WHEN A WIFE IS A VISITOR: MAINLAND CHINESE MARRIAGE MIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP, AND ACTIVISM IN HONG KONG by Melody Li Ornellas Bachelor of Social Science (1st Hons.), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000 Master of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Melody Li Ornellas It was defended on April 21, 2014 and approved by Robert M. Hayden, Professor, Department of Anthropology Evelyn Rawski, Professor, Department of History Gabriella Lukacs, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Dissertation Director: Nicole Constable, Professor, Department of Anthropology ii Copyright © by Melody Li Ornellas 2014 iii WHEN A WIFE IS A VISITOR: MAINLAND CHINESE MARRIAGE MIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP, AND ACTIVISM IN HONG KONG Melody Li Ornellas, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 This dissertation investigates contemporary Hong Kong-China cross-border marriages. In particular, it focuses on the family life and the complexity of politics, power, and agency in mainland Chinese migrant wives’ individual and collective experiences of rights and belonging in Hong Kong. The women in question are allowed to live temporarily in Hong Kong as “visitors” by utilizing family visit permits which must be periodically renewed in mainland China. These women are denied -- or have highly restricted -- social rights and public resources during their transitional stay in Hong Kong while awaiting formal immigration approval. Based on anthropological participant observation-based research in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, China, in 2011-2012 and in the summers of 2008, 2009, and 2010, this dissertation examines the migrant wives’ cross-border living conditions, the difficulties they face during the periodic permit renewal process, the impact of a visitor immigration status on their experience of living in Hong Kong, and how this situation prompts them and their Hong Kong husbands and families to engage in political organizing to claim rights. Against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s expanded public space for activism, migrant wives develop political consciousness and transform themselves into “citizen-like” subjects by learning to express the idea of claiming iv rights and gaining a positive sense of political subjectivity in relation to the state despite their “visitor” status. In contrast to the state’s formalistic definitions of local vs. non-local/visitor, migrant wives and their families strive to redefine such meanings in their own terms. They emphasize the wives’ familial relationships and their participation in social activities through which their “local” status and ties to Hong Kong are substantively expressed. Migrant wives’ political and subjective experiences suggest that citizenship is best understood as a process that is negotiated through the efforts of individuals and collective groups to redefine its terms and conditions, but this process is shaped by larger sociopolitical conditions. This dissertation illustrates productive ways to bring together questions of non-citizens’ political organizing and intimate domestic life relationships to illuminate a practice-oriented perspective of citizenship, and to enrich analyses of subjective and cultural aspects of citizenship. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ xi 1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 A “MINI” PROTEST .............................................................................................. 1 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................... 5 1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 20 1.3.1 Anthropological Approaches to Citizenship ............................................. 20 1.3.2 The Politics of Migration: Immigration Controls and Migrants’ Liminality .................................................................................................. 25 1.3.3 Cross-Border Marriages and the Case of Hong Kong-China Marriages .................................................................................................. 29 1.4 RESEARCH METHODS ..................................................................................... 33 1.5 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ...................................................................................... 37 2.0 CONTEXTUALIZING THE DEVELOPMENT AND MARGINALIZATION OF HONG KONG-CHINA MARRIAGES: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES ........................................................ 40 2.1 THE ERA OF MAINLAND CHINESE ILLEGAL MIGRATION TO HONG KONG (1949 TO 1980) ........................................................................... 42 2.1.1 The Unrestricted Hong Kong-China Border (Before 1949) ..................... 42 2.1.2 Hong Kong’s Immigration Policy and Societal Responses to Illegal Influxes (1949 to 1980) ............................................................................. 43 2.2 THE RISE OF HONG KONG-CHINA MARRIAGES & THE NEW ERA OF CHINESE LEGAL & ILLEGAL MIGRATION TO HONG KONG (1980S-1990S) ...................................................................................................... 49 vi 2.2.1 Marriage Squeeze and Hong Kong Lower-Class Men’s Cross- Border Marriages ...................................................................................... 50 2.2.2 Asymmetric Hong Kong-China Economic Relations and Hong Kong Middle-Class Men’s Mainland “Second Wives” ............................ 55 2.2.3 Legal Immigration through the One-Way Permit Scheme ....................... 57 2.2.4 Illegal Immigration through Human Smuggling and Overstaying Visit Permit ............................................................................................... 59 2.2.5 Mainland Chinese Boat Brides’ Struggle for Residency .......................... 62 2.3 CONTEMPORARY TRENDS OF HONG KONG-CHINA MARRIAGES AND MAINLAND CHINESE INFLOWS (2000S AND BEYOND) ................. 64 2.3.1 Contemporary Mainland Chinese Movements to Hong Kong ................. 65 2.3.2 Contemporary Hong Kong-China Couples’ Sociological Profiles and Motivations to Marry across the Border ............................................ 70 2.3.3 Modifications of Exit-Entry Policy for Family Reunion .......................... 76 3.0 INCREASED MOBILITY: FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE? ............................... 80 3.1 ROUTINE ENCOUNTERS OF BORDER PRACTICES .................................... 84 3.1.1 A Long Journey Home .............................................................................. 85 3.1.2 Submission of Renewal Application ......................................................... 88 3.1.3 Waiting for Approval ................................................................................ 91 3.1.4 Additional Hardships Facing Ex-wives and Widows ............................... 92 3.1.5 Pregnant Wives’ Encounters of Hong Kong Border Practices ................. 94 3.2 FREE VS. NOT FREE FROM MOTHERLY DUTIES ....................................... 98 3.3 OTHER EFFECTS OF PERIODIC BORDER-CROSSINGS ........................... 102 4.0 LIVING AS LIMINAL CITIZEN-SUBJECTS ......................................................... 108 4.1 POLICIES IN RELATION TO VISIT PERMIT HOLDERS’ RIGHTS ........... 110 4.2 POST-MARITAL LIVES ................................................................................... 115 4.3 THE “LIMINAL” EFFECTS .............................................................................. 121 vii 4.3.1 Employment ............................................................................................ 121 4.3.2 Public Healthcare and Obstetric Services ............................................... 126 4.3.3 Social Welfare Services .......................................................................... 129 4.3.4 Public Housing ........................................................................................ 131 4.4 CITIZENSHIP POLITICS: VISITORS OR MEMBERS OF HONG KONG FAMILIES? ............................................................................................ 134 5.0 STRUGGLES FOR THE RIGHT TO GIVE BIRTH ............................................... 140 5.1 THE CONFLICT BETWEEN STATE AND SOCIETAL PERSPECTIVES ON MAINLAND WOMEN’S CROSS-BORDER CHILDBIRTH .................................................................................................... 145 5.2 HONG KONG-CHINA COUPLES’ STORIES AND NARRATIVES ............. 157 5.2.1 The Chans: Who Can Get a Waiver? ...................................................... 158 5.2.2 Amy and Derek’s “Twins Trouble” ........................................................ 159 5.2.3 Giving Birth in a Public Emergency Room: Wei-wei’s “Gate- Crashing” Story ....................................................................................... 162 5.2.4 Overstaying a TWP Permit for Childbirth in Hong Kong ...................... 163 5.3 COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE .............................................................................. 164 6.0 EX-WIVES AND WIDOWS’ YEARNING FOR SETTLEMENT .......................... 173 6.1 WOMEN’S