Presentation at a EURA-NET meeting in Budapest 16 October 2015.

1. Tian Fangmeng and Hu Xiaojiang
Beijing Normal University, Oct 16. 2015
Country report on semi-structured interviews
with temporary migrants - China

2. Interview process at first stage
• Dec, 2014 - July 2015, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong
Kong
• Face-to-face interview: 0.5 hr-1.5hr
• Interview language: English, Chinese, and other
European languages.
• We interviewed 80 individuals in total, including 44
Europeans, 29 returnees, and 7 family members.
Among Europeans in China, we interviewed 12
students, 24 employees, 5 entrepreneurs, and 3
individuals who came to China based on family ties.
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3. Respondents by category and location
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Group Beijing Shanghai Hong Kong Total
Student 5 3 4 12
Employee 11 9 4 24
Entrepreneur
2 3 0 5
Family
Migrants
2 1 0 3
Returnee 10 7 12 29
Family member
4 3 0 7
Total 34 27 20 80

4. Backgrounds of respondents
• These respondents were composed of 43 females and
37 males.
• They had a wide range of age from the youngest of 22
years old to the oldest of 68 years. Nearly two thirds of
them were between 25 and 45.
• We have intentionally to diversified their demographic
characteristics. For example, we conducted 12
interviews with students, who came from 11 European
countries.
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5. Migration process I - motivation
• Several European students expressed strong interests
in Chinese language, culture, history or geography. The
remaining ones were motivated simply by the
opportunities of scholarship.
• Many European employees and entrepreneurs
reported that they liked to join the economic boom in
China, particularly when they compared with the
financial crisis in some countries of European Union.
• Despite of the interests of our European interviewees,
most of them did not have a firm plan to stay in China
permanently. They would either go back to their home
countries, or move on to another Asian or European
country. 5
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6. Migration process II - motivation
• Most of the Chinese returnees moved to Europe for
obtaining degrees after college education, and many of
them already planned to return before their departure.
• The returnees we interviewed generally perceived that
there were more jobs in China than in Europe for them,
and they could also mobilize their social capital in the
home country.
• Most returnees knew some information about China’s
policy for attracting returnees, but they did not take it
into consideration of return.
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7. Migration process III – visa application
• It was not difficult for European students to go through
the administrative application process of visa and
residence permit.
• Most of European employees also confirmed this point,
but it took them a relatively long time in mainland
China. Those in Hong Kong were generally satisfied
with the visa application.
• Some complained about lack of transparency and
redundancy of the application process in China.
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8. Politico-legalAspects
• Most of our interviewees were not politically active in
both China and Europe, but some showed strong
interests in political affairs.
• Many Europeans understood the difference in the
political culture between Europe and China, and did
not think it’s their concern.
• Many Chinese students would not pay much attention
to local politics, but they might keep an eye on the
turnover of the governments. Democratic institutions
in European countries had impressed their political
views to some extent.
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9. Socio-economicAspects I
• All of European students received scholarship, and
some either earned additional income by taking part
time jobs or received money from their parents. By
contrast, most Chinese returnees were financially
supported by their families when they studied abroad.
• The European employees were generally satisfied with
their salary and other benefits, and confirmed that
their skills were well recognized in China.
• The European entrepreneurs did not think they could
earn more money in China than at home, but
expressed their time here as an important part of their
career development.
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10. Socio-economicAspects II
• Most of Chinese returnees reported that overseas
experiences gave them a competitive advantage over
those who were trained in China.
• The European interviewees had mixed feelings about
of the local working conditions and living environment,
and pointed out its positive and negative aspects.
• Roughly half of the employee respondents maintained
professional contacts either back at home or in other
countries, while quite a few of returnees kept business
linkages with their destination countries.
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11. Socio-CulturalAspects I-Impression
• The general impressions of the European respondents
over China were both positive and negative, and the
modern behaviors of Chinese people surprised them a
lot.
• Some European interviewees gave negative comments
to the social norms and mainstream values in China,
such as too much materialism and lack of
consideration of other people.
• For Chinese returnees, they generally enjoyed
comfortable lives and clean environment in Europe,
but were inclined to experience the rapid and dynamic
social changes in China.
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12. Socio-CulturalAspects II-Integration
• For most European migrants, language barrier is the
primary reason why they cannot be integrated into the
Chinese society.
• Patterns of social networking also reflect the degree of
integration of Europeans in China. European
employees generally felt that they were highly
respected by their Chinese colleagues, but there was
an invisible boundary between their daily interactions.
• Many European employees in China tended to have
quite a number of friends in some western countries,
and kept their transnational friendship even on a daily
basis.
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13. Socio-CulturalAspects III-Readaption
• Chinese returnees were not well integrated into local
societies when they were abroad. They often had
more Chinese friends than European friends there.
• After getting used to the social norms in European
countries, many returnees felt uncomfortable to some
common phenomena in the Chinese society.
• However, most returnees reported that they had not
much difficulty in adjusting themselves to the
domestic environment. Many joined local clubs or
associations organized particularly for those with
overseas experiences.
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14. Policy suggestions
• The Chinese authority should reduce the
administrative procedure for admitting foreign
students and that for recruiting foreign employees,
and make them more transparent, especially the
business, working and spouse visa requirements.
• Local governments with a large population of
foreigners can provide more language courses of
Chinese, especially at the basic level. At the same time,
it is helpful to offer more public information in English.
• The service and benefits of health care and social
security entitlements should be improved and the
rules should be made clearer to the foreigners in
China. 14
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15. Thank you!
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