Mobility, Community and Identity: Chinese Student/Professional Migration to the United States since 1978 and Transnational Citizenship A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Lisong Liu IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Erika Lee and Barbara Y. Welke, Co-Advisors July 2009 © Copyright by Lisong Liu All Rights Reserved, 2009 Acknowledgements Graduate training and dissertation writing often accumulate a huge debt intellectually and socially, especially so for international students as we pursue new knowledge and explore a new culture at the same time. I have been fortunate to have wonderful advisers and friends offering guidance and support throughout my years in Minnesota. My deep appreciation goes first to my co-advisers: Professors Erika Lee and Barbara Welke. Erika always offered clear and timely advice, pointing the dissertation in the right direction and suggesting concrete steps to be taken. Holding high expectations of students while being considerate and encouraging, Erika always gracefully pushed students to think more deeply and to achieve more. I remember when I prepared for my presentation at the annual conference of the Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS) in Hawaii in 2009, Erika said that “it is always good to be over prepared.” This advice has become a motto for all of my presentations and my academic work in general. Barbara was one of the warmest supporters throughout my graduate study. While my research subject of Chinese immigration was not her exact field, she always listened carefully and patiently during our discussions and raised stimulating and important questions about law, state, and citizenship. Barbara often offered critical advice that helped me to find my own intellectual identity. During the final year of finishing the dissertation and applying for an academic position, Barbara reminded me that it was not just a tough and stressful year but in fact a meaningful and enlightening i process for reflecting on and defining “who I am.” It was also a most memorable experience of my participation in the Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History at the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2007, where Barbara chaired the program and worked with a group of graduate students and junior scholars in exploring the meanings of law and studying “law in action.” It has become one of my most fond memories (with wonderful colleagues, sunshine, beer, and live music on the Madison campus besides Lake Mendota), and Barbara has been a model in terms of both scholarship and mentorship. I have been so fortunate to have Professor Donna Gabaccia on my committee after she came to Minnesota as the new director of the Immigration History Research Center (IHRC). I was first introduced to her by Erika to write a short entry about “international students” for the Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History , as Donna was one of the Associate Editors. Then I had the great opportunity of working as her research assistant during the academic year of 2006-2007. Donna made it not just about working on her own projects but a wonderful training process for me to explore a wide variety of sources and methodologies in immigration studies, such as examining oral histories of immigrants, exploring intellectual history by digging into personal papers, and investigating digitized legal documents. Throughout my dissertation research and writing processes, Donna has always been generous in spending time reading drafts and offering comments, even during a New Year’s Day holiday when I sent her a last- minute request for reviewing a chapter before sending it out to meet a deadline. In fact, all of Donna’s students wonder how she manages her time in teaching and mentoring ii students, directing the IHRC, organizing conferences, and at the same time constantly starting new projects and publishing new articles and books. Donna has been most important in pushing me to study immigration in global, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspectives. She guided me in a summer research project comparing China with other nations of emigrants in their migration policies and nation-building processes, which has become an exciting post-dissertation project. Studying with Donna also got me involved in the numerous workshops and conferences she organized at the IHRC, which broadened my intellectual horizon and widened my professional network (including many wonderful scholars from all over the world who I got to know at receptions at Donna’s house). Professor Ann Waltner has also been a key member of my dissertation committee and offered wonderful support during my study in Minnesota. She advised me in studying Chinese history and always showed passion for my research projects, from the final dissertation to preliminary thoughts on possible future projects. She always kept my projects in mind and constantly sent me relevant references. During one of her recent trips to Taiwan, she even conducted some “field work” for me and emailed me her observations and thoughts on the “dual citizenship” controversy in Taiwan politics, which helped me to rethink the “dual citizenship” debates in mainland China and among Chinese overseas. Ann also encouraged me to observe and understand American society and culture. She often informed me about significant events on campus or in town, such as the memorial service for the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone held in the basketball arena at the university auditorium in 2002 and the local iii parades during the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Ann’s advice and support has made my study of Chinese and American history more interesting, hopeful, and meaningful. Professor Douglas Hartmann’s participation in my dissertation committee made the committee the best team I could ever have. I took Doug’s class “Race Relations Theory.” His clear conceptualization of race and ethnicity and broad view of race relations theories in sociology and other fields helped me tremendously in rethinking my research and placing it in dialogue with different disciplines. Doug’s generosity in spending time with students (including interesting discussions during lunch) and his friendship has made working with him most comfortable and rewarding. Besides my dissertation committee, I have also benefited from many other faculty members in the History Department and in other disciplines during course work or casual conversations. I am grateful to Ted Farmer, Liping Wang, Chris Isett, Hiromi Mizuno, Yuichio Onishi, Eric Weitz, Kevin Murphy, Rudy Vecoli, Jeffrey Pilcher, Kirsten Fischer, Lary May, Thomas Wolfe, Daniel Kelliher, C.C. Lee, Hazel Dicken- Garcia, Alex Lubet, Christina Peterson, Sheryl Holt, and Kim Strain. I thank participants in two dissertation writing workshops who offered critical comments and generous support for my dissertation, including Nikki Berg, Brie Swenson Arnold, Nicole Phelps, Evan Roberts, Jeannie Shinozuka, Masako Nakamura, Kim Park Nelson, and Zhiguo Ye. I am grateful to participants in the Graduate Workshop in Modern History organized by Liz Zanoli and Drew Thompson where I presented my dissertation chapter about the local Chinese community. I am also iv fortunate to find a wonderful cohort of graduate students studying immigration and affiliated with the IHRC, including Erika Busse, Elizabeth Zanoli, Johanna Leinonen , Kelly Condit-Shrestha , Dave LaVigne, Jasmine Kar Tang, and Her Vang. I also appreciate the support and friendship of many other fellow history graduate students during my study at Minnesota, especially Venkat Dhulipala, Joe Dennis, Dennis Vovchenko, Jones Sichali, and Jenny Tone-Pah-Hote. Another wonderful thing about studying at the University of Minnesota has been the large group of Chinese graduate students on campus (as mentioned in this dissertation, the University has a long history of educational links with China and has one of the largest groups of Chinese students in the United States). For quite a few years, Chinese students in the humanities and social sciences (such as history, sociology, political science, and mass communication and journalism) at the University have been organizing a regular seminar to present our own research and invite outside speakers to discuss China-related issues. I appreciate the comments on and support for my research from these friends, especially Dong Dong, Yong Zhang Volz, Ruiping Huang, Jun Jin, Jun Zhang, Qin Fang, Yu Jiang, Xinxiang Chen, Zhiguo Ye, Zhengqin Zhang, Weiqun Su, Xi Zhu, and Shujun Gao. I would also like to thank Su Chen, head of the East Asian Library at the University of Minnesota. She always tried every option to locate Chinese language materials for my research and often sent me emails with unexpected new resources. She also encouraged me to suggest new references about Chinese immigration to be included in the library collections. I also appreciate the efforts of staff at the university v interlibrary-loan desk: I have always been amazed by their efficiency and patience in handling our meticulous requests. I am also grateful to staff at the IHRC who helped my research and whom I enjoyed working with as colleagues. My dissertation project and related research have been supported by generous fellowships, including the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and the GRPP (Graduate Research Partnership Program) fellowship at the University of Minnesota. I also appreciate traveling grants from the Asian American Studies Program at