INTIMATE FRONTIERS: CHINESE MARRIAGE MIGRANTS AND CONTESTED BELONGING IN HONG KONG AND TAIWAN by Man Chuen Cheng A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology University of Toronto © Copyright by Man Chuen Cheng 2018 Intimate Frontiers: Chinese Marriage Migrants and Contested Belonging in Hong Kong and Taiwan Man Chuen Cheng Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology University of Toronto 2018 Abstract Based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Taiwan and Hong Kong between June 2014 and July 2016, this dissertation examines the everyday regulation and negotiation of belonging at various sites of Chinese marriage migrants' personal lives, including social service encounters, domestic space of the home, and Chinese marriage migrant communities. As Chinese women married across the two politically contested borders, their post-migration lives are situated within the frontiers of intimate family lives but also historically grounded political struggles and renewed local discontent against China’s political encroachment. The struggles of belonging faced by Chinese marriage migrants illuminate the norms, values, and ideologies upheld by citizens and the states of Hong Kong and Taiwan. As Chinese marriage migrants yearn to integrate into the Hong Kong and Taiwanese societies, some Chinese marriage migrants mobilized hegemonic discourses of belonging to make meanings of their everyday lives, others contested their exclusion by redefining their identities and in the process, producing new ii layers of inequalities against less-privileged Chinese marriage migrants. Delving into the narratives of belonging developed in everyday interaction, this dissertation shows how national belonging is a regulated and negotiated process beyond legal categories and immigration policies. This dissertation also shows how class intersects with gender and nationality in producing differentiated regulatory practices and narratives of belonging, illuminating the contradiction and complexity of immigrant belonging in an era of global interconnection and geopolitical tension. Situating the production and negotiation of these narratives within enhanced economic integration and shifting geopolitical entanglement across the China-Hong Kong and China-Taiwan borders, this dissertation also highlights the unfortunate alignment of market logic and nationalist ideology in the formation of discursive national boundaries against immigrants at geopolitically contentious times. iii Acknowledgments “Looking deeply into a flower, we see that the flower is made of non-flower elements.” — Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear1 Just like a flower that cannot grow without sun, rain, earth, and other non-flower elements, this dissertation is nourished by the minds and hands of scholars, family, and friends whose names are not on the cover page but have made everything possible with their inspiration, trust, love, and care. My foremost thanks to the people I met during fieldwork in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I am most grateful to the Chinese marriage migrants who shared with me their intimate stories and home-made food. I have learned from them the power of resilience, persistence, and perseverance. I also thank the social workers, immigration officers, and organizations that had let me participate in their seminars and workshops and helped me recruit informants. This dissertation would not have been possible without their kindness and trust. At the University of Toronto, I thank my dissertation committee Ping-chun Hsiung, Hae Yeon Choo, and Cynthia Cranford for their intellectual nourishment and unwavering support throughout my academic journey. I thank Ping-chun for challenging me to reflect on my epistemological and methodological position. I am a better qualitative researcher because of her. Thank you to Cynthia, who has always inspired me with her intellectual rigorousness and clarity. No word can describe my indebtedness to Hae Yeon Choo. Her analytic criticality, intellectual creativity, and unfailing dedication are everything to this dissertation and my 1 Thich Nhat Hanh 2002, 47-8. iv academic journey. Her teaching with Zen metaphor is also the most powerful. When I got caught up with reading these days, I could still hear her say, “look at the moon, not the finger pointing at it.” Other professors and graduate colleagues have cultivated my intellectual ability and have helped to develop my ideas at various stages of this research. Bonnie Fox, Anna Korteweg, Rachel Silvey, Joan Eakin, and Lisa Yoneyama have informed my thinking and writing. Ito Peng's Gender, Migration & the Work of Care has connected me with scholars in the field of gender, care, and migration. I thank Rachel Silvey for giving me the opportunity to work with her team to organize the conference "Im/mobilities and care work: Social Reproduction and Migrant Families," where I presented part of this dissertation. Jeanne Mathieu-Lessard, Katelin Albert, Elise Maiolino, Louise Birdsell Bauer, Terran Giacomini, and Salina Abji have provided me with valuable feedback, friendship, and intellectual comraderies. Beyond Toronto, Nicole Constable, Pei-chia Lan, Kristy Shih, Anthony Spires, and Connie Koo have shared with me their insights and wisdom about research, career, and life. Academic and life advice from Nicole have been a guiding light at times of darkness. Pei-chia had helped me gain access to the immigration office in Taiwan. Kristy and her family had given me valuable advice at the beginning of my research. Anthony has been my trusted mentor for many years. Connie introduced me to the world of yoga and meditation that have saved me from chronic spinal pain. I have learned how to breathe through moments when this dissertation feels too heavy. My deepest gratitude to my parents, whose migration trajectories have been the inspiration for this dissertation. Working on this project has unfolded many untold family stories and has brought me closer to them. v And finally, I thank my life partner Otto Ng, whose sense of humor and positivity have carried me through ill health and distress in life. I am grateful to him for encouraging me to bring my sociology training to community work. I used to think of sociology and architecture as separate worlds, yet I am amazed by the similarities in our concerns and approaches to personal and community lives throughout our collaborations. This dissertation is not possible without his 3 a.m. company and meticulous formatting. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………. iv List of Appendices ……………………………………………………………………... ix Chapter 1 — Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 1 A Gendered Geopolitical Economy of Marriage Migration ............................... 5 2 State-building, “Qualities” of Citizens, and Contested Belonging ................... 12 3 Being in the Field: A Methodological Note ..................................................... 21 4 Overview of Chapters ...................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2 — Gendered Narratives of Belonging: Chinese Marriage Migrants, Labor, and Immigrant Integration in Hong Kong and Taiwan .............................. 34 1 Gendered Narratives of Belonging .................................................................. 36 2 Chinese Marriage Migrants in Political and Cultural Contexts ......................... 39 3 Settings and Methods ...................................................................................... 42 4 Independent Market Narrative in Hong Kong ................................................. 43 5 Deferential Familial Narrative in Taiwan ........................................................ 49 6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 3 — “I’m not a typical dalumei!” Chinese Marriage Migrants, Gendered Morality, and Classed Belonging in Taiwan ........................................................... 58 1 Marriage Migrants, Gendered Morality, and Classed Belonging ..................... 59 2 Cross-strait Marriage and Representation of Mainland Chinese Women in Taiwan ....................................................................................................... 62 3 Settings and Methods ...................................................................................... 65 4 Everyday Reproductions of Dalumei Discourse and the Formation of “Good Immigrants” ................................................................................................... 68 5 Negotiating with Dalumei Discourse and Becoming “Good Immigrants” ....... 71 vii 6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 80 Chapter 4 — “Aren’t we all Chinese?” Chinese Marriage Migrants’ Participation in Transnational Activities and Reterritorializing the Hong Kong — China border ......................................................................................................................... 83 1 Transnational Activities, Reterritorializing Nation-state, and Transmigrant Subjectivities .................................................................................................. 85 2 The Political and Moral Landscapes of Chinese Marriage Migrants’ Transnational Participation ............................................................................