New Chinese Migrations

Mobility, Home, and Inspirations

Yuk Wah Chan, Sin Yee Koh, Yuk Wah Chan, Sin Yee Koh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780367594077
• eBook ISBN: 9781351670562
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

With the rapid economic development of China and the overall shift in the global political economy, there is now the emergence of new Chinese on the move. These new Chinese migrants and diasporas are pioneers in the establishment of multiple homes in new geographical locations, the development of new (global and hybrid) Chinese identities, and the creation of new (political, economic and social) inspirations through their mobile lives.

This book identifies and examines new forms and paths of Chinese migration since the 1980s. It provides updated trends of migration movements of the Chinese, including their emergent geographies. With chapters highlighting the diversities and complexities of these new waves of Chinese migration, this volume offers novel insights to enrich our understanding of Asian mobility in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The book will be of interest to academics examining migration, mobility, diaspora, Chinese identity, overseas Chinese studies and Asian diaspora studies.

Part I

New migrants from mainland China

1 From Chinatown to China’s town?

The newest Chinese diaspora and the transformation of Sydney’s Chinatown

Alexandra Wong and Ien Ang

Introduction

Migration from China to Australia has a long history. Early large-scale Chinese migration to Australia can be traced back to the gold rushes in the 1850s. However, the influx of Chinese has led to widespread anti-Chinese sentiment from the white European population and prompted the government to adopt the ‘White Australia policy’ in 1901 to non-white migration. As a consequence, the Chinese population remained very small with less than 20,000 people until the abolition of the policy in the 1970s (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 1981). Since then, Asian migration has increased steadily, including people of Chinese backgrounds from a range of Asian countries including Singapore, Hong Kong (HK), Malaysia, Taiwan as well as mainland China. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, there has been a new wave of migration from mainland China to Australia driven by both the relaxation of China’s emigration rules since the country’s open-door policy in the late 1970s and the change of immigration policies in Australia in the mid-1990s in favour of skilled migrants. Census data show that the China-born population in Australia has surged from 25,883 in 1981 to 318,969 in 2011, representing a 12-fold increase in the past 30 years (ABS, 1981, 2011a¹). The China-born population is now the third largest migrant group in Australia behind those from the UK and New Zealand, accounting for about 1.5 percent of the total population in Australia (ABS, 2011a).

This chapter aims to examine the economic and cultural impacts of this new wave of Chinese migration from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) through the lens of Sydney’s Chinatown, a long-time popular ‘point of entry’ for Chinese migrants. Based on in-depth interviews with Chinatown stakeholders, this chapter seeks to capture the complex social, economic and cultural processes through which this new Chinese diaspora has helped transform Chinatown, shedding light on the changing meaning of ‘Chineseness’ in contemporary Australia.

Theoretical background

Historical Chinatowns are usually connected to the Chinese immigrant experience in the West. A century ago, Sydney’s Chinatown was an ethnic enclave for Chinese migrants who sought refuge from the racial discrimination in Australia. By the 1980s, Chinatown was no longer an ethnic ghetto, but a popular ‘exotic’ destination for local and international tourists in the context of a multicultural Australia (Anderson, 1990).

This chapter challenges this conventional understanding of Chinatown as a space of the ‘ethnic other’, but situates it in a transnational perspective – seeing Chinatown as shaped by multiple interacting global and local forces. The forces of globalisation, combined with the phenomenal economic growth of China in the past two decades, have led to an intensified flow of capital, information, knowledge, ideas, people and cultural influences from China to Australia through transnational networks in trade, investment, migration and tourism. In Sydney, Chinatown is the place where transnational linkages between China and Australia are particularly condensed, due mainly to its location in the heart of a global ‘gateway’ city (Ley & Murphy, 2001; Sassen, 2001). In this regard, Chinatown is an ‘unbounded’ space shaped by multiple interacting global and local forces (Anderson, 2017).

Moreover, improved international transportation and global communications have changed the nature, scope (spatiality) and scale (intensity) of international population movements. Sheller and Urry (2006) described it as a ‘new mobility paradigm’ which is characterised by quickened movement of people across national borders and unprecedented volumes of migration flow. The global patterns of migration and settlement have become more ‘fluid’, as migration can be transnational, circular or multiple (Sheller & Urry, 2006).

This new mobility is a spatially uneven process, concentrated in certain territorial areas while ignoring others. As Sassen (2001) notes, most international immigration and investment tend to target large cities, particularly in ‘global cities’ or ‘gateway cities’ (Ley & Murphy, 2001) which are ‘spaces of flows’ (Massey, 1994). Diasporas can be a crucial medium for such flows and a major driver for social change in many countries (Smith, 2001). Glick-Schiller and Çağlar (2009) have highlighted the active role of migrants as place-makers and showed how cities shape and are shaped by migrants’ local and transnational incorporative processes. Sassen (1996) also saw them as essential forces of globalisation and constitutive of the re-configuration of space and social relations in the cities. In Sassen’s (1996, p. 218) words, ‘immigration and ethnicity’ are often constituted as ‘otherness’; and thus:

Understanding them as a set of processes whereby global elements are localised, international labour markets are constituted and cultures from all over the world are de- and re-territorised, put them right there at the centre along with the internationalisation of capital, as a fundamental aspect of globalisation.

In contrast to the traditional migrant stereotype, contemporary Chinese migrants, especially those in business and professional occupations, with their transnational mobility are highly empowered as ‘flexible citizens’ (Ong, 1999). Many so-called ‘middle-class’ migrants actively take advantage of their cultural capital and social ties, as well as their local knowledge and information across (at least) two places, to engage in various forms of transnational production and consumption, bringing substantial changes to Chinatown’s economic activities.

One of the many impacts is the disruption of ‘essentialised’ Chinese identity in Australia. Essentialism presumes a universal essence, homogeneity and unity in a particular culture (Holliday, 2011). However, the arrival of the new Chinese diaspora, together with their capital power and cultural influence, has not only led to a diversification of Chinese identities in Australia, but also caused tensions between old and new Chinese migrants. An understanding of the multifcated impacts of the new Chinese diaspora on Chinatown will help illuminate the complexity of the Chinese presence in Australia.

Brief history of Sydney’s Chinatown

The first Chinese settlers in what is now Sydney’s Chinatown, in Haymarket’s Dixon Street and its surroundings, began to move into Haymarket in the 1920s, after the relocation of the large wholesale fruit and vegetable market to Hay Street (Fitzgerald, 2007). These early Chinese migrants mostly originated from the southern Chinese Guangdong provice. During that time, under the White Australia policy, Chinese people were excluded from most professions and had to find work in the market or open shops to cater to the Chinese community. Clan shops were developed to provide services to fellow clansmen, turning Chinatown into the centre of the Chinese community in Sydney.

In the early 1970s, Chinatown experienced a decline following increasing relocation of residents from Chinatown to the suburbs (Choi, 1975). In an attempt to revitalise Chinatown and promote the adoption of multicultural policies within Sydney, the City of Sydney Council worked with the Dixon Street Chinese Committee to develop Chinatown into a tourist precinct in the 1980s. Dixon Street was turned into a pedestrian mall. Traditional Chinese-style arched gates were erected at both ends of Dixon Street; traditional symbols such as stone lions, lanterns and a Chinese-style pagoda were introduced to create the atmosphere of an ‘authentic’ Chinatown. Anderson (1990), describing the Chinatown refurbishment in the 1980s as a mode of ‘self-orientalisation’ in line with Chinese cultural essentialism, commented that ‘making the area more “Chinese” seemed to mean making the area appear more consistent with the architectural motifs and symbols of ancient China’ (p. 50). Anderson (1990) added that rather than a top-down inscription of essentialised ‘Chineseness’ to Chinatown by the government, it was a self-adaptive effort by local Chinatown businesses hoping to benefit from this type of ‘oriental’ representation in attracting white consumers.

The re-vitalisation of Chinatown coincided with the growing number of Chinese immigrants from HK due to political uncertainties regarding the transfer of HK’s sovereignty 1997. Many of these HK migrants set up Cantonese-style Chinese restaurants, Chinese grocery stores and gift shops. Through their effort of ethnicising Chinatown’s place identity, these Chinese migrants have successfully turned Chinatown into a commodified ethnic precinct for tourism and cultural consumption. By 1997, Chinatown had the ninth-highest visitation rate in Sydney, attracting a wide range of local and international visitors (Mak, 2003).

The new Chinese diaspora in the 2000s

A rapid increase of the China-born population, now coming from a far wider range of Chinese regions, took place from the mid-1990s onwards. This can be attributed to the change in Australia’s immigration rules in favour of skilled migrants and the emergence of a migration pathway for international students in Australia (Hugo, 2008; Robertson, 2013). Largely motivated by the availability of this migration pathway, the number of Chinese international students in Australia has risen from 5,673 in 1994 to 150,116 in 2013 (Australian Education International [AEI], 2014). Many of these students have subsequently obtained permanent residency in Australia. Sydney is the most popular place for these settlers, with the 2011 census showing that 46.2 percent of China-born migrants were residing in greater Sydney (ABS, 2011a). Table 1.1 shows the number of China-born population in greater Sydney from 1895 to the latest census in 2011. Nearly half of the China-born population in greater Sydney arrived after 2000.

As Australia’s premier global city, Sydney is a popular centre for international finance, business, education and tourism (Hu & McClure, 2014; City of Sydney, 2015). The concentration of knowledge-based industries in Sydney – such as finance, creative and business services – has attracted a high proportion of knowledge workers from mainland China. While many new Chinese migrants choose to settle in Chinese-dominated ‘ethnoburbs’ (Li, 1998) such as Hurstville, Campsie and Rhodes, more and more of them, especially younger professional workers, prefer to live in the inner city. The China-born population in the City of Sydney Local Government Area (which includes Chinatown) increased 64 percent between 2006 and 2011, making this the fastest growing ethnic group in the city (ABS, 2011a).

Table 1.1 Change of population of China-born people in greater Sydney (1895–2011)

Year of arrival	Number	Percentage
Arrived 1895–1940	134	0.09%
Arrived 1941–1950	607	0.41%
Arrived 1951–1960	1,660	1.12%
Arrived 1961–1970	1,753	1.18%
Arrived 1971–1980	3,581	2.41%
Arrived 1981–1990	26,535	17.86%
Arrived 1991–2000	36,839	24.80%
Arrived 2001–2010	68,132	45.86%
Arrived 1 Jan 2011–9 August 2011	3,074	2.07%
Not stated	6,239	4.20%
Total	148,554	100%

Source: ABS (2011a)

Apart from knowledge workers from China, Sydney has also received an increasing number of wealthy migrants from China since the late 2000s through the government’s business migration programme.² Two new streams, called the ‘Significant Investor’ and ‘Premium Investor’ Streams, were introduced in 2012 and 2015, respectively, allowing applicants who invest A$5m and A$15m, respectively, in Australia to gain residency without any age limit or English-language requirement. Data from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) showed that in 2013–2014, 6,160 business visas were granted, of which 4,614 (75 percent) were granted to applicants from China (DIBP, 2015). These wealthy Chinese migrants are making an impact on the urban economy with their ample business experience and substantial assets. Below, we provide some examples of the transformation of Sydney’s Chinatown brought about by this new Chinese diaspora.

Economic and cultural transformation of Sydney’s Chinatown

One of the most notable urban transformations as a result of the new Chinese migration is a significant increase of Chinese investment in Chinatown and the city at large. Here we look at two types of economic activity underpinned by Chinese capital: real estate and food and drink businesses.

Real estate

According to the latest available ABS census data, 35.5 percent of residents in Haymarket Chinatown have Chinese ancestry (ABS, 2011a). Our research found that Sydney’s Chinatow...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• New Chinese migrations: mobility, home, and inspirations
• Abbreviations
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• Introduction: new Chinese migrations
• Part I New migrants from mainland China
• Part II The HK–Taiwan–China migration triangle
• Part III The ongoing migration of Chinese overseas from Southeast Asia
• Part IV Conclusion
• Glossary
• Index