide “middle job” choices for young people because of better employment packages, universal human resource regulations 163

which are applied to all the branches, and performance systems under which young people’s efforts would not be overlooked. Moreover, the generally large-scale hierarchal personnel structure allows young people to imagine upward employment mobility.

However, it is also these trans/national businesses which have placed young people on the very frontline of free competition under neoliberalism. Governed by the performance system, young people are voluntarily or involuntarily forced to accept the neoliberal logic that the strong survive and the weak die. They gradually consider this rule as “reasonable and fair” to reward/punish individuals according to how much they have contributed to the company. In addition, they believe that individuals are responsible for their own success or failure. For those who succeed, such as JoJo, it was because of her competence and efforts. Her lower education degree did not stop her from being recognized. As for those who fail, like

Sisley, she blamed herself for her immaturity, personality, and low stress tolerance, even though she also experienced inner value conflicts about the way workers were encouraged to think.

Yet, what makes one worry is that in the case of Sisley, the sense of guilty and failure were not dismissed even long after she had left the company. The process of self-denial might cause long-lasting mental health issues for young individuals. Besides, although the achievement in sales “numbers” may bring hopes of upward job mobility to some young salespeople, it does not necessarily lead to higher aspirations for their future. When I asked

JoJo if she could imagine herself at the age of thirty or forty, she showed strong anxiety and crisis awareness:

I don’t dare to think about it. I worry that I will be not good at all. Maybe I will be still

like now, just stay in this company. There is no way to have my own dreams.

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Apparently, the imagination of upward job mobility in the trans/national corporations does not guarantee career mobility for young people in Kinmen.

5.5 Conclusion

As Goodwin and his colleagues suggest, employment conditions will affect young people’s mental health, identity, prospects, and satisfaction with their lives (2017). Since the opening of the tourism industry and the Mini-Three-Links have resulted in changes in the labor market in Kinmen, young people in different locations in the occupational hierarchical structure are facing various challenges.

In the current changing employment structure, the Jun-Gong-Jiao enjoy the highest job security and best employee benefits. However the door is not open for everyone. It is only open for those who have good performance in the highly competitive national examinations. Among my interviewees, there are quite a number of young people who are still putting efforts into becoming a Jun-Gong-Jiao, while almost none of them have already achieved the goal.

Meanwhile, if you have connections with politicians in power, then you probably can obtain a temporary contract job in the governemnt, like Joy. However, it is a shortsighted approach for the Kinmen government to providing massive numbers of temporary government jobs. It is only beneficial to certain young people, and the overall employment enviroment does not get improved. Besides, those who have Guanxi and get contract jobs in government are sometimes affected greatly by political situtations. Therefore, the geopolitics of Kinmen may increase the uncertainity of their lives. On the other hand, because Guanxi involves exchanges of personal social capital, it thus becomes a source of interpersonal pressure for certain young persons.

Overall, Jun-Gong-Jiao defines whether a young person is qualified to for start a family or not because of the specific cultural and historical factrs in Kinmen. However, young people’s

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capacity to become Jun-Gong-Jiao involves the cultural or social captial they possess and deploy.

Regarding young people who work in the local private companies, they are facing the problem of being exploited by their employers. Under the interweaving effects of the over- expansion of higher education, the weakness of labor laws, and the pressure and repression in the culture they become multiply marginalized subjectivites. They are aware of the exploitative environments they are situated in, but they are also confused about what they can do to find a better situation in the next job. Therefore, they have a deep sense of helplessness about their current situtations. What makes people even more worried is that their confusion and feelings of helplessness may further deepen their uncertainty about the future, frustration about their self-identity, and feelings of powerlessness in life.

In comparison to young people who work in local companies and are conscious of the exploitative conditions, those who are employed by trans/national corportions are more convinced that individuals should take the most of the responsiblity for their own success or failure. Being governed strictly by a series of regultions and the neoliberal performance system, their good performance might be more recognized and rewarded. While they may have to struggle between personal and collective values. The inner conflicts may happen when they start to resist being defined by “numbers”, but they still have to face a long-lasting process of self-blaming or self-denial when they fail the company’s expectations.

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The pursuer of cosmopolitanism

—Looking beyond job opportunities

The migration practices of rural youth should be understood as elements of their

striving for self-realization and construction of life projects.

Rye (2011:181)

Kinmen under the Cold War is known as the “democracy’s outpost” and "freedom’s

fortress”, but how come we can only show and be the real self in Taipei, the city

hundreds of miles away from our home?

Wen. 2018.10.26 86

6.1 Overview

In the previous chapter, I point out that the collaboration of geopolitics and transnational capitalism have brought both chances and challenges to young people in Kinmen.

At the same time, I presented the obstacles and problems faced by young people in both the new and old employment environments in Kinmen. Their difficulties are not only about the insufficiency of job opportunities, but also about the competition, oppression and exploitation in the work environment. Besides, these situations result from the interaction of culture,

86 Provided by interviewee Wen, it was originally posted anonymously on Facebook page《YouthToBe》 ( https://www.facebook.com/YouthToBe/posts/522692984866828 ).

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institutions, and history, and cannot be explained merely from the perspective of the economy.

In this chapter, I further investigate the decision-making process of those who choose to migrate outside of Kinmen. I believe that it can provide us a better understanding of young people’s challenges living in the borderland of Kinmen. It also reveals the value system which is affecting young people.

“No good job opportunities” is the most common answer young people gave me in the beginning, when talking about the reasons for leaving their hometown. The newly emerging job opportunities in duty-free shops or other tourism-related businesses are not attractive enough. But when I explored this topic further, I found out that the motives are complicated and material incentives cannot completely explain their decisions about migration (Lan, 2006).

In addition to job opportunities, they also want a life without monitoring, and a sense of autonomy and independence. Moreover, they are attracted by the culture of consumption, the cultural landscape, the transnational art and creative industries, and the adventurous nature of cosmopolitan cities, specifically Taipei. Meanwhile, the unexpected experiences of civil participation on the main island of Taiwan have led them go through a process of self- transformation, and this makes them feel it is more and more difficult to go back to their hometown. I call this group of young people “pursuers of cosmopolitanism”.

It is worth noting that among these young people on the main island of Taiwan, seven of the participants have families who own at least one house in Taipei, two were staying in relatives’ houses with lower rent paid by their parents, and two rented houses by themselves.

The accessibility of accommodation reflects one person’s economic capital or social capital.

Although it is not the only reason why young people choose to migrate, it is the most obvious barrier to spatial movement.

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At the same time, in their attempt to be themselves, explore themselves, and change themselves in the outside world, they also have to face different levels of identity confrontation, family disapproval, high cost of living, lower quality of life, and health threats.

Lan borrows Aguilar Jr. Filomeno’s concept of “cross-border gambling” to describe the overseas migration process of Filipino and Indonesian female migrant workers as a journey

“that involves as many risks as opportunities to satisfy personal desires and achieve self- transformation” (2006, p.126). I assert that for the young people who have left Kinmen for the main island of Taiwan, their migration journey is also a “cross-border” adventure. Through the traversal of the physical boundaries, they are simultaneously struggling to cross the boundaries of culture, identity, gender, and class for the “construction of life projects” (Rye 2011, p.181).

6.2 The reasons to go to Taiwan

The main island of Taiwan has long been the major migration destination for most

Kinmen young people. They have faced various difficulties in their migration decisions depending on their social background, including high living expenses, low savings, high- pressure work environments, family disapproval, and health threats. Therefore, in addition to the working conditions in Kinmen mentioned in the previous chapter, what are the driving forces behind their decisions to stay on the main island of Taiwan? How do they weigh the risks and the opportunities in their decision-making processes? What do they have to negotiate in order to achieve their goals?

6.2.1 Job satisfaction and individualism: It is impossible to be exposed to such new things in Kinmen

Peng works in Taipei as an artist without a stable income. Sometimes he earns only six or seven thousand New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) a month (The statutory minimum wage in 169

Taiwan in 2019 is 23,100 NTD). He lives with his two brothers in a rental house but he does not have to pay the rent. When I asked if he would consider moving back to Kinmen, he told me:

The work environment in Kinmen is not very friendly for young people, but it is much

easier to survive there. First of all, the living expenses are low and then people usually

have places to live. Unlike on the main island of Taiwan, it is very difficult to survive

for most of the young people. … However, the industry I am currently working in is

very, very small in Kinmen. There is no chance for me to develop my talent. If I go

back, I will have nothing to do even though I have expertise. Those who go back to

Kinmen, as far as I know, the most they can do is to be a teacher, or to work in the

service industry, or maybe they run a coffee shop, a restaurant, or something.

For some young people who have left Kinmen, like Peng, what they expect the most from work is not good material conditions. They care more about whether their jobs are in line with their interests, or if the job choices are diverse. Although Peng’s family is not well off and he has a low income most of the time, he feels that he can still live a “quite joyful” life if he

“spends money modestly”.

The development of the tourist business has brought new employment opportunities to

Kinmen. However, as Peng said, these jobs are still limited to specific types. The types of occupation of my interviewees on the main island of Taiwan are relatively diverse in comparison with those in Kinmen. Those young people, such as filmmaker Ying, freelance lecturer and make-up artist Yurou, and marketing personnel Lilly and Yating who work in an advertising company and a trading company respectively, all share similar concerns with Peng.

Unlike Peng, who does not have to pay for his rent, Lilly told me that she has to pay the rent every month, and it becomes a monthly issue. She can hardly save money. In addition, 170

she faces the problems of “extremely irregular diet”, “staying up late and working overtime frequently”, and “high-pressure and intense work”. Therefore, her father keeps asking her to go back to Kinmen and take over his job as an insurance sales agent with a high income.

Nevertheless, Lilly still wants to stay in Taipei:

Although my current job is really exhausting, I feel that I have made progress, I have

been learning, and my ability is strengthened. If I do that [become a sales agent], I

would be stuck. For me, I don’t want to stop so early. What I am doing now is about

digital technology, social media advertisement, Google, and the other stuff. I think it is

absolutely impossible to be exposed to such new things in Kinmen.

Valuing personal interest and growth more than material returns from work also shows the tendency towards individualism of young people. On the one hand, despite the fact that they do not have to be the breadwinner for their parents’ family at this stage, most of them do not come from a wealthy family and are still facing financial issues in their everyday life.

Therefore, I believe that social class cannot completely explain why young people from

Kinmen choose to migrate, since those who migrate do not necessarily migrate in order to improve their financial situation or because they can depend on the financial support of a well- off family. On the other hand, when considering their future plans and financial issues, personal interest may still be the priority. As Peng, who has a stable relationship with his cohabiting girlfriend, told me:

I have thought about what would happen if I want to get married. But I don’t intend to

become active and aggressive for marriage, such as quitting what I am doing now and

finding a job with a higher income, … or to set a goal of Cheng-Ji- Li-Ye [成家立業/

to have a family and a career].

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6.2.2 Leisure pursuits and mobility: I would be trapped on the island if I go back

The geographic restriction of Kinmen limits young people’s leisure experiences on the island, even though Kinmen has gone through a rapid transformation in recent years. On the one hand, the new economic development dominated by tourism does not bring much change to local people’s leisure experiences. On the other hand, although Xiamen is described as

Kinmenese’s backyard after the Mini-Three-Links policy, my interviewees who live on the main island of Taiwan complained that “the people there are so uncultured”, “I don’t like it there, it’s very dirty”, “the development there is rapid, while people’s habits are still bad”.

Apparently, Xiamen is not an attractive destination for fun for some Kinmenese. Accordingly, once young Kinmeneses’ leisure experiences are expended after they go to the main island of

Taiwan for study or employment, some of them are reluctant to go back to Kinmen and give their lifestyle.

Yurou lives in Taipei after finishing her university degree and lives in a relative’s house with her sister. Her first job was doing administrative work at a multinational clothing retailer company. Her work was very stressful and she worked over twelve hours per day frequently, while the salary was not high. After working at the company for a while, she found out that the chance of getting promoted was not as high as she thought originally, so she quit the job. She then began to take courses on life coaching and make-up, and she works as a freelance lecturer and bridal makeup artist now. Since her income is unstable, she is considering finding a full- time job again. When she talked about her financial pressures, I asked her if she will consider going back to Kinmen. She said “No, there are not many job opportunities and the average salary is lower. I won’t work at the duty-free shop. Would there be any other job opportunities?

Nothing.”

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In fact, Yurou’s income has never been adequate and her current freelance jobs are insecure. So I wondered if there are any other reasons for her staying in Taipei, in addition to the considerations of job and wages. She thus told me:

It would be extremely boring to go back to Kinmen. I would be trapped on the island.

I prefer to go around, go to the movies and watch shows. I have to pay for the

transportation fee for travelling to the main island of Taiwan if I go back. The cost will

start at 3,000 NTD. I like to be in Taipei [laughed]. I like to go everywhere in Taiwan.

In explaining her fear of being “trapped on the island”, Yurou voiced most Kinmen young people’s concerns. Eason, who has just moved back to Kinmen, also said: “No matter how far you go, you are still on this tiny island. You can only go around the island and see the scenery. Unlike the mainland of Taiwan, the life is much more colorful and there is everything.”

If his family was not preparing to run a Bed and Breakfast, Eason would not come back to

Kinmen.

Yurou’s concerns are no longer about the geographic isolation of Kinmen, but about the cost of leaving. In comparison, Ruby, who stays in Kinmen and works in a securities brokerage, told me: “I probably fly to Taipei a dozen times a year. If there is a chance for a business trip, I just go and have fun too. Anyway, my company pays the tickets for me. Even when not for work, I still go sometimes.” Like Yurou, Ruby likes to visit art or cultural centers, and she enjoys seeing art exhibitions and watching performances. These kinds of cultural activities are still very limited in Kinmen.

Above all, the concerns over “being trapped on the island” indicate youth anxiety about mobility. In Yurou’s case, the meaning of mobility of Kinmen young people is involved with her desire for leisure opportunities and pursuit of cultural life. Moreover, the degree of mobility differs according to an individual’s economic situation and employment condition. 173

Nevertheless, Yurou’s determination and struggle to stay in Taipei provide proof of youth’s resistance to the restrictions of personal mobility.

6.2.3 Political participation and self-expression: You need to take part in things in person before you can make your own judgment

When I asked young people in Kinmen about their opinion on politics or public affairs, most of the time they showed hesitation in answering my questions. They said, “I don’t talk about politics frequently”, “I don’t have any specific political positions,” or “I have no idea about politics.” On the surface, this phenomenon gives us an impression of youth’s apathy or unawareness of politics. However, in terms of youth political participation, as Furlong and

Cartmel remind us we should not only look at the “quantitative shift” but should also learn about its “qualitative change” (p.123).

Compared to those in Kinmen, most of the interviewees on the main island of Taiwan expressed their views on public issues freely. They expressed their criticisms of politicians without much hesitation. In addition, Russell, Yating, Wen, and Peng told me that they had participated in social movements and rallies, such as the famous Sunflower Movement.

Yating graduated from senior high school at the time when the Mini-Three-Links policy had only been in effect for a few years. She first went to study at Fujian Normal University in

China. One year later, she decided to withdraw from university because she could not adapt herself well to the environment and teaching approach there. She then went to work in Taipei and prepared to apply to universities in Taiwan. However, her decision was not supported by her family. Therefore, during the one year of preparing for university entrance examinations and the next four years of her college life, she worked nonstop. She has done a variety of jobs, such as assistant at a cram school, administration staff of a government department, and salesperson at a department store. Because she went to work immediately after school, she did 174

not have much interaction with her classmates and she had no social life during her college years.

Nevertheless, the challenges in her life do not change her mind about not going back to

Kinmen. Yating said: “My thoughts must be quite different from those in Kinmen now. There is already a gap. I can only go back for a few days. If I interact with them more, we might fight with each other all the time.” She further explained her transformation:

The change is mainly due to the people I met and the difference of social atmosphere.

Maybe it is because I live on the main island of Taiwan, therefore I will think about

things from different angles. I used to take it for granted that the Kuomintang’s

(Nationalist Party) policies are always good, but then I have different thoughts after I

came in contact with the aborigines or other ethnic groups. There are always people

who are excluded. There is no absolutely good party. My identity and position have

already changed since the Sunflower Movement. I went to the rally for a period of time.

I won’t say that the Movement is very positive or what, but after I actually went there,

my way of thinking about public issues changed. My point is that, you need to take part

in things in person before you can make your own judgment about many things.

Obviously, being able to “take part in person” in the civic movement and develop the ability of “making your own judgment” attracts young people to stay in Taipei. For those in

Kinmen, the pressure of the “adult gaze” and “gossip” make them develop “a sense of marginality” (Leyshon 2011, p. 311, 313). Lee, who had been working on the main island of

Taiwan for several years before returning to Kinmen, explained his complex feelings:

You can live on the main island of Taiwan freely. On the contrary, in Kinmen, I have

to pretend that I didn’t see anything even if I have seen something wrong. This is the

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most annoying thing about returning to Kinmen. One of my good friends who works at

the Agency Against Corruption told me that it is impossible for him to come back and

work in Kinmen. There will be a lot of disputes since your uncle or father might be the

target of investigation. Can you execute the investigation? It will be under huge pressure.

There is a lack of people with a sense of justice. Even if there is, people will say

something harsh about and exclude that person. The person who dares to speak up will

become a street rat which everyone chases and beats [everyone will attack that person],

as long as people’s interests are damaged. This is particularly evident in Kinmen.

Lee’s description proves that for young people, their “home” in the rural area may not be necessarily able to provide them “a sense of belonging”, and sometimes they want to flee away from it. (Leyshon 2011, p.304). On the one hand, as mentioned in the previous chapter, the internalized militarization makes most Kinmenese unused to dealing with confrontation.

On the other hand, accompanied by the rapid social change and economic development, local interest groups have increased and their relationships have become increasingly complex. So, the pressure to remain silent is becoming obvious. It reflects the impact of the interaction between the political and economic forces described in Chapter 4, and politics has become a topic of extreme sensitivity at the local level. Consequently, most of the young people in

Kinmen did not have a sense of security to talk about public issues with me when they were uncertain about my political orientation in the beginning, since I was an interviewer who came back from another place long after I grew up in Kinmen.

Eason, who also returned from Taipei after five years working there, expressed a sense of helplessness as well when talking about public participation: “people just think that, anyway, we cannot make changes to the decisions made by the government. That’s it! In Taipei, everyone will fight for it.”

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It is evident that the place where youth feel a sense of belonging is a space where they are able to express their true thoughts. It is not their “houses” where they don’t “dare to speak up” and fear “becoming a street rat”, or where they think they “cannot make changes”. Young people are not indifferent to politics, but as Furlong and Cartmel (2007) note, they just prefer

“connecting the individual to the political world directly rather than via the collective mediation of social groups” (p.123).

Through leaving, the young Kinmenese in Taipei express their dissatisfaction with the culture which emphasizes the collective and the single shared political orientation. Moreover, through the process of direct citizen participation, the repressed voices can be gradually released, heard, and recognized.

6.2.4 Gender, sexuality, and subjectivity: If I had been born in a friendly city…

There is a group of young people whose decisions to migrate are related to their gender or/and sexuality. Those young people live on or plan to move to the main island of Taiwan, looking for a “perceived liberal environment in larger cities” (Wimark 2014, p.18). Through moving to the big cities, they hope to be free from the traditional patriarchal controls in their hometown. Moreover, their gender or (and) sexual identity can be settled and their intimate lives can be built up. (Aldrich 2004; Hubbard 2011).

Daughters who want to go out and see the world

As mentioned in the previous chapter, many of my young interviewees shared the same thought: “many people who stay in Kinmen are either running their family businesses, or working as teachers or civil servants.” It is important to note, however, that most Kinmen parents hand over their businesses to their sons rather than to their daughters. Although this

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sometimes forms a kind of pressure for sons to come back to Kinmen, they still have more choices back home than daughters.

Yating’s parents always stated that “property is deemed to be given to sons” and “only sons need to know the important things about the family!” As a daughter, she has been aware of the fact that if she wants to realize her own dreams she has to depend on herself, including the dream of education:

She [my mon] is more willing to give resources to cultivate my brothers, but not me

and my sister. When we were in high school, she said that we should find a job as soon

as possible or just find a convenient university. But as to my two brothers, one has better

performance in school and is studying in a national university while the other studies

in a less well-known school with very high tuition fees. But he doesn’t work at all. My

mom is still willing to spend the money and let him live in Taipei. I have to work my

way through university. My elder sister also has to be responsible for her living

expenses by herself.

Yating has a strong feeling that “only sons are the Zi-Ji-Ren [ 自己人/members of the family], and another young woman Yurou, who also comes from a family which values boys more than girls, told me that her experiences growing up made her “have to think of competing with men all the time.”

In addition, the unequal distribution of resources between men and women has also made them different in terms of personal career expectations, and attitudes towards the development of Kinmen society. Young men among my interviewees show a more welcoming attitude towards future economic development in Kinmen. They often embrace the investment projects between the local Kinmen government and companies or government offices from

Mainland China. They see themselves as beneficiaries of these emerging economic 178

opportunities. In addition, they might choose to study in a “famous school” such as Xiamen

University as an investment for their future political and business careers.

In contrast, Yating responded, “I want to be able to go out and see the world!” when I asked about her future. Thinking that she could only rely on herself financially, she told me that since she did not have enough money to take a working holiday or study abroad, so she stays in the big city of Taipei and keeps looking for jobs where she can be assigned to other countries. For her, “work is not the aim, but the means only,” the means which can take her away from Kinmen and help her achieve a sense of self-fulfillment.

In addition to the culture which treats women as inferior to men, young females also suffer from traditional gender stereotypes in Kinmen and this has also pushed them away from their hometown.

After finishing her university degree on the main island of Taiwan, Olivia returned to

Kinmen and worked in a local hospital to fulfill her duty as a recipient of a government university scholarship. In the beginning she did not think of leaving Kinmen, but then she changed her mind. She told me that after she turned thirty her mother and other relatives kept urging her to get married as soon as possible because they think that “women should form a family at this age.” Olivia did not agree with them. She continuously rejected relatives’ offers to introduce boys to her, and this resulted in several fierce fights between her and her mother.

“This caused a lot of trouble in my life” she said. Similarly, Ying and Lilly are also bothered by traditional beliefs about gender roles. When they lived in Kinmen, their parents worried about them and kept nagging them when they were not at home. As Lilly complained:

My younger brother is just a student now, but he can go abroad, he can do anything.

But we were not allowed to go abroad when we were students, because we were girls

and they didn’t want us to be in danger. Besides, we were not allowed to stay overnight

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at friends’ places. Now I am in Taipei, I can go anywhere anytime and they could only

say that “we won’t know wherever she goes”.

Young sexual minorities who seek community, social life, and identity

The strong patriarchal culture and its compulsory heterosexuality makes it difficult for some gay men and lesbians to survive in Kinmen. As Wen described his early experiences in

Kinmen:

As early as elementary school, I was often ridiculed as a sissy or tranny because I was

feminine. Under the impacts of the military history and the strong clan culture, it’s not

difficult to imagine that people like me, a gay man who is not masculine and who does

not conform to the patriarchal expectations—my life would be full of frustrations and

obstacles. The whole society is conservative and changes slowly due to the past military

governance, and this makes it almost impossible for me to come out.

At the same time, Joy also told me about her predicament living in Kinmen. She said that her relatives who she lived with always gave her different treatment because of her androgynous look. Therefore, she decided to interact with them distantly to avoid being hurt emotionally.

The experiences of being greatly oppressed and discriminated against in their non- metropolitan hometown have led to their decision to move to the metropolis. They tend to move to big cities to fully inhabit their sexualities (Knopp, 2004; Hubbard, 2011). Wen told me that gay men and lesbians, whom he knew, almost never “choose to” return to Kinmen. As for himself, he was determined to return to and contribute to his hometown when he was a child, but now he found it difficult to stay in Kinmen. On the other hand, Taipei, where a lot of LGBT campaigns and activities have happened, has become a major destination for gay men and

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lesbians to seek their identities. Wen’s description below fully demonstrates the importance of urban life to his gay identity:

When I was in graduate school, I was enlightened by the concept of multiculturalism.

Later, I had chances to see gay communities in the major cities in United States when I

went to study in a dual-degree program. Such as Castro in San Francisco, West

Hollywood in Los Angeles, New York West Village, Seattle’s Capitol Hill, etc. It has

greatly expanded my understanding of LGBT issues and has thus helped to strengthen

my gay identity. I became brave enough gradually to come out to people around me. I

am always wondering would my life have been more colorful and have less struggles

if I had not been born in Kinmen where there is no gay bar, gay park, or gay sauna? If

I had been born in a gay-friendly city on the main island of Taiwan or in other countries.

If I had lived on the main island of Taiwan, even in a remote county or village, at least,

I would not have been worried about the expensive flight ticket and I could have gone

anywhere by bus or car. I could have come out to my friends earlier without fear of

being abandoned by the world again and again. I would have not worried about being

stuck on this small island of Kinmen without friends.

As Weston (1995) has already pointed out, in the gay imagination about rural and urban regions, the rural area is usually hostile and unwelcoming, while the urban area is relatively inclusive with a variety of supportive communities for sexual minorities. Wen’s narrative to some extent corresponds with this kind of imagination. The urban space serves as an inclusive container where a “gay bar, gay park, or gay sauna” is allowed to exist under the unrestrictive business conditions or progressive social values. These venues provide not only practical functions such as drinking, dating, or making gay friends, but more importantly, they provide sexual minorities a sense of belonging. Young gay men get chances to build up their sexual 181

identities in these spaces. What Wen described is more than an imagination, it is something based on his actual and painful life experience living on an isolated island. It is also a deep aspiration and struggle of running away from his hometown to the metropolitan city

It is worth noting that Wen has become active in various social movements, including

LGBT movements, in Taipei. Even when he was not living in Taipei, he always traveled to

Taipei to attend the Pride Parade or other LGBT campaigns. One day he sent me a message telling me that that he and a friend would sell some “rainbow products” (products related to

LGBT rights) at a music festival in Kinmen. He told me that he was very excited about such a brave plan. But soon after, he told me that “I will hide myself when I see an acquaintance.”

The next summer I returned to Kinmen just before the referendum on same-sex marriage in

Taiwan. Wen was back in Kinmen too, and he asked me to sign a petition. When I was on the way to meet him at his home for the petition, he called me and asked me to meet him at the alley next to his home. He said “I have to be careful of the neighbors. There are always gossips.

I don’t want my family to hear anything about me from them.”

The dual lives of sexual minorities in Kinmen and Taipei, exemplify the divergent performances in the “front stage” and “back stage” as described by sociologist Erving Goffman

(1959). Gay and lesbian people play the roles expected by mainstream society in the front stage, while their oppressed real self can only appear in the back stage. As Wen said, “I am always wondering, if I had not left Kinmen, would I have had to pretend to be another person all the time?”

Similar to Wen, another gay interviewee named Gary is even more active in the LGBT movement. While he keeps a low profile in Kinmen, he has already come out to his family. As a recipient of a government scholarship he has to serve in Kinmen for seven years, but he told me exactly how many days were left for his service in Kinmen when I met him. He aims to

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move to Taipei as soon as he finishes his duty. Before then, he flies to Taipei almost twice a month to fulfill his commitments in the gay community and LGBT movement.

Another reason for Gary to fly to Taipei frequently is practical, that is, for his intimate life. As Joy said, “you cannot develop a relationship even if you meet someone nice. Because she cannot date you under the pressure of Kinmenese society.”

As to interviewee Russell, he first started his university studies in Taipei. Later on he transferred to National Quemoy University back home after being suspended from school in

Taipei. After one year, he transferred back to Taipei. His parents supported him and gave him a lot of freedom in making every decision about moving. When I interviewed him in Taipei, he told me about his gay identity. So, I asked him if there are chances for him to develop relationships in Kinmen since he seems to have higher mobility. He raised his voice and said,

“How could that be!”. He said his boyfriend had never flown over to see him during his one year of studying in Kinmen because “where to live in Kinmen is a problem” and he could not let his parents know his sexual orientation.

The intersectionality of gender and sexuality

Despite the fact that both young gay and lesbian people are suffering from being excluded or subordinated in Kinmen, the pressures put upon them vary between men and women. As the eldest son of the family, Russell expressed: “I worry that I couldn’t fulfill my duty as the eldest son and continue the family bloodline. You know, the culture of Kinmen.

But after my younger brother was born, I feel a little bit relived. He can be the one who takes the responsibility for the family bloodline.” “Spoiled son” is the term which Russell used to describe himself. He feels that home is still a protection despite being gay. Therefore, each time when he fails in Taipei, he always moves back to Kinmen. At the same time, he still enjoys the freedom of choice without fear of being stuck in Kinmen. On the contrary, there are young 183

women who strive to leave or not move back to their patriarchal family in Kinmen, despite the difficulties of living in the cities. The difficulties multiply for a lesbian who is in a disadvantaged position in terms of both gender and sexuality. For lesbian Joy, working at two jobs at the same time to save money is the only aim at this stage. Occasionally she will visit the job search website to check opportunities on the main island of Taiwan, imagining that one day she can leave Kinmen and start a new life on the main island of Taiwan.

On the whole, the meaning of “home” could be translated as a gendered place where young women want to “escape” to the “big world”, but also as a “shelter” where privileged young men want to stay or go back when they fail in the outside world.

6.3 The othered Kinmenese/Taiwanese: The border of identity, language, and globalization

With the end of martial law, the information gap between Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan has become smaller, while the gap about identity issues has seemed to expand. Most

Kinmen young people on the main island of Taiwan have encountered the same situation of being misunderstood and they felt disturbed or disappointed. In today’s modern society, what the misunderstanding of Kinmen reflects is not the backwardness of information technology, but the marginal position of Kinmen in Taiwan society.

These young people are frequently asked by other Taiwanese about geographic and transportation questions, such as: “How did you come to the main island of Taiwan? How many days did you spend on the boat?”; “Did you swim over to the main island with a basketball?”; and “Do you take a boat to go to Kinmen, or is there any other means of transportation?” In fact, it takes only one hour to fly between Kinmen and Taiwan’s main island. In addition, there are nearly one hundred flights per day flying between Kinmen and other counties in Taiwan,

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and more than two million passengers travel back and forth each year.87 It is therefore hard to believe that these questions are simply prompted by the ignorance of the questioners. On the contrary, these questions indicate an intention of “othering” the Kinmen youth through teasing or contemptuous language. As Lister (2004) notes, “othering” is a “process of differentiation and demarcation by which a line is drawn between ‘us’ and ‘them’” (p.101). Furthermore, this line not only divides the “us”–Taiwanese main islanders and the ‘them’ – Kinmenese, but also implies that Kinmenese are the “inferior other” (Jensen, 2011: 70).

Another kind of othered experience that Kinmen young people in Taiwan face is based on their accent. As Yurou described:

If I speak Taiwanese quickly, they may think I am odd, not like a Taiwanese. When I

was talking to my family on the phone, my classmates said: “What are you talking

about? I can’t understand it at all.”

Ying also expressed her anger about her experiences of being “othered”:

Sometimes, I go to the southern Taiwan to make films and people there say that I am a

Miss Taipei. I wonder if I have become so “Taipei”? While sometimes in Taipei, people

say that my Taiwanese was not accurate when I speak Minnan Language—the standard

Kinmen dialect. I am angry. It seems that… you people from the main island of Taiwan

are the most correct. Your thoughts and language are the most correct. Um… you

respect indigenous people and mainlanders on the surface. However, when people from

87 Data of airport traffic operation statistics of Kinmen Airport collected from the website of Kinmen Airport https://www.kma.gov.tw/DefPage/MyChilds.aspx?MenuID=419 Accessed October, 01, 2019 01:10 pm

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Kinmen speak a language which you are not used to, you think that it is incorrect and

the pronunciation is wrong.

The situation of being “othered” is getting serious and complicated along with the media’s reports on the frequent exchange activities between Kinmen and Xiamen. At the same time, as the result of the popularity of the internet and the development of social media, the hostility which the young generation of Kinmenese have to face seems to be different from what the older generation faced. For example, Russell, an interviewee living in Taipei, is anxious about this phenomenon: ‘There are a lot of trolls on the internet... those keyboard warriors would say that Kinmen is not part of Taiwan. So I think that the government has never done a good job.’ Two related posts and the comments on them I read on online forums also reflect what Russell said. The titles are “Have Kinmenese ever eaten McDonald’s?” (2014) and

“Why is there no McDonald’s in Kinmen?” (2018) respectively, and the comments below are like “It’s better to eat in Xiamen. Going to Xiamen is closer than going to Taiwan”, “University students in Kinmen are so pitiful, they have to apply for a permission and take a boat in order to eat at McDonald’s in Xiamen”, and “The southern countryside abroad is not important”.

The comments above also present the imagination and the differentiation of globalization within Taiwanese society. Russell was unhappy that his Taipei friend thinks

“Kinmen is very backward, there is not even one McDonald’s”, although the transnational chain coffee shop, the beauty group, and duty-free shop groups have entered Kinmen. Not to mention that some of these transnational companies have not even opened branches in other counties yet. However, “McDonald’s” as a symbol of Taiwan’s cultural globalization and

Westernization, is appropriated as the proof of the viewpoint of “progressive Taiwan, backward

Kinmen”. It becomes a tool to differentiate and marginalize Kinmen, and this also shows the uniqueness of the globalization experience in Kinmen.

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It is worth noting that the saying “It’s better to eat in Xiamen. Going to Xiamen is closer than going to Taiwan” to some extent points out the effect of a combination of geopolitics and globalization. It is a simultaneous process of “re-bordering” (with Taiwan) and “de-bordering”

(with Xiamen) Kinmen. This process has greatly affected the life experiences of Kinmen youth in Taiwan. They are caught in a complex identity quagmire. In looking for their own identity and sense of belonging, they have to cross both the outer and inner boundaries in order to settle down on the main island of Taiwan.

Honesty is not the best policy: Kinmen-Mei, Kin-Xia mix, and Taipei person

Ruby, who studied at a university in central Taiwan, described her embarrassment and how she reacted during the university’s new student orientation activity:

A senior student drew a map on the blackboard and tried to warm up the people. He

pointed at Penghu County and said, “Isn’t this Kinmen?” It’s hard for me to tell him

that he was incorrect publicly, but it was also wrong to say that he was correct. I was

quite embarrassed. There was a lot of curiosity and what surprised me was that another

student asked me: “Hey, how many days did you spend on the boat to come to Taiwan?”.

So I said, “Yes, yes, I was on the boat for 20 days.” I also told him that the classmate

next to me was from mainland China, and he really believed it.

Yurou also shared her response to her experiences of being othered:

Everyone called my “Kinmen-Mei”. So I told them that my family lives in an air-raid

shelter, and we can go for a tank driving test when we are 18 years old. My classmate

said seriously, “Really? I want to attend the test.” In addition, because I have a sharp

facial feature so they also thought that I was mixed. Each time when I was talking to

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my family on the phone, my classmates said that they don’t understand what I was

talking about. So I told them that my grandfather came from Xiamen and my

grandmother was a local Kinmenese, therefore I am a “Kin-Xia mix”. I just wanted to

scare them a bit. To tease and make fun of them.

The use of the term “Kinmen-Mei” is similar to how certain Taiwanese use the discriminative term “DaLu-Mei” [DaLu refers to Mainland China, and Mei means younger sister] to call mainland Chinese women or girls. It contains the meaning of geographical and gender discriminations. Through naming others, people show their dominant position in the power relationship. As Lister (2008) notes, the “stigmatized, shamed and humiliated” feelings caused by the othered and marginalized experiences will lead to negative effects on young people’s identity and self-esteem (p.7). However, the Kinmen young people living outside their hometown have developed strategies to respond to this othering and display their subjectivities.

In Ruby and Yurou’s cases, they followed and made use of people’s misunderstandings. This strategy of “making a caricature” (Jensen, 2011, p.71) can be seen as a way to resolve the embarrassing situation, but also can be interpreted as a sneer at people’s ignorance. Through

“making a caricature”, they “talk back to the othering gaze, resisting and at the same time playing with the image of” (p.71) the “inferior other” (p.70).

On the other hand, Ying began to adopt a strategy of “hiding identity”:

I will say that “I live in Taipei” now. I will not tell where I am from, unless someone

keeps asking me the question. Otherwise I will not tell. [Why?] Or they would just ask

some very stupid questions. Like “Did you swim over to the main island with a

basketball?” or “Are there this and that in Kinmen?” Such idiotic questions! [So you

try to avoid it?] Yes. They asked those questions again and again and I answered them

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repeatedly, while they just treated it as a joke. They didn’t really care. [When did you

began to introduce yourself as “living in Taipei”?] When I was in college...I would test

their ideas about this place [Kinmen]. Only those who have known me for a long time

would know that I am from Kinmen. Depending on the occasion. If there were a lot of

people, I would just say that I am a Taipei person and I live in Xizhi. Otherwise they

would keep saying that “You are from Kinmen, then your family must be wealthy. You

have received free wine from the government” It’s tiring when hearing them saying that.

Besides, it is a bit shameful that people in Kinmen seem to rely on welfare [of wine].

Ying’s strategy reflects her contradictory feelings. “Hiding the truth” can be seen as her disapproval of the others and a manifestation of agency. It also implies an attempt at “denial”.

The othered experiences she encountered, on the one hand, are based on people’s imagination of “backward Kinmen”; on the other hand, they are due to people’s impression of a “wealthy” and “good-welfare” Kinmen. From time to time, the media reports that “Kinmenese are rich, they own a lot of properties in Xiamen” or “People in Kinmen enjoy the best welfare” and highlights the differences between Kinmenese and other Taiwanese. Therefore, “being rich” does not mean “progress” to Ying. After having a few unpleasant experiences, she gradually believes that honesty is not the best policy, and she has developed an ability of “depending on the occasion to decide to hide the identity or not”. It is a way of protecting herself. Later on, she learns to “tell lies”. Through telling lies about “where you are from”, “your parents’ jobs”,

“your age”, she creates various identities for herself and obscures her real background.

Because she thinks that “people will show more respect to me.”

People from Kinmen are unlike the general ethnic others who are easily recognized by their appearance and languages. Only when they speak the local dialect are they so visible, otherwise, most of the time it is like what Ruby said: “You are the same. In fact, if you don't

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tell them, they won’t find out the differences between you and them.” Therefore, through

“hiding” or “telling lies” young people can avoid the experience of being othered. This also reflects the socially constructed nature of the othering process. The strategies Ying deployed indicate her attempt to resist the impact of socially constructed identities, and her effort to survive in and integrate into the mainstream society of Taiwan.

6.4 Conclusion

As Lan (2006) emphasizes, there are mediating factors in addition to financial motivation which will affect people’s migration decision-making processes, including how societies construct the concepts of “achievement” and “adventure” (p.128), and how people imagine modernity in a postcolonial and globalized context. Researchers on youth migration also point out that young people’s imagination of the cosmopolitan city outside their hometown, as well as their experiences in the rural native place will affect their migration practices

(Farrugia, 2019; Leyshon, 2011; Rye, 2011). What is at issue here is that young people’s imaginations of concepts such as “urban/cosmopolitan”, “modernity” and “adventure” may be, on the one hand, the result of cultural contestation; on the other hand, the products of their social locations of gender and class. Nevertheless, we should not overlook how they developed and exercised their agency under the constraints of social structures. Through leaving Kinmen, they manifest their unique experiences in the borderland, and their resistance against it.

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The cross-border traveler and big-power dreamer

—Negotiating the threats and opportunities

The trend of students of Kinmen going to Xiamen University should be

attributed to the Mini-Three-Links. The intermediary person is Shi Zhao-Ming, the

chairperson of Kinmen Ming Cheng Cable TV. When the Mini-Three Links were

opened on January 1, 2001, Shi led a media team to go to Xiamen to produce special

reports, including a special report on Xiamen University in August 2001. After the

special report was broadcast, many local people asked Shi about studying at Xiamen

University, thus he has gradually become the intermediary person. In the last two years,

he has taken 28 students to go to Xiamen for to take the entrance examination and he

was even interviewed by media in Xiamen. This year, he will bring people to Xiamen

to take the exam again.

“Kinmen students rushed for Xiamen University”88

On April 4th this year, the Kinmen Ming Cheng Cable TV and the Kinmen Junior

Chamber jointly held the Xiamen University Information Day for Admissions.

However, the organizers were alleged to be “promoting the enemy”, and some people

including Shi Zhao-Ming, the chairperson of Kinmen Ming Cheng Cable TV, were sued

88 Students from Kinmen favor Xiamen University (2003). China Time Weekly, (Taiwan) Vol.1328. Retrieved from http://tw.people.com.cn/BIG5/14817/14902/2029278.html Accessed November, 16, 2019 06:10 pm

191

by the Mainland Affairs Council of the Taiwan government. This incident had led to a

strong anger among Kinmenese.

“Only six kilometers from Xiamen. Taiwan’s heavy infantry guards Kinmen” 89

7.1 Overview

As mentioned in Chapter 2 and Chapter 5, the development of globalizing capitalism and neoliberalism have posed threats to the education system and labor market in Taiwan.

Under the impact of the economic slowdown and over-expansion of education for the past few decades, there has been an increasing number of youth migrating from Taiwan to China, including both labor and educational migrants (Chang, 2015; Lin et al, 2011; Wu & Lan, 2011;

Tseng, 2014).

As a society with a long history of an outflow of youth, and close interaction with Fujian,

China, how do young people from Kinmen engage in the border-crossing practices? Drawing inspiration from literature on Taiwanese youth’s migration to China, this chapter examines the cross-border movements of Kinmen youth between Kinmen and Fujian.

In comparison with the phenomenon of Taiwanese skilled and professional migration,

I first investigate the reasons behind the differences in cross-border behaviors regarding occupational development between Kinmen society and the mainstream Taiwanese society. I further analyze how Kinmen young people negotiate both the threats and opportunities they encounter in their career paths.

89 (28 Aug, 2001) Only six kilometers from Xiamen. Taiwan’s heavy infantry guards Kinmen. Global Times. Retrieved 11 July, 2019 from http://www.people.com.cn/BIG5/junshi/60/20010831/548757.html

192

Regarding educational migration, this study supports the evidence from previous research findings (Wu & Lan, 2011) which have argued that the major purpose of Taiwanese students studying at higher education institutions in China is to obtain an academic degree. At the same time, I present the ignored life experiences of marginal youth. Meanwhile, I also demonstrate how young people make use of the geopolitical advantage of Kinmen to break through constraints resulting from government policies.

What is at issue here is that the role of the state is crucial in understanding young people’s cross-border practices, while the influences of other intermediary factors, such as school, media, or other local interest groups should be considered as well.

7.2 Working as a cross-border traveler

In Taiwanese scholar Tseng Yen Fen’s (2014) article, she describes the trend of Taiwan young people’s migration to Mainland China as “the Exodus of Taiwanese youth” (p.134).

Among those who migrate to China for work, most are middle class professionals who move to Mainland China in their midlife (Tsai & Chang, 2006; Tseng 2011, 2014). While at the same time, as Tseng points out, there is an increasing population of young people without much working experience moving to Mainland China because of the slow wage growth in Taiwan and the rise of China (2014).

During my fieldwork, I found it was difficult for young people with little working experience to migrate and work in China. Although Kinmen youth should have taken part in the migration wave to China, only one of my informants had worked in Xiamen and Tianjin.

Do not the close geographic distance and active cultural and political exchange activities between Kinmen and Xiamen motivate young people to seek job opportunities in the popular

Chinese labor market? Especially when the nearest port city, Xiamen city, is one of the first four Special Economic Zones in China. 193

I thus discussed the situation with one of my gatekeepers, Ar Jia, and A Jia thought it is because “young people in Kinmen are not ambitious, they are generally satisfied with the status quo.” Nonetheless, I believe that behind this collectively “not ambitious” culture, we need a more sophisticated understanding about young people. Does “not ambitious” imply “not confident”, or “not eligible”? Does “satisfied with the status quo” suggest that young people here are less willing to take risks? What kind of risks are they avoiding?

As Bauman (1998) remarks in his “Globalization: The Human Consequences”,

“distance” or “border” is a social product rather than an objective reality. On the one hand, the definition of “distance” relies on how fast people can arrive at their destination, but on the other hand, “distances no longer [meaning] anything” (p.18). That is to say, the mobility of individuals in an era of globalization determines their ability to cross boundaries and limitations. Bauman also argues that mobility decides a person’s location in the social stratification. So, to what extent do the spatial movements of Kinmen youth manifest their

“access to global mobility” (p.87).

7.2.1 The nearest, the furthest: The alleged “low ambition” of youth

Behind the saying that “young people in Kinmen are not ambitious”, what is at issue here is the difficulties for young people to develop specific professional competencies or skills in Kinmen due to the constraints of the educational and work conditions, as mentioned in

Chapter 5. At the same time, professional or skilled migrants from Taiwan to China are in high demand and welcomed by employers. In addition, it was also easier for this group of people to get work permits before the requirement for a permit was cancelled in 2018 and the Chinese government’s regulations on hiring Taiwanese were loosened in 2005. Professional or skilled migrants are more likely than others to work in China because the wage for them is relatively attractive. Lower skilled migrants, on the other hand, would be entering a labor market with 194

generally lower wages than Taiwan. The minimum wage of Taiwan in 2017 was 21,009 NTD

(legally applicable to every country in Taiwan), while in Xiamen it was 1,700 CNY90 (around

7,937 NTD with the currency exchange rate on January 1st, 201791) . In addition, the average monthly salary of workers in Taiwan in 2017 was 51,795 NTD92, while in Xiamen it was 7,452

CNY93 (around 35,098 NTD with the currency exchange rate on January 1st, 2017). Therefore, it seems likely that the salary rate will not attract Taiwanese young people to move to China if they are not equipped with special skills. As Tseng points out (2014), a better salary is still one of the major concerns for Taiwanese finding jobs in Mainland China, so it is necessary for us to take this factor into consideration.

This phenomenon may imply that young people in Kinmen have low employment competitiveness and low ambitions. When I asked Russell, an interviewee in Taipei, the reason why he does not want to move back to Kinmen, he said:

I think it is mainly because of less opportunities for employment. The job types in

Kinmen are less connected with what I have learnt. You can have a variety of

possibilities on the main island of Taiwan, you can even go to work to Mainland China

in the future. [Since you are open to work in Mainland China, isn’t it quite convenient

to go there from Kinmen?] It is very convenient to “go” [travel] to China from Kinmen,

but it is not to get “work” from Kinmen.

90 Alexander Chipman Koty (2017, June 5) Minimum Wage in China: Minimal Increases in 2017. China Briefing. Retrieved from https://www.china-briefing.com/news/minimum-wage-in-china-minimal-increases-in-2017/ 91 The historical rate converted from XE Currency Converter. Retrieved July 10, 2019 from https://www.xe.com/currencytables/?from=CNY&date=2011-01-01 92 Data collected from the website of National Statistics of Taiwan. Retrieved July 10, 2019 from https://www.stat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=42513&ctNode=527&mp=4 93 Asia One (2017, June 23) Top 10 Chinese cities with highest average monthly salary. Retrieved from https://www.asiaone.com/business/top-10-chinese-cities-highest-average-monthly-salary

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Russell believes that it is the route through the main island of Taiwan, not through

Kinmen, which may provide him the access to opportunities in Mainland China, the chance to become one of the mobile “elite” (Bauman,1998, p.22).

7.2.2 The nearest, the fastest: Travelers who taking advantage of the border status

Although it is rare to find professional or skilled migrants from Kinmen who work in

China, there are still a few young people who try to make use of the geographical closeness of

Kinmen and develop their cross-border career prospects. These young people cautiously stay and observe in their hometown like the “stay-at-home observer” described in Chapter 5, but they are more aggressive in grasping opportunities. They accumulate their capital through the cross-border business experiences at a time when people all over the world are seeking opportunities in China. But they choose a lower-risk approach.

Like the stay-at-home observer, they face poor working conditions, while they are more positive about their jobs since they feel they can develop skills from the cross-border business.

As Yi-Ming described:

Although the economy of China is booming and strong in recent years, it’s true, there

is huge differentiation inside China. [How do you tell?] For example, I do business with

clients from Shanghai, Xiamen, and Guangdong respectively, and then I learned that

the economic strength of people from Shanghai and Xiamen are similar, while that of

Cantonese is much weaker. In addition, regarding their level of knowledge, if they are

more knowledgeable or well-educated, it is easier to communicate with and sell things

to them.

196

In his work practices, Yi-Ming improves his analytical and communication skills. He learnt the ability to interact effectively with clients across China. He also strategically makes use of his geographical position and cultural proximity in his interaction with clients from

China and Taiwan. When he meets clients from most parts of China, he speaks Mandarin, while when meeting people from Fujian, such as Quanzhou and Xiamen, he uses the Mina dialect of

Kinmen to communicate with them, as it is similar to that of the Fujian area. I asked him if the political confrontation between Taiwan and China has created dilemmas for him, and he expressed:

Because Kinmen’s mayor is from the KMT; and also because there are a lot of exchange

activities between Kinmen and Xiamen due to the geographic closeness; so the

Xiamenese think that Kinmen is a “back garden” of Xiamen, you are just politically

under the administration of Taiwan. We should be friendly with Mainland China, so

that our economy will not collapse. Kinmen is very lucky, because it is so close to

Xiamen, while [the main island of] Taiwan does not have this advantage... Now Xiamen

develops rapidly. The international BRICS summit just ended, and they have cleaned

up the whole city, it is estimated that there will be 20 to 30 million tourists to Xiamen

every year. Those tourists may then come to Kinmen afterwards.

However, when there are customers from Taiwan showing doubts about his political identity as a Kinmenese, he usually says, “I also possess a Taiwanese identity card” and “it is only more convenient to travel to China from my side [than from your side]”. Although Yi-

Ming has to negotiate his identity all the time, at the same time he develops strategies and abilities in the complicated cross-border business world, like most of those young people who work in the tourism-related businesses in Kinmen. 197

Daily practices of transnationality

In addition to developing skills of coping with cross-border customers in Kinmen, their jobs also lead certain Kinmen young people to travel back and forth between Kinmen and

Xiamen. Like Yi-Ming who proactively fights for opportunities to visit clients in Xiamen with his boss or business partners, A-Wei also appreciates that his supervisor always provides him opportunities to accompany and learn things during business trips to Mainland China. As he described:

Now I go to Mainland China for business frequently. Each time, when my supervisor

goes to Xiamen to have meetings with those business elites or senior managers, or even

just to chit chat, he hopes that I can be there and have chances to observe and learn. For

this reason, I don’t want to leave this company. For example, I went to have a meeting

with some government officers in Xiamen recently, it is an important meeting, and I

saw that every employee there, their speeches were very well organized, and very clear,

and the tasks they had accomplished were almost perfect. And then look back at the

side of Taiwan, sometimes, there are big differences. When you are in Kinmen, you

feel nothing, but when you go to Xiamen, you find out that there are a lot of things to

learn from people there.

A-Wei feels that he has expanded his horizons from his cross-border experiences at work, at the same time Yi-Ming thinks that his cross-border experiences helps him greatly in terms of building up his human capital. Therefore, he told me with confidence:

198

I feel that I have learnt a lot, skills of communication, techniques of sale. I have learnt

how to do business and how to bargain with people from China, I can keep learning.

Once I keep doing this job, my position will be different. We have to look further. I

have built up a lot of connections through this job. So I am not afraid if one day this

product is not popular, because I have my own connections, and I save some money, so

I can start my own business, or do other jobs. Once I own these abilities, I will definitely

not die.

For young people working in Kinmen, they might be excluded from the wave of

Taiwanese professional or skilled migrants, while the practices of their work in Kinmen seem to create the other means of access to cross-border careers. Most importantly, because of the geographic closeness between Kinmen and Xiamen, those young people do not have to immigrate to and settle in Mainland China. Instead, they can travel back and forth in the same day, and they can stay local while experiencing transnationality in their everyday life.

However, like most other Taiwanese, they still have to face the political uncertainties.

The uncertainties are caused by the insecure cross-strait relationship as well as the geopolitical development of Kinmen, and those factors would be able to, as Bauman reminds us, change

“the reality of borders” (p.12). In the case of the young people of Kinmen, their accesses to mobility is reshaped correspondingly.

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7.3 Whose “great-power” dream?

“Students from Kinmen rushed to Xiamen for examination through Mini-Three-

Links” directly”, The Central News Agency, Taiwan. 2003.08.1394

Although there are few young people moving to China for work from Kinmen, there is a wave of Kinmen young people studying in China.

Based on their interviews carried out from 2008 to 2009, Wu and Lan (2011) have categorized the motivations of young Taiwanese people attending higher education in China into three types: “degree-oriented”, “employment-oriented”, and “family-guided”. Among the three types of students, most people are “degree-oriented”. In my fieldwork conducted between

2016 and 2017, all of my four interviewees who have graduated from senior high school in

Kinmen and went to China to study at universities belong to the first type, the “degree-oriented” group.

Wu and Lan further analyze the outcomes of Taiwanese students at Chinese universities when they enter the labor market. They conclude that career development in both Mainland

94 The Central News Agency (2003)[Photo illustrates Students from Kinmen rushed to Xiamen for examination through Mini-Three-Links directly 2003, Aug 13 ] Retrieved from http://nrch.culture.tw/view.aspx?keyword=%E5%B0%8F%E4%B8%89%E9%80%9A&advanced=$3@+2003& s=585552&id=0006468590&proj=MOC_IMD_001

200

China and Taiwan is difficult for this group of degree-oriented migrant students. The reasons are, on the one hand, their educational degrees or medical diplomas obtained in Mainland China were unrecognized by the Taiwan government at that time. On the other hand, the majority of the degree-oriented Taiwanese students in China aim to obtain a medical diploma, but it is difficult for them to compete with local graduates for residencies or formal positions in the

Chinese hospitals. In addition, the salary and social status of medical doctors, both Western and Chinese medical, in Mainland China are still lower than those in Taiwan.

However, the policies of both governments of Taiwan and China have gone through several amendments in recent decades. In addition, the mediating factors for educational migrants such as media, school, or other interest groups might be different between Kinmen and the mainstream society of Taiwan. For my interviewees from Kinmen who went to China for educational degrees, both the time and space they are situated in may vary from those in

Wu and Lan’s research study. Their experiences of this different time and space allow us to explore how the changes in policy, geographical location, and the interventions of mediating factors can influence young people’s life trajectories. More importantly, we are thus able to better understand how young people from Kinmen negotiate their limitations or make use of the geographical advantages.

In the table 7-1 and 7-2 below, I present the policies made by the governments of

Taiwan and China which are related to my interviewees. I first need to mention that when I was recruiting young people with experiences of studying in universities in Mainland China, although I did not limit the year of enrollment and the location of the university, all of my interviewees were enrolled in universities in Fujian Province, from 2006 to 2009 (See Table3).

In addition, I met them separately, although during the interviews I found out that some of them may know each other. In Table 7-3, I listed the basic information of the four participants for reference. 201

Table 7-1 Related educational policies implemented or amended by China government

Relative policy implemented or amended Explanation

1986 Seven universities including Xiamen University, Peking

University, and Tsinghua University started to jointly

recruit Taiwanese students.95

2003 In addition to Fujian Normal University and Fujian *Through this channel, Taiwanese

College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are six students do not have to attend the JEE

other universities in Fujian Province that have the right (Join Entrance Examination) for people

to recruit Taiwan students separately. In this way, the from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

number of colleges and universities that can recruit

Taiwanese students separately in Fujian Province will

increase to eight96.

2005 Announcement of a series of changes in the policies *Lower financial burden for Taiwanese

towards Taiwanese students in Mainland China, students.

including the policy that Taiwanese students’ tuition fees

are equivalent to local students, the establishment of

scholarships for Taiwanese students, and the special

subsidies for higher education institutions that recruit

Taiwanese students (Wu & Lan 2011).

2008 In addition to the Chinese Medicine Department, * More options other than Chinese

another two departments of Xiamen University— Medicine Department.

International Economics and Business and *Through this channel, Taiwanese

Journalism—also begin to recruit students from Taiwan students do not have to attend the JEE

95 Xiamen University (2012.Feb 24) Xiamen University recruits students from Taiwan separately. Xiamen University Admission. Retrieved from https://zs.xmu.edu.cn/e6/d6/c5877a124630/page.htm 96 Six more universities in Fujian Provence can recruit students from Taiwan separately. Retrieved July 11, 2019 from http://www.xmqs.org/old/0201-web/02-12m-qx/1216-xm2.htm

202

separately.97 (Join Entrance Examination) for people

from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

2009 In May, the Fujian Government announced that

Taiwanese students with a graduate degree from

Mainland China can work in Fujian Province, enjoying

the same salary rate, benefits, and social insurance as

local graduates (Wu & Lan 2011).

2010 Taiwanese students who have achieved test scores that *Before then, Taiwan students who

place them in the top 12 percentile of Taiwan’s General wanted to attend universities in

Scholastic Ability Test can apply directly to 123 Mainland China had to attend the

universities in China. GaoKao—the national college entrance

examination (NCEE)—or the other

entrance examinations of Mainland

China.

2011 Xiamen University announced the amendment of its

policy on recruiting Taiwanese students separately—

Taiwanese students have to attend the JEE (Join Entrance

Examination) for people from Hong Kong, Macau, and

Taiwan first and then apply for Xiamen University. [See

Footnote 5]

2011 Further lowered the standard of recruitment for

Taiwanese students from scoring in the top 12 percent to

the top 25 percent in the General Scholastic Ability Test.

Table 7-2 Related policies implemented or amended by Taiwan government

97 PeoPo Citizen Journalism (2008,March 31) Three departments of Xiamen University recruiting students from Taiwan separately. PeoPo Citizen Journalism. Retrieved from https://www.peopo.org/news/12870 203

Related policy implemented or amended

2001 The implementation of Mini-Three-Links between Kinmen, Taiwan and Xiamen, China.

2011 (10thJan) The first recognition of the diplomas of the top 41 universities in Mainland China.

2013 The number of recognized universities was increased to 111.

2014 The number of recognized universities was increased to 129.

2016 The number of recognized universities was increased to 155.

Table 7-3 Interviewees who studied in universities in Fujian, China Name Year Year Year University Year Method of enrollment Referrer

(Pseudon of Interviewe graduated enrolled that ym) Birth d / Age from high univers

school and ity was

enrolled in studied

university and

recogni

zed by

Taiwan

Yating 1987 2017 /29 2006 Fujian 2016 Both JEE and separate Peng

Normal admission (Intervie

University wee in

Taipei)

Hyman 1989 2017/27 2008 Xiamen 2011 Recruitment for Ruby

University Taiwanese students + (Intervie

separately prerequisite wee in

courses Kinmen)

Ren 1990 2017 /26 2009 Xiamen 2011 Recruitment for Miss Hsu

University Taiwanese students (Teacher

204

Kinmen

Senior

High

School)

Vivian 1990 2017/26 2009 Xiamen 2011 Recruitment for Vincent

University Taiwanese students + (Friend)

separately prerequisite

courses

7.3.1 The “have to” adventure of Yating and her return

Earlier than Hyman, Ren, and Vivian, who all enrolled in the same Xiamen University between 2008 and 2009, Yating went to study at Fujian Normal University in 2006. However, one year later she decided to stop studying there.

Being located in Fu Zhou City in Fujian, China, Fujian Normal University is one of the two universities in Fujian Province which are able to recruit students from Taiwan separately.

Through this channel, Taiwanese students do not have to attend the JEE (Join Entrance

Examination) for people from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Yating had attended both the

JEE held in Xiamen City, and the separate entrance examination held in Fu Zhou City. In the end, she did not perform well in the JEE but got admitted by Fujian Normal University through the separate exam.

In 2005, China’s government announced a series of changes in the policies towards

Taiwanese students in Mainland China, including the policy that tuition fees for Taiwanese students are equivalent to local students, the establishment of scholarships for Taiwanese students, and the special subsidies for higher education institutions that recruit Taiwanese

205

students (Wu & Lan, 2011). At the same time, Wu and Lan point out that when assessing the expenses of education in China, students would compare them with the cost of studying and living in North America, Japan, or Europe and then feel that it is much cheaper to pursue a higher education degree in Mainland China. Despite this advantage, they state that the financial incentives along with the lower living expenses in Mainland China are not the major reasons for most of their respondents among the degree-oriented group to go to China.

However, for young people like Yating, a female from a family with heavy debt in

Kinmen, “money” is the major concern. The process behind her higher education decision is full of practical calculations, and her reference point for studying in China is attending university on the main island of Taiwan.

Yating comes from a traditional patriarchal family where her parents invest most of their money in the two sons rather than the two daughters. What has made Yating’s situation even more difficult is that her father owed a lot of debts and her mother has to work hard to help pay off the debts. At the time, when she was going to graduate from senior high school in

Kinmen she knew that her academic performance was not good enough to enroll in public universities in Taiwan—the universities with lower tuition fees. So, under the family’s financial pressure and at her mother’s request, she had applied to National Kinmen Institute of

Technology (the predecessor of National Quemoy University before it was granted approval for its university status). Yating got admitted by the institute but she gave up the “opportunity”.

Because at that time, the National Kinmen Institute of Technology was not yet upgraded to university status. Moreover, she wanted to leave Kinmen.

She remembered that she had read in a local newspaper that there were young people from Kinmen studying at universities in Fujian, China. Besides she had been there several times through Mini-Three-Links and knew that the living costs were low. Yating started to look for higher education opportunities in Mainland China. “I thus looked for a school that was 206

along the coast and not too far away from home,” she said. It would only take her 30 minutes to travel back and forth by ferry. Furthermore, the cost was only one quarter of that to travel between Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan. Without doubt, Fujian, especially Xiamen

City, is the closest place to Kinmen, so that is where the cost of travelling back home would be the least.

In addition to Fujian Normal University and Fujian College of Traditional Chinese

Medicine, Xiamen University and another five universities in Fujian Province also started to have the right to recruit students from Taiwan in 2003. Yating wanted to go to Xiamen

University in the beginning, the most popular and famous university in Fujian Province. She also knew someone from Kinmen who was studying Chinese Medicine there. However, at that time, the Chinese Medicine Department was the only department of Xiamen University which was allowed to recruit students from Taiwan separately. Yating thought: “That department was the only option at Xiamen University, so I felt that ‘I am not suitable for it’. My major concern was that the tuition fees for Chinese Medicine seemed to be very expensive.”

She then turned to take the entrance examination of “Teaching Chinese Language as a

Foreign Language” at Fujian Normal University. At that time, “Teaching Chinese language” was thought to be popular in the future labor market and was highly recommended by her high school teachers. She got admitted, and immediately found there were advantages of studying in Fujian:

The tuition fees and the living expenses there were less than half of those in Taiwan. In

addition, the scholarships for students from Taiwan were abundant. Like me, my

academic performance was not really great but I got their national scholarship every

semester. It is around four thousand RMB. With the scholarship, I almost did not have

to pay the tuition fees every year. 207

I then asked her if she had done any job during the one year she studied in Fujian, and she said, “No. Nothing”. However, her obstacles did not lessen, instead, they increased. She withdrew from the university studies one year later due to several reasons:

I did not adapt myself well to the life and teaching there. It was my first time leaving

home and I felt lonely there. I also found out that “teaching Chinese language” was

over-promoted, the future regarding jobs might not be so bright. Furthermore, the

teachers there of course taught “Teaching Chinese Language” in simplified Chinese

characters, while I am a person who writes in traditional Chinese characters. I did not

have a sense of belonging with the language. Also, I had difficulties in learning, for

example, their phonetic system. They took it for granted, but it was not easy for me at

all. So I decided to quit.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, Yating went to study at a university in Taipei one year later. As her decision was not supported by her family, she had to work very hard to pay for her own living expenses and tuition fees.

As Wu and Lan (2011) remark, for the degree-oriented students from Taiwan, the easy access (regarding academic performance) to educational opportunities is the most important attraction of Chinese higher education. This was especially true for the great number of students who went to study at medical schools with the expectation of becoming a doctor.

Financial issues are not the major concern of most students. For those students, their decision to go to China seemed to be a “why not” choice. However, for young people like Yating, her every decision is made because she “has to”. In Yating’s case, we see how she was constrained by the structures of gender and class. While at the same time, she had never given up grasping 208

opportunities to break through all the barriers in front of her. Even in her decision to leave

China, she had to weigh the risks and benefits carefully.

7.3.2 Ren’s “big person” dream and his tactics

Ren wants to become “a big person, a politician”, and for this goal, “a pretty education certificate is necessary,” he said. But in 2009, his last year of high school, he found out that his academic performance was only enough to be admitted by a low-ranking private university in

Taiwan. He then started to have the idea of studying at a university in Mainland China.

During 2008 and 2009, Hyman, Ren, and Vivian were all enrolled in Xiamen

University. It seems to be a coincidence that all three went to study at the same university within the same period. However, there might be clues why this coincidence occurred. I knew

Hyman, Ren, and Vivian respectively. When I first wrote an email to Miss Hsu, a teacher at

Kinmen Senior High School, asking for introductions, I got her reply as follows:

There were more students who graduated around 2009 who went to Mainland China

for university. Because at that time our students were highly welcomed by Xiamen

University. But after then, the entrance examination became more difficult, and the

possibilities for our students to get admitted into Xiamen University became lower.

According to Miss Hsu’s description, it seems that Ren, Hyman and Vivian were lucky to enroll in Xiamen University before it became more difficult. In fact, they all went through the recruitment channel which is only open for Taiwanese students. This channel is generally easier than the other formal entrance examination—JEE—for people from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan because there are fewer competitors (Wu & Lan, 2011). Besides, if students do not have good performance in the examination, they can thus study prerequisite courses of the 209

university. The rate of being admitted by the university is quite high after students have attended the prerequisite courses. Both Hyman and Vivian had joined the courses.

As mentioned above, Xiamen University has been able to recruit students from Taiwan separately since 2003. But at that time, students wanted to study there through this channel could only major in Chinese Medicine. This was true until 2008 when the department of

International Economics and Business, as well as the department of Journalism also joined the separate recruitment for Taiwanese students. Vivian was admitted by the department of

International Economics and Business in the second year of its separate recruitment for

Taiwanese students, while both Hyman and Ren still chose to major in Chinese Medicine. One year after Ren and Vivian enrolled in Xiamen University, the Chinese government announced its new policy: Taiwanese students who have achieved test scores that place them in the top 12 percentile of Taiwan’s General Scholastic Ability Test can apply directly to 123 universities in

China. That is to say, certain Taiwanese students do not have to take any entrance examinations in Mainland China since then. This policy has certainly attracted more Taiwanese’s attention and the competitors have thus been increasing. It has also gradually become the major channel for Xiamen University to recruit Taiwanese students. In 2011, the Chinese government further lowered the standard of recruitment for Taiwanese students from scoring in the top 12 percent to the top 25 percent in the General Scholastic Ability Test. While in the same year, Xiamen

University announced the amendment of its policy on recruiting Taiwanese students separately—Taiwanese students would have to attend the “JEE for people from Hong Kong,

Macau, and Taiwan” first, and then apply to Xiamen University.

With these developments since 2010, the competition to study at Xiamen University has become more severe. That is why Miss Hus told me that after 2009, there are fewer Kinmen students studying at Xiamen University. That is why Hyman, Ren and Vivian all told me that they went to study in Xiamen University because their academic performance was not good 210

enough to get admitted into good universities in Taiwan. They all heard that Xiamen University has a good reputation with a “high ranking” among universities of China and around the world, but at the same time it was not difficult for them to get admitted at that particular time. As

Hyman said:

I was thinking should I be an ordinary college student, or should I do something

special—go to university in Xiamen? You see, Xiamen University is the top university

in Fujian. Thinking of how many universities there are in Fujian, and there are different

levels of those universities. Xiamen University belongs to the highest level. In fact, its

status is just like those top national universities in Taiwan, like National Cheng Kung

University. Although the channel for admission I went through is an easier way, but

when people know which university I graduate from, they will say “Wow, it is Xiamen

University!”

Their decisions correspond to the description of Wu and Lan (2011) about degree- oriented students—the easy access (in terms of academic performance) to educational opportunities is the most important attraction of Chinese higher education. Especially for those

(p.29) who are not able to study in certain famous universities or specific departments in

Taiwan, China becomes an alternative channel.

It is worth noting that, although Taiwan government has started to recognize the diplomas of universities in Mainland China since 2010, those who were enrolled in university before 3rd September, 201098 such as Hyman, Ren, and Vivian are not included.

98 Ministry of Education, Taiwan (2010, Oct 15) About the recognition of educational degrees obtained in Mainland China. Ministry of Education, Taiwan Retrieved from

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Therefore, what happened to Hyman and Vivian after they had graduated from university was similar to Wu and Lan’s findings: the degree-oriented students faced difficulties both in staying in Mainland China or returning back to Taiwan. Hyman has done nothing related to Chinese Medicine since he returned to Kinmen. He became a free-lance music teacher and is planning to open a coffee shop in the near future. After graduating from the university, Vivian worked in Xiamen and Tianjin, China for six months respectively. Later, she moved to Macau for work. At the time when I interviewed her, she was thinking of applying for a working holiday in Australia. As she said, “I don’t really know exactly what I am doing or what I want to do. I just want to try and see, to experience. I’m still young.”.

As for Ren, he does not follow the path stated in Wu and Lan’s (2011) findings. He is still working hard to become an expert in Chinese Medicine. After graduating from university, he continues to study in the graduate school of Chinese Medicine in Xiamen University. At the same time, he obtained a residency in a local hospital. According to Wu and Lan, it is very difficult for Taiwanese students to get an opportunity to become a resident in a local hospital without strong connections.

After finishing the residency, Ren will be even closer to his dream of becoming a

Chinese Medicine doctor. However, he told me that his original dream was to become a politician and to serve the people in Kinmen, and the reason why he chose to study at Xiamen

University is because it is a “famous” school. “It doesn’t matter which department I study in,

Xiamen University is famous and most politicians need ‘pretty’ university degrees,” as he told me.

https://www.mac.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=DED5DAB0D6C7BED6&sms=8E0A247A631E0960&s=88C 3016BD909355C

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Up until now, Taiwan’s government does not recognize the certificate of Chinese

Medicine doctors obtained in Mainland China. Nonetheless, Ren has a clear plan about how to continue his career as a Chinese Medicine doctor, while at the same time become a “big person” in Kinmen. He plans to pursue a doctoral degree in Chinese Medicine later, as he explained to me:

I have discussed cooperating with a dean of a certain Chinese Medicine University in

Taiwan already. I cannot visit patients in Kinmen as a doctor, but I can teach Chinese

Medicine. The doctoral degree is recognized. But I don’t want to give up my profession

as a doctor. So if there is opportunity for teaching position in universities in Kinmen, I

would like to teach in Kinmen while visiting patients in Xiamen’s clinics or hospitals.

My supervisor is very famous and well connected. Even though it will be more tiring.

After all, it only takes me thirty minutes to come back to Kinmen. I can travel back

and forth in one hour. It’s very close.

Ren’s tactic is to continue accumulating his social (network) and cultural capital

(doctoral degree), and by employing the capital he possesses and at the same time making use of the geographical convenience of Kinmen to overcome the legal restrictions set by the government. His mobility is thus defined by both social and geographical factors.

7.4 Conclusion

Although Kinmen is part of Taiwan, when looking at education and professional/skilled migration from Taiwan to China, Kinmen young people have experiences different from those of young people on the main island of Taiwan. Accordingly, they have developed varied strategies to manage their advantages and disadvantages. 213

I first analyze the reasons behind the lack of skilled or professional migration to

Mainland China and point out the fact that young people in Kinmen are facing a serious problem of low competitiveness in the labor market. I further demonstrate how young people are involved in cross-border business cooperation, and how they grasp opportunities for building up personal networks and accumulating their own human capital.

In terms of educational migration, the geographically closeness to Fujian province becomes both advantages and disadvantages for young people in Kinmen. On the one hand, the cheap higher education in Mainland China provide those who are constrained by social structures, such as gender and class, the channel of leaving Kinmen. Every part of the decision- making process of educational migration is full of practical concerns. On the other hand, the easy access to certain universities or departments in Mainland China helps young people fulfill their pursuit of a “pretty education certificate” or a “high ranking university”. However, along with their dreams of “doing something special” or “becoming a big person” are a lot of uncertainties. It is obvious that their strategies to respond to uncertainties are highly connected with the capital they possess, and the way they employ their capital.

As Ritzer (2012) reminds us, globalization can be seen as both a “threat” and an

“opportunity” for the nation-state (p.597). For instance, Wu and Lan (2011) identify the intention of “reterritorialization” (p.5) and “unification” (p.17) of China’s government regarding their employment and educational migration policies towards Taiwanese. Therefore, migration regulations are gradually loosened in order to attract more Taiwanese migrants. In contrast, Taiwan’s government adopts a strict attitude towards certain policies, for example, the recognition of educational degrees obtained in Mainland China. At the same time, politicians have used globalization as a justification for policy changes.

In consequence, young people are bearing the brunt of the combined factors mentioned above. In particular, globalization and its effects. Youth in Kinmen are no exception. While 214

being at the forefront of the cross-strait relationship, Kinmen youth are benefiting and suffering from its geopolitical position at the same time. Meanwhile, the intermediary factors also perform interventions in the local context. For example, the two news extracts in the beginning of this chapter show us how the media, political groups, or other interest groups may impact young people’s decision-making process regarding migration.

Through the demonstration of Kinmen young people’s cross-border practices, I also hope to reflect on what Bauman (1998) notes as cross-border mobility and the social production of border or distance. I show how young people are taking active roles in redefining the complicated meanings of “border”. It proves that “border” could be both a geographical and a social reality at the same time for Kinmen youth.

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Discussion and Conclusion

—De-structured or re-structured borders of youth?

8.1 Overview

On July 28, 2016, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics of the

Executive Yuan of Taiwan government released its latest report titled “Youth Status 2015”, which mainly reveals the school-to-work transition situation of Taiwanese youth aged from 15 to 2999. In 2019 March, the Ministry of Labor of Taiwan published a 154-page “Survey Report of 2018 Employment Status of Young Workers Aged 15-29”100, which discloses in detail young people’s work conditions, career aspirations, and views on labor policies. Both of these studies play roles in providing data to the government for developing youth policies. However, like most surveys and statistical reports conducted by the Taiwan government, Kinmen county and Matsu county are excluded from these “nationwide” studies and publications. This phenomenon indicates the marginalized political and geographic position of Kinmen. It also demonstrates that it is urgent to include youth voices from marginalized locations such as

Kinmen, which is also important to Taiwan’s future and identity given its geopolitical position in the contentious cross-strait relations.

99 Data collected from the website of Directorate-General of Budge, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan R.O.C.(Taiwan). Based on the background information of the survey. Retrieved November 11, 2019 03:10 pm. https://www.stat.gov.tw/np.asp?ctNode=1842 100 Data collected from the website of Ministry of Labor of Taiwan. Retrieved November 11, 2019 04:05 pm.https://statdb.mol.gov.tw/html/svy07/0711menu.htm

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The end of the “Cold War” — the confrontation between the Eastern Block and Western

Block— in the early 1990s has usually been referred to as one of the key events accelerating the development of globalization. Capital, information, and people seem to unprecedentedly flow to almost every corner of the world under the global trend of economic and political deregulation. Kinmen is not excluded from this prevailing trend.

Due to the reshaping of its borders in the 1990s along with the rise of China, Kinmen has experienced an extreme social transformation.

Kinmen had two physical borders during the Cold War. One was the border with

Mainland China, which was completely blocked except for private illegal exchange activities.

Another was the border with the main island of Taiwan. People from Kinmen had to apply for a special permit to go to the main island of Taiwan due to the regulations of the War Zone

Administration (WZA) in Kinmen. Applications for the permit could be denied for various reasons.

The regulations of the WZA were gradually removed after the end of the “Cold War”.

Firstly, Kinmen’s people did not have to go through a complicated process of applying for a permit to travel to the main island of Taiwan. Later, tourists from the main island of Taiwan were allowed to visit Kinmen. In 2001, the opening of the Mini-Three-Links have allowed people to travel directly between Kinmen and Mainland China without going through a third place.

With these changes the physical borders of Kinmen have become drastically more open.

The spatial movement of young people seems to have become easier than ever. At the same time, transnational capitalists start to set up shop here to profit from the massive inflow of

Mainland Chinese tourists. This new openness has other effects as well: the deregulation of media and the free flow of information that has accompanied the development of the internet have also created culture shock for local people. 217

Young people are highly sensitive to rapid social transformations (Furlong & Cartmel,

2007). This thesis endeavors to tease out the entangled factors and relationships that affect young people’s school-to-work transition in the border area. Following scholars’ call for the integration of sociological paradigms (Lehmann, 2004; Mythen, 2005; Ritzer, 2011), I look at the social world—where young people are situated—as a continuum comprising a variety of

“social phenomena that are involved in continuing interaction and change” (Ritzer, 2011: A.13).

As summarized in Section 8.1 in this chapter, I argue that young people in the border area are experiencing and negotiating the impacts of globalization, and its interaction with state power, local context, and social factors of gender and class. That is to say, as globalization is an inescapable trend of development, our examination of its influences has to be situated within specific institutional, structural, historical, and cultural contexts. We must make this effort so that we can understand youth life as comprehensively as possible.

The interlocking relationships of geopolitics and transnational capitalism in Kinmen are explained in detail in Chapter 4 wherein I prove that politicians, political interest groups, and global capitalists work together in shaping the uncertain employment environment that young people face and young people’s lives more generally. In this thesis, I argue that the responses of young people to the rapid social transformation in the border area are embodied in their decision-making processes regarding migration and the school-to-work transition.

Therefore, from Chapter 5 to Chapter 7, I illustrate stories of Kinmen young people in three locations: Kinmen, the main island of Taiwan, and Fujian, China. In clarifying the reasons behind their decisions to stay at or move to the three places, I emphasize the roles of national policies on education and labor, societal history and culture, and individuals’ social positions in an era of globalization. Based on their geographic locations and moving/staying practices, I categorize them into four groups: stay-at-home observers, pursuers of cosmopolitanism, great- power dreamers, and border travelers. 218

Chapter 5 shows how young people negotiate the existing employment structure and the new emerging middle level of this structure in Kinmen. Kinmen’s war history and the geographical and political isolation, as well as the system of patriarchy, have shaped the mainstream beliefs about work, internalized militarization, and oppressive gender culture; and the outcomes further help to strengthen the existing employment structure. Meanwhile, transnational enterprises have brought new choices of work to young people. They feel that as long as they work hard enough, their efforts will be recognized no matter whatever educational degrees they hold. However, the neoliberal logic behind new labor market has led to an increasingly individualized sense of responsibility and risk.

In Chapter 6, through illustrating motivations of young people who stay on the main island of Taiwan, I demonstrate that economic factors cannot completely explain young people’s migration decisions and school-to-work experiences. I argue that the global trend of cosmopolitanism has become a remarkable force to draw young people to the city. Meanwhile, the conservative and oppressive culture in Kinmen has pushed young people away. Although they have to deal with issues surrounding their identity as Kinmenese, financial difficulties, and other challenges in life, it is the experience of overcoming such challenges that exemplifies their agency.

Chapter 7 presents how young people are involved in cross-border activities through two different paths—education and employment. Their experiences, on the one hand, demonstrate the opportunities for youth brought about by the implementation of the Mini-

Three-Links policy along with the rise of China. On the other hand, they also tell stories about how youth in the remote area are pushed away from opportunities because of the imbalanced urban-rural development. Meanwhile, when China becomes the closest, cheapest, and easiest destination for people from Kinmen, it also creates a group of youth who are forced to engage in cross-border activities because of their social background of class and gender. 219

Again, we must recognize that young people’s decision-making behaviors comprise a complicated process of calculation. Therefore, we can be aware of the reflexivity of young people in their responses to the increasing risks and uncertainties of a global era (Lehmann,

2004). While as Furlong and Cartmel (2007) remark, the effects of social structure remain important in understanding the reproduction of inequality. With this insight, we are thus able to reveal how the social factors of gender, class, and even place of origin have resulted in the disproportionate distribution of risks, unequal resources for risk management, and imbalanced concentration of the ability to engage in reflexive thinking among young people.

8.2 Layers of globalization and young people’s lives

In their famous book “Young People and Social Change: New Perspectives”, Furlong and Cartmel (2007) discuss changes and continuities faced by young people in late modernity.

Their analysis covers a wide range of issues including education, employment, lifestyle, health, political participation, etc. In the same vein, Mills and Blossfeld’s (2005) work presents the impact of globalization on the process of youth transition to adulthood. Their research focuses on European and American young people’s decisions about employment, partnership, and parenthood. In the current research, I expand the above research interests to non-mainstream youth—young people in the border area—in a time of globalization.

In the discussion of globalization, one major debate is about whether the role of the nation-state has been weakened or remained powerful, including its control over borders. The governance of borders is without doubt a crucial factor in young people’s lives in the area. This study thus analyzes the dynamic between nation-states and globalizing forces along with the shifting geopolitics of Kinmen. The uncertainties demonstrate that young people’s lives are highly bound by state power in an era of globalization.

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The effects of transnational capitalism and neoliberal globalization have always been the center of concerns regarding globalization. Apparently, the introduction of cross-border consumers and transnational corporations to Kinmen have created new types of jobs and brought new hopes to local youth. However, the realities of work for young people in this research demonstrate an increasingly individualized and insecure environment.

With the global flow of knowledge and information, culture is another frequently reviewed aspect of the influence of globalization, in addition to economic and political changes.

In this study, the desire to become a cosmopolitan subject has played an important role in shaping young people’s decisions about moving, showing that migration decisions are not just driven by material concerns. Through cross comparison of the life experiences of those who stay in or return to Kinmen with the migration decisions of those who live outside Kinmen, I am thus able to explore in detail the issue of the younger generation’s struggle between economic security and self-actualization. There is no single reason driving youth migration decisions; the evidence provided in this thesis reminds us to reject a discourse of economic determinism and to attach importance to young people cultural expectations. Furthermore, young people’s pursuit of cosmopolitanism should not be seen as just a desire for a better lifestyle, it is also what Calcutt and Skrbis (2009, p.182) call “a cognitive survival strategy amid cultural uncertainty” in a time of globalization. In this situation, the accumulation of cultural capital or economic capital to respond to the risks of globalization becomes a dilemma faced by young people regarding their migration decisions. It also shows a contradiction between the opportunities and dangers created by the development of globalization.

Lastly, the research also echoes scholars’ call for localizing globalization through detailed research grounded in specific localities (Beck, 2000; Lan, 2014; Robertson, 1995).

The interaction between global forces and local context in Kinmen takes place not only in the cultural sphere but also at the market level. On the one hand, it demonstrates how the neoliberal 221

labor environment is protected or even strengthened by the oppressive local culture and intensive interpersonal relationships in Kinmen. Furthermore, young people’s pursuit of cosmopolitanism elsewhere confirms “the uneven access to global modernity” (Lan, 2014, p.532) between societies. Most importantly, the rapid transformation of the economy and the relatively slight change in culture at the local level indicate the imbalanced development of globalization in terms of the openness it brings to politics, the economy, and culture. This imbalance reflects the interaction of local history, geopolitics, the value system, and transnational capitalism.

The figure below presents layers of globalization and their interaction with the factors mentioned above, as well as the responses of young people to the school-to-work transition as manifested in their migration decisions.

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Macro State power Globalization

[Border governance] [Neoliberal [Neoliberal [Cosmopolitan economic educational cultural flows] -Migration policies recruiting employment system] reforms] immigrants. -Cosmopolitan - Introduction of -Over- subjects -Education policies of both the countries of transnational expansion of -Discourses of destination and origin corporations higher education place about -Deregulation of and its rural and

-The Mini-Three Link policies (shifting market consequences urban areas geopolitics) -Individualized, fragmented, flexible labor environment -Individualistic competitiveness [performance system]

Meso Social structure Local features History Class Culture Gender and sexuality Value system Ethnic identity Relationships (Governance system) Uncertainties, risks and opportunities

Micro Youth decision-making process about migration in their school-to-work transitions Path 1 Path 2 Path 3 Path 4 Stay-at-home observer Pursuer of Great-power Cross-border traveler Cosmopolitanism dreamer Control: local network Control: self Control: prosperous Control: local network and resource, range of economy risks Risk: material, Risk: politics, subjectivity, identity, family, old Risk: politics, identity Risk: politics, values identity, subjectivity, career working conditions, identity

Figure 8-1 The layers of Globalization and the responses of young people. 223

8.3 The risks and controls of the four paths

Having a long history of an outflow of young people, claims such as “creating employment opportunities, bringing young people home” have been repeatedly made by politicians in Kinmen. However, after the dramatic social transformation in the past two decades, this kind of narrative which stresses on young people’s need for employment can still be easily found in news about Kinmen. In fact, according to the official statistical data, the immigrant population in Kinmen has become higher than of the emigrant population since the lifting of martial law. Still, the phenomenon of youth emigration remains a defining feature of

Kinmen society (Liu, 2018). In addition, more than half of the registered population is a

“phantom population”, which means that they do not really live in Kinmen. Even if the number of immigrants to Kinmen has increased, it is obvious that factors which have brought migrants to Kinmen do not necessarily increase the motivations of Kinmen young people to stay in their hometown.

The school-to-work transition of Kinmen youth is thus tied to the decision whether to migrate. There are four types of migration decisions with risk-control considerations under the impacts of globalization, geopolitics, social structures, and other factors. The reasons for migration decisions go beyond the scope of economic concerns and in some cases also show the potential transcendence of the apparently dichotomous choice between leaving and staying.

Path 1. Stay-at-home observer

Facing a rapidly changing society with various types of risk, a group of young people choose to stay in place or retreat to a safe position and observe. Consistent with the long-lasting and prevailing local value system, most of the elite youth work as civil servants with decent incomes and secure work environments. However, there is also a large portion of young people who are engaged in the low-tier service work of the new emerging tourist business. A big part 224

of their daily work is to interact with cross-border tourists from Mainland China, although there are visitors from the main island of Taiwan as well. The characteristics of their jobs force them to deal with the following challenges at the same time: how to increase their sales performance, how to negotiate an ambivalent political identity, and how to survive in an exploitative working environment. Their success or failure in coping with the challenges directly affects their confidence in themselves and their prospects for the future.

Meanwhile, among those who remain in their hometown, some young people are explicit about what they have given up regarding a cosmopolitan “lifestyle”, or their own

“values” in a broad way. Sayings such as “at least I can “have a relatively stable life”,

“experience fewer risks”, and “get along with family”, are followed by expressions like “I have to sacrifice” “freedom”, “privacy”, “space”, or “quality of leisure life”. These words reflect their living experiences in Kinmen society, and also reveal their pessimism about creating a different Kinmen culture.

There is also another group of youth who do not show hesitation in keeping their distance from the metropolis. They stay in Kinmen not only because of their local networks and resources, but also because they do not appreciate the highly competitive city life, fast- paced environment, distant interpersonal relationships, and all kinds of “dangerous temptations” which may lead to their “degeneration”.

In general, those who live in the hometown are observers of the threats in the outside world. They may leave (again) one day when they feel that they could secure a stable life outside.

Path 2. Pursuer of Cosmopolitanism

The investment of transnational capital may bring new economic prospects to a local society, while the stimulation of global culture also makes young people feel unsatisfied with

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their living circumstances. Kinmen young people’s decisions about “moving or not?” and

“move to where?” provide us clues about the value system affecting them.

The pursuit of cosmopolitanism may reflect the imagination of a better life. It may also further shape youth identity. Apparently, the impact of this imagination is accelerated by the development of neoliberal globalization (Beck, 2002).

The main island of Taiwan, especially Taipei, is the destination most Kinmen youth yearn for. Firstly, through the leisure and consuming activities embedded in theaters, cultural centers, or art centers, an identity of “cosmopolitan consumer” (Hsu, 2013, p.59) is built up.

Despite the mushrooming of shopping malls which sell various imported name-brand products in Kinmen, a number of young people are not satisfied with the traditional consuming landscape. This dissatisfaction persists even with the proliferation of online shopping services that can deliver nearly any product to Kinmen that is not sold in local stores because the dissatisfaction is caused by a lack of experiences, not just a lack of products. While consuming on the main island of Taiwan, especially the so-called “city of culture”—the metropolis of

Taipei—young people can realize their desire to become a cultural subject who is connected to the global world.

The metropolis attracts capital and talent. For young migrants, being immersed in such a diverse employment environment that includes opportunities related to digital technology or art and other creative industries, allows them to expect themselves to become an up-to-date or creative subject (Allen & Hollingworth, 2013). At the same time, by working for diverse transnational corporations, they can imagine traveling around the world through the channel of employment.

Social movements around issues like nuclear power, LGBT rights, environmental protection, and democratic reform are active in the metropolis as well, spurred on by the impact of globalizing civic participation. Young people from the “conservative” Kinmen society feel 226

that they are finally able to be/become “reflexive”, “progressive”, and “open” subjects. Most importantly, they win back their citizenship which “belong to themselves” through the processes of participation and speaking out.

The changes of physical space and value system to some extent make young people become less connected with their old interpersonal connections—which most of the time doubled as a monitoring network. Therefore, they enjoy the freedom of movement in physical space, or the freedom to express gender and sexual identities in social space.

It is also because they leave their familiar hometown and lose access to their old resources that they face various risks. However, certain young people believe that “taking risks” itself is a symbol of “self-management” and “autonomy”. Therefore, they do not resist this type of risk. On the contrary, it is through this practice of leaving their hometown and embarking on an adventure that they can claim to be “self-reliant” subjects.

Becoming cosmopolitans who are connected to the global world implies that young people have to be able to transcend, but not abandon, the existing value framework, cultural rules, and social network from where they come from. The way they respond to globalization is highly embedded in their local context. Therefore, when they are pursuing cosmopolitanism values or lifestyles, they may have to face the challenges of instability, non-standard employment, and strained family relationships, and complex identities.

Path 3. Great-power dreamer

Kinmen youth who go to Mainland China for higher education, although they are not the majority, also embrace a dream of becoming global citizens and thus take an adventurous journey. This dream began with the possibility of entering a world-famous and high-ranking university through an easy-access channel. They also look at the rising economic power of

China, which may be able to help them to become an “important”, “different”, “competent”, 227

or “adventurous” individual. The counterpoint to this new destination is their relatively “small”,

“low-ranking”, and “not developed enough” hometown.

Nonetheless, these dreamers who travel to Mainland China still think that where they are going is culturally backward, even though it offers the chance to accumulate various kinds of human capital they believe can connect them to a wider world. There are a lot of uncertainties before they embark on this journey. Whether they can succeed or not is highly dependent on the cross-border political relationship and legal developments, e.g., the Taiwan government’s recognition of educational degrees obtained in Mainland China. The negotiation of political identity is also a challenge for these migrants as they move between Taiwanese and

Mainland Chinese contexts. Nonetheless, they still want to take a risk.

Path 4. Border traveler

The involvement in transnational business of this type of young people is deeper and wider than that of the “stay-at-home observer”. Instead working in a job dealing with cross- border customers in Kinmen, they get the opportunity to travel back and forth between the business circles of both Kinmen and Mainland China with their supervisors. They could be seen as the extension of the “stay-at-home observer” of path 1. Both groups of people live in their hometown for similar reasons: to stay and observe. They also share the same feelings about the loss of “freedom”, “privacy”, and “space”. The “border traveler” is more ambitious.

On the surface, it seems like they retreat to a “defensive” position, but they also eagerly grasp opportunities in front of them. They accumulate their human and social capital through the cross-border work experiences at an age when people around the world are looking for opportunities in a rising China. This provides them a sense of upward social mobility and makes them feel less fear about their future. Therefore, they could also be seen as fellow travelers of the “great-power dreamer” of path 3, but they choose an approach with fewer 228

uncertainties. Similar to those following path 1 and path 3, they have to negotiate an ambivalent political identity in their transnational encounters.

8.4 Rethinking cosmopolitan youth subjectivity, globalization, and neoliberalism

This study was initially motivated by a curiosity about what young people from the marginal border area of Kinmen going through the school-to-work transition really aspire to.

The most obvious finding to emerge from the analysis is young people’s quest for cosmopolitanism. This phenomenon not only refers to young people who eager to move to

Taipei as mentioned above, but also can be applied to those who choose to stay in Kinmen and those who are involved in cross-border practices.

It worth noting that the ideal of cosmopolitanism is tightly embedded in the system of global neoliberalism. Therefore, it does not necessarily simply happen in cities, but also in the local practices of nonurban and peripheral areas where globalization is also ongoing. On the surface, the values of cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism can seem to be opposites because the former emphasizes the individual’s engagement with “the other”, voluntarily or strategically

(Calcutt & Skrbis, 2009; Hannerz, 1990), while the latter encourages a “self-enterprising subject” (Hoffman, DeHart, & Collier, 2006, p. 9–10). However, along with the development of globalization, the connotations of cosmopolitism are getting more complicated. In fact, the two ideologies have mutually accelerated one another and are manifested in various aspects of young people’s lives.

Neoliberalism justifies young people’s pursuit of cosmopolitanism

Cultural cosmopolitanism breaks the frame of locality and emancipates individuals from older conventions. It also allows everyone the freedom of self-articulation. It is obvious that there are various contradictions between the values of cosmopolitan lifestyles and those of 229

Kinmen society or families. To pursue cosmopolitanism in cities, Kinmen young people thus to some extent have to maintain distance with their old family networks and resources and to discard the conventional collective orientation of their hometown. In this situation, the ethos of neoliberalism including “freedom of choice” (Shi & Liu, 2014, p.935), “self-responsibility”

(Anagnost & Ren, 2013, p.3), and “individuals as risk-bearing subjects” (p.12) provide the justification for young people’s behavior.

Localized globalizing neoliberalism compensate for absence from cities

The process of becoming a consuming cosmopolitan subject not only takes place in the metropolis but also in the local area. Although Kinmen youth express unsatisfaction with the landscape of consumption in their hometown, the process of cosmopolitanization of the local

(Farrugia, 2019) is increasingly apparent. This process manifests in the growth of Westernized coffee shops, mega movie theatres, Western chain restaurants, and shopping malls which sell name-brand products. Going to watch the latest movie in “the largest movie screening room in Asia”, hanging out with friends at a worldwide chain like Starbucks, or having a cup of coffee in one of the increasingly common independent coffee shops proves the capacity of local young people to act like a trendy, modern, wealthy, or cultured person. These activities also give them a sense of connection to the wider world, rather than a feeling which scholar Rye

(2011) describes as being left behind by their peers in the cities. Accordingly, local young people’s engagements in these newly emerging consuming venues partly compensates for their absence from the metropolis outside Kinmen. Thus, it partially fulfills Kinmen young people’s imagination of cosmopolitanism.

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Young people as both the consuming and working subjects

The consuming activities in local places play an important role in the shaping of youth identity. The exercise of consuming power allows them to demonstrate a neoliberal “freely- choosing-consumer” identity (Shi & Liu, 2014, p.937). On the other hand, the coffee shops, cinemas, and Western-style restaurants owned by large corporations are usually located inside the complex of duty-free shops or shopping centers, where a lot of young people work.

Thoughts like “I spend the money I earned myself, I feel joyful. I can buy what I want to buy” indicate that their consuming power transforms them from a subordinated object in a neoliberal workplace (who is sometimes also subordinated within the family as well) to a dominant subject in the consuming space. Meanwhile, once young people’s consuming power is able to define their value as a working subject, it guarantees a continuing labor provision for capitalists

(Shi & Liu, 2014). However, the risk here is that rising expenditures pushes some young people to work even more intensively. Sometimes, those young “flexible” workers have to work like a full-time worker despite only having the status and income of a part-timer. This allows the neoliberal capitalists to be free from responsibilities, while young workers have to bear most of the risks of employment.

Cross-border activities as a new channel for capital accumulation

Family and interpersonal networks serve as important sources of social capital for individuals in traditional Kinmen society. However, these forms of capital seem to be insufficient for young people who want to emerge as an important or unique figure in the increasingly neoliberal and competitive Kinmen society. Meanwhile, in addition to the existing option of moving to the main island of Taiwan, the cross-border activities through the Mini-

Three-Links provide certain young people new channels to cultural and social capital.

Although the southeast part of China, the part which is closet to Kinmen, is usually considered 231

to be less “civilized” or “cultured” among young people in Kinmen, it offers them other possibilities of cosmopolitanism. It links young people in Kinmen with the rising power—

China, a state power which is extremely active and influential in many aspects of the world nowadays.

As young people are gradually classified by the extent and forms of cosmopolitanism they have achieved, it is necessary to identify how this process is advanced by the forces of globalization and neoliberalism. Through a more comprehensive understanding of young people’s lives we thus can reflect on who has access to cosmopolitanism and who is excluded.

For those who are excluded by the world defined by cosmopolitanism, how can they find a place of belonging and have expectations for the future? It is crucial for us to be constantly aware of the factors which define cosmopolitanism, decide what is good cosmopolitanism and what is bad cosmopolitanism, and promote the idea of cosmopolitanism as a progressive and good quality among young people.

8.5 Negotiating social borders and making decisions on spatial movement

Lastly, I analyze the relationships between young people’s spatial mobility, education and employment decisions. I expand on Bourdieu’s idea of division within social groups and use the term “border” to refer to the divisions among youth. Borders exist among young people because of their gender and class locations; borders also exist between those who are in different places with different values. There are young people who had struggled with much more effort to overcome obstacles and to crossover borders than their peers. I argue that young people’s decisions of spatial movement, education and employment are the results of their negotiation with “borders”.

As mentioned above, the school-to-work transition of young people in Kinmen is usually tied closely with their migration decisions. This reminds us to seriously consider the 232

“uneven [spatial] mobility” (Sheller, 2014) among youth, which is usually omitted in the research of youth school-to-work transition. Furthermore, we should not overlook the relationship between young people’s spatial mobilities and social mobilities (Bauman, 1998;

Kaufmann, Bergman, & Joye, 2004). In this thesis, I argue that along with the transformation of the geographical border of Kinmen, there is a tendency towards re-structuring both old and new borders among youth. The old borders are constructed based on young people’s class and gender background, and the new border relate to youth spatial mobility. These borders may mutually stabilize each other, or on the contrary, one border might become the stimulation for young people to traverse another border. These processes provide us clues about the factors which shape the future of young people, and at the same time, the possibility for young people to traverse the constraints of borders.

Borders between different values put on places

The following table shows the overall opinion of Kinmen youth towards Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan. The upper left and lower right corners, the yellow blocks, refer to positive values towards Kinmen and negative thoughts of Taipei. For example, Kinmen is simple, slow and secure, while Taipei is fast and dangerous. On the contrary, the upper right and lower left corners in green blocks reflect positive values towards Taipei and negative thoughts of Kinmen, such as the “patriarchy” of Kinmen in comparison with space for sexual subjectivity in Taipei. It is worth noting that one person can have feelings in the yellow block and the green block at the same time. That is to say, they can feel that Kinmen is oppressive, but they also have a practical opinion of staying in Kinmen to save money.

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Table 8-1 Opinions of Kinmen youth towards Kinmen and the main island of Taiwan Kinmen Main island of Taiwan Positive Staying with family Job opportunities and diversities attitude Simple life Up-to-date work trends Safe environment Diversity Slower life pace Freedom Save money (Less cost) Privacy Self-realization and subjectivities (Gender and sexuality) Negative Oppression Dangerous (more temptations) attitude Surveillance Regional identity Patriarchy Self-reliance Less job choices Competitive and fast life pace High Cost Far from home

Ideally, the distribution of youth should reflect a picture where those who think Kinmen as a better place will stay in Kinmen, and those who love the main island of Taiwan will stay there.

Table 8-2 Ideal distribution of youth based thoughts of place Location Kinmen Mainland of Taipei Ideal Kinmen-is-better value oriented: Taiwan-is-better value oriented: distribution The main island of Taiwan as evil, The main island of Taiwan as of youth full of temptations, over- liberal, especially in terms of individualistic vs. hometown family gender, politics vs. rural hometown values, simple, stable, less as relatively collective, oppressive, competitive, politically usually more conservative, with no privacy. friendly towards China.

The circle of capital, spatial mobility and career decisions

However, the reality is that there are cases which cannot be fitted into this formula. For instance, being a lesbian, Joy said “you cannot develop an intimate relationship in Kinmen even if you meet someone nice. Because she cannot date you under the pressure of Kinmen

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society.” But Joy still returned to Kinmen because she could not afford the high accommodation costs outside of her hometown. Occasionally she would visit the job search website to check opportunities on the main island of Taiwan while working at two jobs at the same time to save money and pay for her student loans.

Another case, Yating, grew up in a patriarchal family and she was eager to leave

Kinmen through education. With her gender and class background, she did not have enough capital to study on the main island of Taiwan. She still struggled to make her dreams come true through working non-stop, hence sacrificed her social-life in her university years.

The exceptional cases tell us that having a place to live in Taipei reflects one person’s possession of economic capital or social capital. The status of having an accommodation in an imaginary or real destination seems to have a distinct effect on young people’s migration decisions and future prospects. In addition to the value orientations towards Kinmen and

Mainland Taiwan, I add the element of “capital” into the analysis. The figure below shows the total amount of capital possessed by young people, which has an impact on how they make decisions on migration, employment and education. The upper dimensions in the table demonstrate the less struggling group of youth. They have more capital of different forms. The lower dimensions show the more struggling group with lesser capital to draw on.

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Figure 8-2 The amount of capital and value orientation and their impact on young people’s decision-making processes. Kinmen oriented Mainland of Taiwan oriented [including cross- border area]

Capital + Less struggling group: Less struggling group: Jun-Kun-Jiao, or those running Youth with more family support family business. and capital.

More struggling group: Those who work in tourism- related industry. They think Young people who show more Kinmen is more “suitable” for struggle in their choices: them, as they have no money, no E.g. Yating, stayed in mainland connections in the mainland Taiwan without family support. Taiwan; they also think it is ok to She had to work hard to be Capital - stay with parents, live in parents’ financially independent so that she houses. could stay in Taiwan.

When the young people staying in or returning to Kinmen were asked about their willingness to work on the main island of Taiwan, most of them expressed the concern about the high housing expenses in cities. They usually said that “my family does not own a house on the main island of Taiwan” and they thought that it was thus better for them to stay in their hometown, even though they yearned for the metropolitan life and cultural landscape of Taipei.

On the other hand, for those who stay on the main island of Taiwan, seven participants’ families own at least one house in Taipei, two were living in relatives’ places with lower rent paid by their parents, and two were renting houses by themselves. The accessibility of accommodation may not be the only reason which influenced a young person’s decisions about migration, but it is the most obvious barrier to spatial movement.

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Although I did collect information on the income of every research participant and their parents for the current research, I argue that in discussing the effect of capital and its relation with social class, data about “income” is not sufficient to represent young people’s economic capital (Kaufmann, Bergman, & Joye, 2004). Furthermore, scholars (Bourdieu, 1990;

Kaufmann, Bergman, & Joye, 2004) urge us to look beyond the monetary category. They remind us to examine not only economic capital, but also the other forms of capital which can in turn be transformed into different types of resources and capital, including social capital, cultural capital, and symbolic capital, as suggested by Bourdieu.

In this research, a place to live reflects one person’s acquisition of economic capital or social capital. Compared to the factor of parents’ income, the status of accommodation in the imaginary or real destination seems to have a more distinct effect on young people’s migration decisions and future prospects.

Most of the young people staying in Kinmen share the common habitus regarding the idea of leaving Kinmen for the main island of Taiwan (Bourdieu, 1990; Rye, 2006, 2011). They live with their parents in Kinmen and think that they can save money because the living costs in Kinmen are low. That is to say, it is not because they can earn more money there. They worry about financial risks and therefore choose to stay in a safer position. They have the similar thought when they consider how they sacrifice their leisure life, political autonomy, privacy and intimacy, and other forms of freedom, in exchange for a stable life in Kinmen.

Although some of them still wish that they could save enough money and move to the main island of Taiwan one day, it is worth noting that those who work in low-tier service jobs show a low level of aspiration regarding their career and future. They feel lost when asked about their future since both their spatial and social mobility are limited. Meanwhile, although a small number of young interviewees work in stable governmental or quasi-governmental positions in Kinmen, this small group of youth all obtained their university degrees on the main 237

island of Taiwan and then returned to their hometown. This makes the interlocking relationship between spatial mobility, cultural capital, and career development more complicated. Their university degrees obtained on the main island of Taiwan help them to get relatively decent job positions in Kinmen, which in turn enables them to afford the expense of frequent travel to the main island.

On the other hand, for those young people who stay on the main island of Taiwan, some of them enjoy their life with the financial support or social connections of their family; a small number of them have to work extremely hard to overcome their material difficulties. However, for most of them, despite the fact that they may not be able to accumulate wealth at this stage, they are enthusiastic about their work because they choose their jobs with their own free will.

Meanwhile, they are less pessimistic about their career mobility because there are more job choices on the main island of Taiwan. In addition, they appear to have higher satisfaction regarding their private life. Some of them even expressed pity or contempt for those who stay in Kinmen. It seems that spatial mobility has gradually shaped the definition of success among young people.

We cannot predict who will have a better material life in the future—those who leave or those who stay in Kinmen. At a time when spatial mobility becomes an important means for accumulating social and cultural capital, what is at issue here is that the longer young people remain in their hometown, the less confidence and motivation they have for leaving.

Changing educational opportunities, changing spatial mobilities

It is worth noting that the spatial mobility of Kinmen youth with a disadvantaged economic background is affected by the unequal distribution of educational opportunities. The unique situation faced by contemporary Kinmen youth is that, in comparison with the previous

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generations of young people, they might have more opportunities in higher education while their spatial mobility might be more restricted.

In the time when there was no university in Kinmen, young people from Kinmen had to go to the main island of Taiwan to pursue higher education. Before the over-expansion of higher education, the chance of being admitted to universities was much lower than it is today.

However, because of the prevalence of meritocracy, young people who failed the university entrance examination might go to the main island of Taiwan and prepare to retake the examination for university admission with the support of their family. It is undeniable that some young people had to give up their university dreams because of their disadvantaged economic background, while many parents from lower class families would still try hard to send their children to the main island of Taiwan for higher education. It was a time when

“having the opportunity for higher education or not” (vertical stratification within higher education) was the major educational issue faced by young people (Chang & Lin, 2015).

However, it was also a time when the spatial mobility of young people in Kinmen could be granted in the name of pursuing social mobility for their families.

However, after the establishment of universities in Kinmen, leaving hometown is no longer the only choice for young people to obtain a university degree. Furthermore, Quemoy

University is a public university with lower tuition fees than private universities. Obviously, it is easier for local disadvantaged youth to obtain a university degree. At the same time, they might obtain less emotional or financial support from their family if they want to leave their hometown for university since it is no longer the only way.

This phenomenon reflects what scholars describe as the horizontal stratification within higher education among young people with different class backgrounds (Chang & Lin, 2015).

This means that students with different class background nowadays are differentiated by what kind of higher education institution they are able to study at. 239

In this context, it is worthwhile to consider how the spatial mobility of disadvantaged young people in remote areas is deprived in the process of the expansion of higher education.

It is also important to further examine the impact on the accumulation of social and cultural capital of youth.

As Bauman (1998) argued, the ability to move plays a significant role in deciding a person’s location in the social stratification. In other words, a person’s social mobility may be influenced significantly by his or her spatial mobility. Furthermore, I believe that spatial mobility implies a capacity for making choices. It is the “freedom” of “making choices” about work and education rather than the “opportunity” of work and education which grants young people a sense of agency. Still, we have to bear in mind that the spatial mobility and freedom of choice of youth are conditioned by the capital they can deploy and transform. In this context, this kind of freedom is a “structured freedom” (Rye, 2011, p.178) and we have to be constantly sensitive to the inequity it creates among young people.

Gender as both constraint and motivation to traverse borders

As mentioned in the first chapter, despite the fact that Kinmen society has experienced rapid social development, the reform of traditional gender norms is relatively slow. Moreover, as Acker (2004) argues, global capitalism can lead to the revival or intensification of traditional gender norms, and young women’s lives are thus influenced in various ways.

Daughters from disadvantaged families experience intersectional marginalization because of their gender and class. Their families tend to invest most of their money in their sons rather than their daughters because they think that sons are the successors of families. In other words, these young girls are the most distinct examples of the phenomenon of horizontal stratification within higher education. Take interviewee Yatin as an example. Her parents allowed her brothers to study at expensive private universities in Taipei despite the family’s 240

debts, while she was forced to study in Fujian, China because of the cheaper tuition fees and living expenses. She decided to leave Fujian after one year and seek educational opportunity in Taipei, Taiwan instead. Because of this decision, she had to work hard to pay for her university study and living expenses. Yatin thus had to spend more time obtaining her university degree. In addition, because she had to work non-stop while studying, it was difficult for her to accumulate social or cultural capital through joining campus clubs and extracurricular activities (Chang & Lin, 2015).

On the other hand, as transnational capitalists have created new work opportunities for young women in Kinmen, the process of how gender serves “as a resource for globalizing capital” and creates “desirable workers” is noticeable (Acker, 2004, p.23). Young female workers in the tourism industry do not have a secure, fair, and encouraging working environment in Kinmen. They work as frontline salespeople or service providers. Most of the positions with higher status, better benefits, or more promising futures, such as manager, sales lecturer, and supervisor, are occupied by male employees. Furthermore, the strict dress codes in the workplace usually puts more burden on women than on men, for example, the requirement that they wear high heels and full makeup. They experience the reproduction of gender roles as they and their female colleagues are exploited or pressured to “voluntarily” perform extra non-paid tasks such as cleaning or housekeeping. They witness their transnational companies moving their branches from other global cities to Kinmen to take advantage of the supply of cheaper and more flexible labor—the part-time working mothers who are themselves young women. Despite recognizing the intense pressure they were under in these jobs, my respondents internalized the workplace gender ideology with neoliberal rationales and explained that these jobs are good for the workers—because the flexible jobs can fit the schedule of these part-time working mothers who have to take the responsibilities of sending and picking up their children to and from schools (Acker, 2004). On the contrary, 241

young men get more opportunities to engage in cross-border business. These young men are either the successors of family businesses who benefit from patriarchal traditions, or business assistants trusted or valued by their employers because they are deemed to be more aggressive or adventurous. As a result, young women and men may have gradually internalized these

“gendered ideologies of femininity and masculinity” (p.34) which in return shape their own career expectations.

However, although gender and class background may constrain their spatial mobility, some young women, like Yatin, also demonstrate a high level of agency. The agency manifests in fighting for personal freedom and autonomy rather than achieving career growth. The reasons are, on the one hand, the experiences of oppression have made them prioritize their desire to leave Kinmen; on the other hand, the gender norms of patriarchal society also contribute to girls’ low career aspirations. At the same time, girls work hard in exchange for financial independence and autonomy but show less interest in pursuing leadership positions or a career advancement in the workplace. Work is a major means to advance their spatial mobility and material circumstances rather than upward social mobility. Nevertheless, they are still expected to play the role of caregiver in their family while contributing financially for siblings’ daily expenses and tuition fees.

The “reality of borders” (Bauman 1998, p.12) is a phenomenon of class and gender divisions. In examining the experiences of youth as they move in both social and physical spaces, we have to keep asking questions about who has more freedom to move and who has less freedom, or no freedom. Only when we are continually sensitive to “the concentration of freedom” (p.70), when we refuse to take “freedom” for granted while at the same time exploring the possibilities of individual resistance, can we find strategies and solutions to combat the reproduction of social inequality of youth.

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8.6 Future Directions

I hope that the findings of this research could become one of several starting points for change -- ideologically and practically; culturally and institutionally.

Meanwhile, several future research directions can be identified from this study. One of the many future research directions is to conduct a longitudinal study on how young people’s decisions affect their livelihood in the long run. It would be productive and interesting to follow their lives ten years after they made the decisions outlined in the current study. Within a decade

I imagine that there will be many changes in both their lives and the external social, cultural, and political environment. Further exploration can also be made about how their lives are or are not destabilized by the unresolved tension between Taiwan and China. For example, as young people enter different stages of life, they might have to consider issues such as marriage and family, caring for older parents, income stability and pensions, and aging and retirement.

A longitudinal study can provide a more complete picture of Kinmenese society across generations.

Another area of research can be a study to further examine and evaluate the costs and benefits of cross-border traffic for young Kinmenese, in particular as China appears to be gaining more control of the border traffic and to conduct more surveillance on cross- border flows of information and capital. It would be interesting to investigate whether China is able to exert its influence, positive or negative or neutral, on young people living across the straits.

On a local level, it might be worth investigating if the next generation of Kinmenese youth will be less impacted by the patriarchal clan culture. This would involve examining whether the traditional clan culture becomes even stronger as Kinmen continues to develop in its new open and globalized context, hence further reinforcing traditional social and gender norms in particular. 243

Finally, a more comprehensive comparison between youth from the main island of

Taiwan and Kinmen regarding their school-to-work transitions could also be conducted to further understand the similarities and differences between their outlooks in life in a changing globalizing context. Such a comparative study such might be able to provide more insights into the uniqueness of being Kinmenese in an increasingly global society.

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Appendix

A. List of gatekeepers

Role Pseudonym Relationship Network/Relationship

Kinmen High School Teacher

Gatekeeper Xia Ru (Chemistry) Family

Kinmen High School Counselling

Gatekeeper Ar Guo Teacher Website

Kinmen University Student

Gatekeeper Xia Zhen Association, main island of Taiwan Gatekeeper Ar Guo

Gatekeeper Ar Jia Family Family

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